As Empire Magazine hits newsstands, additional images have surfaced for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. These images depict other members of the cast and the roles they could be playing in the film. Robert Pattinson has been revealed to be essaying the role of Antinous. The character is often depicted as the leader of the suitors who have been drinking and making merry at Odysseus’ castle as they try to get Penelope to marry them.
The characters played by Zendaya and John Leguizamo have also been revealed, with the latter playing Odysseus’ loyal swineherd, Eumaeus. Leguizamo’s character is a figure who becomes a close friend to Odysseus once he gets home, given that he is one of the few servants who stay loyal to Odysseus, and even serves as a mentor figure to Telemachus, played by Tom Holland.
Zendaya, making her debut in the filmography of Christopher Nolan, is going to essay the role of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare, who serves as Odysseus’ patron deity. The character is also instrumental in saving Odysseus from a slew of situations that he finds himself in, be it the cannibalistic, one-eyed Cyclops Polyphemus, his monstrous sea-god of a father Poseidon, or the nymph Calypso’s island.
Christopher Nolan is not going to shy away from the Fall of Troy
The film, according to sources online, is going to depict the Trojan Horse and the Fall of Troy in its opening sequence. According to Empire Magazine, the film opens with the following sentence:
“You hear the story of the horse?”
While this might be idle narration that allows the viewer to immerse themselves in the story with slightly more ease, there might be a more narratively sound reason for why the story starts like this. In Homer’s epic, Odysseus does indeed recount the story of the sacking of Troy in the court of the Phaeacian King Alcinous, after he hears a bard sing of the conquest of the city.
While the narrative here might be taking a more linear approach, given Christopher Nolan’s propensity for playing with time, the entire first half of the film could be a recollection from Odysseus’ point of view, which not only deals with the sacking of Troy but also recounts his adventures until that point in the story. The footage that was shown to the writer of the piece in Empire Magazine cuts to the shot of a Cyclops right after the Fall of Troy. This could indicate that the initial scenes in the film are going to focus on an anthology-type telling of Odysseus’ journeys, although in true Christopher Nolan style and scale.
If the footage in the final cut indeed jumps from the Trojan War to the Cyclops Polyphemus, this would indicate that Nolan might be skipping over the raiding of the Cicones and the island of the Lotus-Eaters.
Zendaya’s Athena is going to be instrumental to the film’s plot
Odysseus is often touted as being the smartest of the Greek kings who had assembled to bring Helen back from Troy. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, favors Odysseus throughout the Epic Cycle, of which only The Iliad and The Odyssey survive in their entirety. Athena is responsible for helping the King of Ithaca get away from a lot of trouble, while also assisting his son, Telemachus.
It is Athena who encourages Telemachus to go looking for his father, which lands the young prince in Sparta, in the court of Menelaus. Furthermore, the goddess is also the one who petitions Zeus, the king of the gods, to allow Odysseus to escape the island of Calypso, where he is imprisoned with the immortal nymph for eight years. The goddess is instrumental in preventing the population of Ithaca from killing Odysseus after he slaughters the suitors upon his return to his palace after being away for twenty years.
Robert Pattinson’s Antinous could be the next iconic villain to come out of Hollywood
Antinous is the leader of the suitors who have sacked Odysseus’ castle and have been burning through his food and grain for at least eight years. All of them have presented their suits to Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway, and have been told that they will only be considered after the queen is done weaving a shroud for her mother-in-law, who has recently passed away. It is through Anticlea, Odysseus’ mother, that the King of Ithaca learns about the state of his household. He encounters her in the underworld, which is where he also finds out that she has passed away, along with meeting the spirit of the blind prophet Tiresias, who lets him know how he must get home.
Antinous is one of those characters who has the potential to become instantly iconic, given the character’s position in the narrative and Robert Pattinson’s acting chops. The Batman alum will be collaborating with Christopher Nolan for the second time, after his stint as Neil in Tenet. Antinous is a character who is vicious and cruel in his demeanor, as evidenced by his treatment of Telemachus, whom he wishes to kill in a bid to isolate Penelope. However, his plans fail when Athena helps Telemachus avoid the group of suitors that Antinous had dispatched to locate and slay the young prince.
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The Odyssey is going to try to hearken back to a classical era of cinema
When big-budget mytho-historical films were the game of the day, with some stellar stop-motion animation accompanying some of the best acting ever put to the silver screen. Nolan is taking this tradition and tapping into it with the might of a modern Hollywood production budget on his back. With minimal CGI as his modus operandi, Christopher Nolan might be able to deliver a feature film that could resurrect an old genre in the modern cinematic landscape, especially given the void that shows like Game of Thrones have left in their wake. Given that there are so many questions about the state of the superhero genre, mytho-historical films like Gladiator II and The Odyssey might be a fitting return to form for the industry at large, as they may allow for big-budget productions that are tailor-made for character work.
Sources:
https://www.cbr.com/the-odyssey-next-level-christopher-nolan
