What the Hellenic! Why is Christopher Nolan’s new Greek epic entirely devoid of Greeks?

Set to be this year’s biggest blockbuster, The Odyssey’s cast has been selected to ‘represent the world’. Fair enough – except that one key country seems to have gone completely unrepresented …

T here are the American accents, gleaming body suits and a muddy Dunkirk palette. And then there is Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, a casting choice that recently drew racist attacks from the usual moaners of the internet , including Elon Musk, who complained it wasn’t authentic. Authenticity matters. He’s just focusing entirely in the wrong place. To many Greeks, what concerns us most about the first look at Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey is the whereabouts of Billy Zane.

Zane, like other beloved members of the Greek diaspora in Hollywood, has recently appeared on “Alternative Odyssey” lists on the Greek side of social media, as well as over dinner table debates from Patras to Palmers Green. (Theo James, Jennifer Aniston, Hank Azaria, and Dave Bautista are among the other nominees.) Greek and Greek Cypriot media platforms are writing open letters . It’s a symptom of feeling left out by Hollywood, again and with no explanation, from our foundational mythologies and epics, with a cast list that features not even a token –opoulos, –edes, or –iannou. Not a single Greek.

Nothing is new here. From Jason and the Argonauts (1963) to Troy (2004), Hollywood has mined Greek stories for generations without much concern for Greek representation – unless it suits a cliche.

As a film critic, I’ve groaned through my share of boisterous, plate-smashing, hapless “Zorbas” in Mamma Mia! (2008) or Shirley Valentine (1989). In sword-and-sandal epics, meanwhile, Hollywood often feels unable to square modern Greeks with legendary figures Achilles and Odysseus, or our historical forebears Alexander and Leonidas. Somehow, today’s Greeks and our antiquity are always disconnected. So, are we unworthy of our myths?

“It is true, there’s a sense that the world’s impression of Greeks is more Zorba than Achilles,” says Greece’s leading film critic Thodoris Koutsogiannopoulos. “I find it disheartening, and a lazy cliche, that the majority perpetuates, over more sophisticated iterations of what Greekness really is … It would be nice to see a Greek or two among the star cast, but it would be a surprise if it occurred.”

Many – myself included – assumed Nolan’s epic might buck the trend, might elevate at least one actual Greek actor from comic relief. After all, Homer isn’t short on characters.

Instead, when you get past the superstars – from Matt Damon (who has just been flaunted, Greek god-like, on a column plinth for GQ’s newest shoot ) as the wily Ithacan, to Zendaya, Tom Holland, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal, to supporting actors Himesh Patel, Will Yun Lee, and Travis Scott – it’s evident that Nolan selected his cast to be “ representative of the world ”, in the words of Nyong’o.