Absolutely. It's absurd to assume everyone has read things. And I'll say that because younger me used to be offended by the notion.
Two TV spots
We still don't have a runtime but now we know it will be less than 3 hours (per the Associated Press):
Christopher Nolan on ‘The Odyssey’ runtime: “One of the things that’s really important to me is to be showing the film wherever possible on IMAX film, projecting the format, because we shot the entire movie on IMAX film, and the longest we’ve ever been able to get onto the IMAX projector is three hours. So we know it’s less than three hours. I can say the film is shorter than ‘Oppenheimer.’ It’s still an epic, it’s an epic film as the subject matter demands, but it is shorter.”
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For Nolan, “The Odyssey” seemed like a foundational piece that deserved to be done on the biggest possible scale, with all the resources modern Hollywood had to offer.
“There’s a massive amount of pressure,” Nolan said. “Anyone taking on ‘The Odyssey’ is taking on the hopes and dreams of people for epic movies everywhere and that comes with a huge responsibility.”
It reminded him of working on the Batman films.
“What I learned from that experience is that what people want from a movie about a beloved story, a beloved set of characters, is they want a strong and sincere interpretation,” Nolan said. “They want to know that a filmmaker has gone to the mat for it. I really tried to make the best film possible.”
New trailer!
And the interview that it was debuted on:
And the interview that it was debuted on:
It seems that Nolan might have missed the point of the Odyssey altogether as most people do. It's not the story of a hero beset by the ill will of the gods; it's the story of a charming rogue or conman. Odysseus is described in the very first verse of Homer's poem as "πολύτροπον" (polytropon; "he of many turns") which has been variously translated as "a complicated man", "a much-travelled man" or "a resourceful man", but a more appropriate meaning might be "a devious man", "a shifty man" or "a crafty man".
Odysseus tells his increasingly incredible tales to elicit support and make his way home - possible after having taken part in various Sea Peoples' raids in the Eastern Mediterranean. Once one realises Odysseus's true nature, it changes how one interprets the story. One is either taken in completely by his fabrications or one enjoys his ridiculous shaggy dog stories. In many respects, it reminds me of the far-fetched exploits related by Rudolf Erich Raspe in Baron Munchausen's Narrative of His Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia.
The Coen brothers got much nearer the mark with George Clooney's portrayal of Ulysses Everett McGill in O Borther, Where Art Thou?
Let's not go into the armour not being appropriate for the late Bronze Age - even Homer, who was reputedly blind, had accurate knowledge of the style of armour worn by the Achaeans, the Danaans and the Argives - as is related in the Iliad and the Odyssey. I seem to recall that the movie Troy got that detail more correct, but not some others. It's not something that a modern audience is going to care about.
However, I will withhold judgement until I have seen the movie.
Odysseus tells his increasingly incredible tales to elicit support and make his way home - possible after having taken part in various Sea Peoples' raids in the Eastern Mediterranean. Once one realises Odysseus's true nature, it changes how one interprets the story. One is either taken in completely by his fabrications or one enjoys his ridiculous shaggy dog stories. In many respects, it reminds me of the far-fetched exploits related by Rudolf Erich Raspe in Baron Munchausen's Narrative of His Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia.
The Coen brothers got much nearer the mark with George Clooney's portrayal of Ulysses Everett McGill in O Borther, Where Art Thou?
Let's not go into the armour not being appropriate for the late Bronze Age - even Homer, who was reputedly blind, had accurate knowledge of the style of armour worn by the Achaeans, the Danaans and the Argives - as is related in the Iliad and the Odyssey. I seem to recall that the movie Troy got that detail more correct, but not some others. It's not something that a modern audience is going to care about.
However, I will withhold judgement until I have seen the movie.
That is one interpretation, certainly. But that's the great thing about literature, and certainly literature this old and in a dead language: There can be more than one valid interpretation.
As Nolan detailed in his interview, his interpretation is different and is one on focused on heroes, or rather, superheroes.
But I don't think it's fair to say he "missed the point altogether."
That's interesting, I've never see it interpreted that way. I haven't read the original epic poem, but I've seen some adaptations and they pretty much always interpret Odysseus as a straightforward hero.
It's just my interpretation. I think the ancient Greeks could have been just as sophisticated as we are in understanding matters of human nature - more so than for many people nowadays. I wasn't really very interested in the story of Odysseus until I made the connection with Baron Munchausen and realised that perhaps it was because I wasn't a willing rube.
