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Topline
Billionaire Elon Musk suggested in posts on X he would either fund an alternative “Odyssey” movie with a more “historically accurate” take on ancient Greece or make his own with Grok, the latest in his ongoing crusade against the box office hit.
Key Facts
Musk, who has posted dozens of times criticizing director Christopher Nolan and “The Odyssey,” suggested overnight he would make his own alternative adaptation of Homer’s epic poem using his Grok AI technology.
“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,” Musk said on X.
Musk also said he is “down” in response to a user on X who said the billionaire should give filmmaker Mel Gibson—one of President Donald Trump’s special ambassadors to Hollywood—$100 million to make an “Odyssey” film that is “painstakingly historically accurate.”
Gibson is known for directing historical and war epics, including “Braveheart,” which won him a pair of Oscars in 1996, “Hacksaw Ridge” and the Biblical drama “The Passion of the Christ.”
The user suggested the alternative “Odyssey” adaptation should have “dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek” with historically accurate casting, ships, armor and weapons, echoing criticisms made by Musk and others who feel Nolan’s film erases ancient Greece.
Musk is the highest-profile critic of “The Odyssey,” which has divided conservative commentators, and he has denounced Nolan for hiring a diverse cast, particularly Black actress Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and transgender actor Elliot Page as Sinon, cousin of Odysseus.
What Has Musk Said About “The Odyssey”?
Musk has called out Nolan for “desecrating Homer” and has accused him of hiring a diverse cast in an effort to win Academy Awards. Musk has boosted posts on X that have accused Nolan of being “racist against the Greek people and their cultural heritage,” and that the film is part of a left-wing plan to “destroy Western Civilization and everything that helped create it.” Some of Musk’s posts have been riddled with misinformation, and he has boosted posts that misstated Page’s role and that misrepresent the Academy’s diversity standards. Musk has been the loudest in a chorus of conservative critics, which includes other conservative commentators like Megyn Kelly and Matt Walsh, both of whom have taken aim at Nolan’s casting choices.
Can The Odyssey Be “Historically Accurate”?
Some scholars have pushed back against claims that Nyong’o’s casting is historically inaccurate, because Helen of Troy is a mythological figure and the ancient Greeks did not have a modern concept of race. “Helen, after all, was hatched from a swan’s egg, so how literal can we really be?” Bard College classics professor and “Odyssey” translator Daniel Mendelsohn wrote in a New York Times column, adding some classicists believe Nolan’s diverse casting choices are “in fact authentic, since the Greeks didn’t have a concept of race in the way that we do.” Mendelsohn adds “we actually have no idea what Helen looked like,” saying Homer’s descriptions of her appearance are limited to “generic banalities.” Denise McCoskey, a Miami University classics professor, told Slate the ancient Greeks would be “far more upset” about the film being presented in English than having Helen of Troy “appear as a skin color that you don’t like,” saying “race was not really part of their origin story at all.”
contra
Despite Musk’s crusade against the film, critics and audiences have given it nearly universal praise: The movie has a 94% critics score and 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. It is already a box office hit, grossing more than $282 million worldwide—more than its $250 million budget—after less than one week in theaters.
forbes valuation
Musk is worth $791.7 billion as of Wednesday morning, making him the wealthiest person in the world. He became the world’s first trillionaire in June, but SpaceX’s declining stock price has cut his net worth. Musk owns 38% of SpaceX and nearly 11% of Tesla.
further reading
Conservatives Battle Over Whether 'The Odyssey' Is 'Biblical' Or 'Woke' (Forbes)
Musk Boosts Misinformation About ‘The Odyssey’ In Days-Long Crusade Against Christopher Nolan Movie (Forbes)
