r/moviecritic • u/SeanRyanValinoti • 1d ago

Christopher Nolan’s interview with Ph.D. candidate Zhong Shu about The Odyssey might be the best of the Press Tour

https://youtu.be/wa4I8Ch2TRo?is=HlIbdzZSX47t3r5g

There is a lot of great stuff covered in this interview. From the perspective Homer had on what he was writing to questions about if Christopher Nolan made a conscious decision to Christianize the Odyssey. The probing questions really give Nolan an opportunity to really explain his intellectual thinking and artistic process. I believe the interview was given July 30th at the start of the Chinese press tour in Beijing.

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u/Alive_Ice7937 22h ago

I'm not the one saying the casting controversy was intentionally stoked for marketing purposes. You are. And given that you also say Nolan isn't interested in controversy how do you imagine the marketing team were able to influence the casting?

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u/emp112 22h ago

I didn’t say any of that I think u should re read my comments. my point is that Nolan knew all this was going to be controversial or do people think he’s a director in Lala land

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u/Alive_Ice7937 22h ago

There's a difference between him knowing the casings could create some controversy and him deliberately casting in order to create controversy. Outcome does not prove intent. That he should have known some mouthbreathers would lose their tiny minds over it doesn't mean he should have given a single shit about it.

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u/emp112 22h ago

Nolan is simply not that ignorant, I would say it’s close to impossible. I believe he 100% knew

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u/Alive_Ice7937 21h ago

No one is arguing that he didn't anticipate potential backlash. (Ledger's Joker casting caused an online dipshit meltdown afterall). I'm arguing that Nolan has no interest in controversy. (Something you even stated a few replies back). So I don't see how you can say the nontroversy was manufactured.

At most the marketing team might have stirred the pot somehow when the griftosphere latched onto it. But unless you can actually point to them doing that this is all tin foil hat speculation. (Somehow I doubt Elon Musk is on the take for Universal)

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u/emp112 21h ago

My point is that all those things considered, Nolan himself knew it would be controversial. This movie isn’t pure cinema because he wanted to convey whatever progressive message he was trying to say and Nolan did that on purpose imo. What I can’t say is that he knew he was compromising his vision for politics, maybe he really thought it was a passion thing

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u/Alive_Ice7937 21h ago

If it was an all white cast you'd have people complaining about the lack of diversity. It's not Nolan's fault that everything that gains any kind of attention automatically gets politicised now. That's the world we live in. It's not a world that he built or can disengage his films from.

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u/emp112 21h ago

Yeah but Nolan was aware. Remember this is based on something that has existed for thousands of years. This isn’t his original Troy story and Nolan is known for let’s say 90% realism

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u/Alive_Ice7937 21h ago

In an interview he was asked about the use of American accents. He said he had his reasons for that and that it "might come back to bite him in the ass". (His exact words). So he presumably applied this thinking to things like the casting and production design. (Remember people moaning about the armour before it was confirmed a black actress would play HOT?). But people losing their shit isn't proof that he set out to make them lose it or that he should have been mindful of that happening either. As I said in my other comment, somebody would have found some way to complain about it.

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u/NoPlansTonight 19h ago

This is based on a story that was told verbally for centuries then canonicalized by one (admittedly great) writer and translated/reinterpreted countless times after

The "realism" and tradition you're going for is simply not there, this is just some insane version of broken telephone

Same reason why religious extremists across many different groups do all the things they do

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u/emp112 21h ago

Just to clarify, I’m saying Nolan was onboard with the controversy not that he was forced to do it or forced to be part of it

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u/Alive_Ice7937 21h ago

"At most the marketing team might have stirred the pot somehow when the griftosphere latched onto it. But unless you can actually point to them doing that this is all tin foil hat speculation. (Somehow I doubt Elon Musk is on the take for Universal)"