Elon Musk says Christopher Nolan has ‘lost all integrity’ after casting choice

Elon Musk has criticised Sir Christopher Nolan for his casting choices in upcoming film The Odyssey.

Slated for release in July, the fantasy action flick is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem the Odyssey, from over 2,600 years ago.

The screen interpretation sees Matt Damon undergo a transformation as he takes on the lead role of Odysseus, the legendary king of Ithaca, amid his 10-year journey home after the Trojan War.

Other major cast announcements have included Tom Holland as Odysseus’s son Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as wife Penelope, Robert Pattinson as one of Penelope’s suitors, and Zendaya as Athena, the goddess of wisdom, war, and handicraft.

Charlize Theron will also play Circe, a goddess and witch, and Mia Goth will portray Melantho, a maid of Odysseus.

Meanwhile, it’s been reported that Lupita Nyong’o will be playing Helen of Troy, with casting rumours also claiming she could be playing Helen’s sister, Clytemnestra, the queen of Mycenae, as well.

Musk has strong opinions on this, however, saying Nolan has lost his ‘integrity’ as a result.

Taking to X, a platform the Tesla founder has owned since last March, he responded to a post about so-called ‘woke’ casting for the biggest film of 2026.

‘Helen of Troy was Greek. I like how they basically cast no Greek people in the movie. lol’, it read, while another claimed: ‘Helen of Troy was fair skinned, blonde, and “the face that launched a thousand ships” because she was so beautiful that men started a war over her. Casting choices that make the premise incoherent are admissions that the story was never the point and an insult to the author.’

In reply, Musk wrote: ‘Chris Nolan has lost his integrity’.

Many social media users were quick to disagree with Musk and explain their reasons why, as @PeterAPatriot wrote: ‘“Integrity” apparently means demanding historical accuracy from myth… while ignoring that The Odyssey is literally a poem about gods, monsters, and shape-shifting.’

‘Nah. In Nolan I trust. Let’s watch the film first. He always prioritises his vision over quotas or whatever. If he does something, it’s because he wanted to do it — for his vision. So let’s hold the finger pointing’, added @chico_ray, to which @Beni_H3r3 declared Nyong’o ‘an absolutely phenomenal talent’.

‘Nolan is brilliant and knows what the f**k he’s doing.’

””The Odyssey” is a myth. There is no historical evidence to suggest that Helen of Troy actually existed, hence she can be beautiful in any colour. Casting a beautiful black woman does NOT go against what was written in any way, shape, or form thousands of years ago. Just ask Homer’, further explained @rinsana.

Nyong’o, 42, is a highly decorated actress with an Oscar and a Daytime Emmy to her name, plus Bafta and Golden Globe nominations.

Some of her most famous acting credits include 12 Years a Slave (2013), Black Panther (2018), Us (2019), and A Quiet Place: Day One (2024). She’s also appeared in three Star Wars films: The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

And if she were to take on a dual role in The Odyssey, it would be far from her first rodeo, having played both Adelaide Wilson and Red in Jordan Peele’s menacing horror Us, for which she received widespread acclaim.

As for The Odyssey, it marks Oppenheimer and Dunkirk filmmaker Nolan’s most ambitious project to date.

With a staggering budget of $250million (£182m), it is the most expensive of his career, during which his movies have grossed over $6billion (£4.4bn) worldwide.

The Odyssey will also mark his first film to be shot entirely on IMAX’s 70mm film cameras. Shooting took place last summer.

And in December, the first trailer was released, with early feedback already declaring the finished product a ‘masterpiece’ and ‘generational’.

Speaking about his visions last November, Nolan told Empire: ‘As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven’t been done before. And what I saw is that all of this great mythological cinematic work that I had grown up with – Ray Harryhausen movies and other things – I’d never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do.’

‘I’ve been out on it for the last four months. We got the cast who play the crew of Odysseus’ ship out there on the real waves, in the real places,’ he revealed.

‘And yeah, it’s vast and terrifying and wonderful and benevolent, as the conditions shift.

‘We really wanted to capture how hard those journeys would have been for people. And the leap of faith that was being made in an unmapped, uncharted world.’

The Odyssey will be released in cinemas on July 17, 2026.

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