SerpApi.Org
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has assured film fans outraged about the Black and trans people in Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey that his AI tool Grok will pump out a full-length, “historically accurate” version of Homer’s epic by the end of 2026.
On July 21, X user @heavypulp posted an AI-generated imagination of a scene from Homer’s Odyssey that resembles an agonizingly stiff 1960s or ’70s historical epic. Of note, all of the “actors” in the clip are white.
Reposting the clip, Musk, 55, wrote, “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.”
Nolan’s Odyssey became a flashpoint in the online right’s culture war before its mid-July release, as many online confidently crowed that the “woke” inclusion of Black actors like Lupita Nyong’o and trans actor Elliot Page in major roles would lead to the film flopping at the box office.
That flop hasn’t materialized, as The Odyssey raked in an astounding $264 million globally in its opening weekend, the biggest global debut of Nolan’s career. It’s also reviewed exceptionally well, receiving a 94% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Musk has been among the posters whining about the races of actors in Nolan’s Odyssey, and his promise of a “historically accurate” Odyssey can be read as a signal that he wants AI to create a version of the film where he and fellow critics don’t have to see minorities.
Many online pointed out that The Odyssey is a fictional, fantasy poem replete with fictional creatures like a Cyclops, pig soldiers and Greek gods, so it would be impossible to create a “historically accurate” version of the tale.
“Lol. He is beyond parody at this point. Also, ‘historically accurate’? It’s a work of fiction featuring imaginary Greek gods,” wrote journalist Mehdi Hasan.
“Can’t wait to see the ‘historically accurate’ depiction of human-to-pig transmutation magic. And they all better be white pigs, or I’ll riot,” quipped another user.
Even people who seem to support Musk weren’t hot on the idea, preferring that he use his enormous wealth to fund a film made by actual human beings.
“You’re so close, please do not have Grok do it,” one user begged Musk. “Please just pay someone talented to make an actual movie.”
“You have the moeny to just make a normal movie. You have the connections to create a production company seeded by your friends to just make a normal movie. You can solve these issues, YOU HAVE THE RESOURCES TO DO SO,” cried another.
Musk has a long history of making grandiose promises that he never delivers on. For example, he has long teased flying cars, tourism trips to the moon and humans on Mars by 2025.
