Elon Musk criticises speculated casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy
Billionaire Elon Musk has drawn criticism after taking aim at director Christopher Nolan over the reported casting of Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o in Nolan’s upcoming film adaptation of The Odyssey.
Nyong’o’s role in the film has not been officially confirmed. However, online speculation that she has been cast as Helen of Troy sparked divided reactions, according to Newsweek.
Some social media users objected to the possibility of Nyong’o, a black woman, portraying the famed fictional Helen, a mythological figure described in Homer’s epic as so beautiful that her abduction ignited the Trojan War.
Newsweek cited one X user, @iterintellectus, who objected to the idea in a post on the platform.
“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.”
Musk, X’s chief executive officer, commented on the post in a quoted reply, stating that, “Christopher Nolan has lost his integrity.”
The report cited immediate response to Musk’s tweet, including from longtime actress Whoopi Goldberg on The View, who said Homer never described Helen explicitly as blonde.
It also pointed to another reply on Meta-owned app, Threads, where one user, @bp_sweany, wrote: “Christopher Nolan is getting criticised by conservative media for casting a black woman instead of a white woman, the beautiful actress Lupita Nyong’o, as Helen of Troy in ‘The Odyssey’. Just making sure we’re all on the same page here. We talking about the same Helen of Troy who was born from an egg that her mother laid after being forcibly impregnated by Zeus disguised as a swan? That’s who you want to be more ‘historically’ accurate?”
Newsweek noted that the online reaction has mostly fallen into two lines of reasoning— some maintain that Helen ought to match a narrow, European ideal, while others argue that the Odyssey is a myth with supernatural elements, leaving room for interpretation.
The movie, which is in post-production, has a stacked cast including Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Jon Bernthal, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, Mia Goth, and Benny Safdie.
