'The Odyssey' Translator Hated Nolan's Movie - But She Wants This Spin-Off
There’s no denying that Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (2026) holds up well among the film community. The director’s big-budget adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey is a spectacle to behold. Thrilling and bold, but also thought-provoking and thematically rich, The Odyssey breathes fresh life into the Greek epic. However, while the film may hold up in film circles, it’s a bit of a different story for classicists.
The experts in Greek mythology, some of whose life work and area of study have revolved around Homer’s epic, have been largely unanimous in their verdict that the movie doesn’t properly convey the complexities of the original work. Emily Wilson is one of the classicists and translators who weighed in on The Odyssey. She’s an authoritative figure in the conversation, considering she’s the first woman to translate Homer’s Odyssey into English verse. While Nolan credited her work as one of his inspirations for The Odyssey, Wilson was not quite taken with his movie.
What Did Emily Wilson Say About Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey'?
Wilson reviewed The Odyssey in an essay published by the London Review of Books, sharing her dissatisfaction with what she perceived as Nolan’s simplification of the story. She describes how in Nolan’s version of the story, Odysseus (Matt Damon) is an “uncomplicated man” and “the language is relentlessly expository, humorless and flat.” Wilson criticized the brevity of Lupita Nyong’o’s dual roles, as well as the sidelining of Penelope (Anne Hathaway), whom she says the “script gives her nothing to do except yearn for Matt Damon, for reasons unknown.” Her review also brings attention to the many moral contradictions of the film, such as its suggestion that war crimes are wrong but failure to include the perspective of any of Odysseus’ victims.
Wilson points out that Nolan specifically cited the first line of her translation when speaking of his inspiration for the film. It reads, “Tell me about a complicated man.” Despite his knowledge of this line, Wilson describes how Odysseus is painfully uncomplicated. He’s a “reluctant warlord,” motivated by little other than “anxiety and guilt.” Unlike in Homer’s work, he’s not overly arrogant, wily, or even intelligent. He’s an uncomplicated man, and it’s an aspect that renders much of the original story unusable.
Robert Pattinson Was The One Major Exception
Wilson’s review of The Odyssey isn’t all negative. She gives credit where it’s due, including expressing her gratitude that Nolan is stirring interest in the classics through his movie. Additionally, she had high praise for one character: Robert Pattinson’s Antinous. Wilson praised the character for his exuberant villainy and described Pattinson’s “charismatically slimy” performance as Oscar-worthy, writing, “The exuberantly villainous Antinous – Pattinson is the only person on set who seems to be having any fun – clearly deserves to be stabbed to death with the dagger of Sinon, but he also deserves one of the Oscars that will shower down on this movie like the golden rain of Zeus.”
She doubled down on her praise of Pattinson in a BlueSky post, in which she suggested he get his own spin-off. Wilson posted, “By far my favorite thing in the film is Robert Pattinson’s hilarious and sexy Antinous. If anyone ever wants to make a spin-off TV series with Antinous risen from the dead to mess with other mythical households, I would be so there for it.”
Why Antinous Feels More Alive Than Odysseus
Much of Wilson’s review focuses on how Odysseus is uncomplicated. He’s sexless, humorless, prideless, etc. Hence, it’s easy to see why, in comparison, Antinous feels much more alive. He may be a terrible person, but he has a distinct personality. In fact, he often displays the destructive hubris attributed to Odysseus in the original story. At one point, he appeals to Penelope with a softer approach, claiming that, should she marry him, he’d keep her son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), safe and even let him claim the throne when he came of age. He’s surely lying, but he plays the “nice guy” so well you almost want to believe the lie.
For a moment, a vulnerable Penelope considers her proposal. Still, she immediately clams up when Antinous mentions that Telemachus would retain his birthright unless they had a child together who would want the throne. Even if this was his plan, he could have easily withheld this idea to appeal to Penelope. The fact that he slips it in and ruins the moment is evidence of his pride and arrogance; he just can’t resist revealing his intentions. More of Antinous’s personality shines through in the memorable suitor massacre. On TikTok, several users have parodied his whiny, cowardly directions to his men to stop Odysseus while he hides. It’s one of the most genuinely humorous moments of the film, which outs him as the true cowardly, draft-dodging, whiny man-child he is.
Prideful to a fault and haunted by his own cowardice, Antinous is a fully realized character in The Odyssey. You leave the film knowing who he is, what he wants, and where his faults lie, whereas, in contrast, you feel there’s not as much to know about Odysseus.
Antinous May Be The 'Complicated Man' Wilson Wanted
Pattinson’s performance as Antinous is so playful; it’s a little surprising Wilson praised it so highly. However, it makes sense when one considers her work. Her work is significant in that it emphasizes the complexity and moral flaws of Odysseus. In many ways, Antinous is the complicated, morally flawed man that Wilson sought in Odysseus. It doesn’t matter that he’s not the hero of the story. The significance of his character is in his lively, chaotic, and contradictory personality, which truly captures the essence of a “complicated man.”
Robert Pattinson Movies That Prove An Antinous Spin-Off Could Work
There’s certainly no Antinous spin-off in development, but a few of Pattinson’s previous works prove Wilson is on to something with her spin-off idea. She essentially wants a playful Pattinson performance in which his morally reprehensible, arrogant undead Antinous wreaks havoc in mythical households. Seven years before The Odyssey, Pattinson already proved he was perfect for the role of Antinous through his performance as The Dauphin in The King (2019). With an intentionally exaggerated accent, Pattinson has fun as the spoiled, childish Dauphin who is all talk, no action. His ability to recognize and lean into the absurdity of roles like The Dauphin proves he can do a lot more with an undead Antinous.
In Mickey 17 (2025), Pattinson plays multiple versions of Mickey Barnes through a zany cloning premise, which prepares him perfectly to portray Antinous across a variety of myths, as he knows how to play the same eccentric character in different environments. We also can’t forget that Pattinson has already played an undead character before as Edward Cullen in Twilight (2008). Pattinson himself described Cullen as a 108-year-old virgin with “issues,” which is the perfect precursor for an undead cowardly man-child with similar issues.