"Might" have missed. I think a movie where the story of Odysseus is more open to interpretation depending on your predilection to believe the word of a persuasively charming stranger would be more interesting than a straight-up adventure tale. In the main, framing narrative, it appears Nausicaä and her father King Alcinous of Phaeacia take little convincing - easy marks?
Of course, the opening Telemachy and the end of the story are not open to interpretation, but Penelope, pene (πήνη) or "weft" and -elops (-έλωψ) or "stalking predator", so "wefting, stalking predator" or "cunning weaver", and Telemachus, tele (τῆλε ) or "distant" and mache (μάχη) or "battle", so "fighter from afar", prove to be just as cunning as Odysseus.
I asked AI to write a song about my take on Odysseus:
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It bothers me slightly as Odysseus has been away for twenty years. The more formal "father" would seem more appropriate. That also perhaps seems closer to the ancient Greek "pater" or "pateras" than "dad" is to "tata" or "pappa". As an adult aged about 21, I would expect Telemachus to be more formal with someone he can't possibly remember. However, Tom Holland is 29, so perhaps this version of Telemachus was older when Odysseus left to fight at Troy.Is it terrible that Tom Holland referring to Odysseus as 'Dad' really bothers me
ETA: I just checked the original Greek text, and both Telemachus and Odysseus address their respective fathers (Odysseus and Laertes) as "pater". Telemachus also uses the word "atta" to speak to Odysseus' old friend and servant Eumaeus, which is the formal mode of address of a young man to a respected elder man.
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Yeah, that stood out to me. It just feels a bit too modern American for this kind of a movie, not that I think it will ruin the movie or anything like that, but it definitely caught my attention a bit more than a line like that should.Is it terrible that Tom Holland referring to Odysseus as 'Dad' really bothers me
I think that's because we're conditioned to think that anyone in a historical inspired movie needs to speak more formally. People in the past didn't really speak more formally than we do. Vernacular was just different then--and just like today the educated and upper classes did use more formal language, at least in public.
I can't speak for the ancient "Greek" states, but I'm not going to argue that wasn't the case.
It's as much history as Plato's Timaeus and Critias - that is, probably not at all.
Except we have the words attributed to Homer and those use "pater" rather than the more familiar "pateras", a childish diminutive such as "pappa" or "tata", or the more formal "atta" (or "assa" in the Ionian regional dialect, which is not appropriate to Ithica) used to address a senior. I understand "pateras" would be more similar to the sense of the English "dad". At least, Tom Holland's Telemachus doesn't call him "daddy", "dada", "papa" or "pop". If I hadn't seen my itinerant male parent for 20 years and he reappeared as a vagabond, I would opt for "father".
Honestly, it's kind of pointless to decide whether its usage is anachronistic or inappropriate without the context of the rest of the movie.
I'd hope Odysseus talks with the shade of Achilles as in the verse, but I expect that won't happen as Nolan would need to explain his story as well. It would overstuff the pudding.
I also doubt Athena will be personally advising Telemachus or Penelope. In which case, might we be invited to doubt the tales told by Odysseus - also populated by the fantastical?
Anyway, rosy-fingered dawn has arrived, so I will stop rambling.
If Nolan ever discovers color and good audio mixing he'd be unstoppable. As it is, I'm pretty lukewarm on Nolan and while I want to see big budgetGgreek mythology movies I don't think that the guy who hates color almost as much as Zack Snyder and who hates anything not grounded is the guy to make it. Maybe if it does well enough it will inspire copycats made by people not allergic to color and fantasy.
I think you need to adjust the settings on your screen because there are a lot of natural, ambient colors in that trailer.
As for fantasy, I guess cyclopes, giants, monsters, the undead, and massive whirlpools don't count for anything.
if my nan had wheels she'd have been a bike!
All the Greeks are dressed like they're going to a funeral, the general color grading is maybe 20% less desaturated then Zack Snyder's regular grading (which is still a lot less color then most movies) and I'm sure all the monsters will have some "grounded" explanation in the end, well either that or it will devolve into random BS like Interstellar (Odysseus can only return home with the power of love!).
Yeah, Nolan understanding audio mixing at this point would be like my dog discovering the secret of cold fusion
At best he'll at least not produce a sound mix as objectively terrible as the one for Tenet.
Ah, so lots of assumptions as usual. Gotcha.