A teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is screening in theaters, though it is not yet available online. Yet, The Odyssey‘s trailer is being widely discussed, and some moviegoers who have seen it have a particular complaint that has been brought up concerning movies with ancient settings before.
The Odyssey will be an epic adaptation of the poem by Homer, featuring new and returning Nolan collaborators in the lead roles. The trailer primarily showcases the production design and a conversation between Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal’s characters, which is proving to be the sticking point for viewers.
People on X and other platforms are already critiquing Nolan’s decision to have his actors use American accents for The Odyssey, or at least Bernthal and Holland, who are respectively American and British. Check out some of the reactions on X below:
\n”‘};
window.arrayOfEmbedScripts[“twitter”] = “”””;
Additional posts leverage other images from pop culture to make their point, like this one from @JoelOnMain, emphasizing “American accents, in The Odyssey” as ludicrous:
\n”‘};
window.arrayOfEmbedScripts[“twitter”] = “”””;
@woodlandvvitch calls it “certainly a choice“:
\n”‘};
window.arrayOfEmbedScripts[“twitter”] = “”””;
Some users joke around about the accents, but don’t seem to particularly care one way or the other. @JacobSaenger even hopes that Nolan “[lets] everyone in the Odyssey just use their own accents“:
Others, such as @effie_swift, also question why “people [insist] that British accents have to be used for every ‘historical’ movie“:
\n”‘};
window.arrayOfEmbedScripts[“twitter”] = “”””;
What People’s Comments On The Accents Mean For The Odyssey
This Is An Old Debate, But Nolan’s Status Will Probably Override It
The debate over what accents should be used in a mythological or ancient setting where the characters certainly would not have spoken English has come up in recent history, namely with the backlash against Denzel Washington’s accent in Gladiator II. Regardless of this matter and middling reviews, Gladiator II was still a box office hit.
Christopher Nolan is riding the wave of his Best Director win and Oppenheimer’s Best Picture win at the Oscars into The Odyssey, calling upon many famous and fan-favorite actors to play larger-than-life legends. With this much anticipation and goodwill for the cast and crew, the accents probably won’t impact how successful The Odyssey turns out to be.
At worst, it will just continue to be a viral talking point.
It’s not even set in stone that the entire cast will have American accents, since Bernthal and Holland are the only ones who speak in the trailer, and Holland’s limited dialogue doesn’t entirely confirm his pattern of speech for this movie. But this isn’t going to be the point that makes or breaks Nolan’s next project; at worst, it will just continue to be a viral talking point.
Our Take On American Accents In The Odyssey
It’s Time For Everyone To Move On From This
It has long been the practice in Hollywood for period pieces in a non-English or fantasy setting to use British accents to convey some sense of sophistication and a time past, based on some stereotypes of Britishness. Digital Spy published an article about this trailer as well, calling it out as “[reigniting] a tiresome accent debate which makes no sense.“
People in Ancient Greece would not have spoken English, let alone had English accents; they do in this movie for the sake of its accessibility. When depicting the historically accurate speech isn’t really feasible for a Hollywood production like The Odyssey, spending so much time criticizing the accents doesn’t make sense when it it just a matter of suspension of disbelief.
Source: X, Digital Spy
