“The Odyssey” translator Emily Wilson says Christopher Nolan should be ‘ashamed’ of his ‘abysmal’ script
“The Odyssey” translator Emily Wilson says Christopher Nolan should be ‘ashamed’ of his ‘abysmal’ script
Derek LawrenceMon, July 27, 2026 at 10:52 PM UTC
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Matt Damon and Himesh Patel in ‘The Odyssey,’ directed by Christopher NolanCredit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal PicturesKey Points -
Odyssey translator Emily Wilson is speaking out against Christopher Nolan’s film.
The author has ripped Nolan’s “abysmal” script.
Even with her many criticisms, Wilson said she’s thankful for the movie’s success.
It’s now unclear who had the tougher journey: Odysseus heading home or Emily Wilson watching The Odyssey.
Christopher Nolan has cited Wilson’s 2017 translation of Homer’s epic poem as an influence on his film, but it doesn’t take much translating to understand that the author and professor was not a fan of Nolan’s latest work, calling the writing “abysmal” and declaring that she would be “ashamed to have written any part of this script.”
“Nolan’s Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great,” Wilson wrote in a scathing review for the London Review of Books. “It has nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war, or about the relationship between one warrior’s glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends and neighbours. It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words.”
Maybe, most importantly, she then adds, “There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.”
Emily Wilson; Christopher NolanCredit: Roberto Ricciuti/Getty; Prodip Guha/Getty
Wilson says that, “unlike some of Nolan’s other films,” The Odyssey is “not boring,” a fact that she credits to the source material, which she believes is “impossible to mess up entirely.” And while her teenage children had a good time, Wilson only saw Nolan’s “usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality.”
Weighing in on the controversy surrounding some of Nolan’s casting choices, Wilson argued that there was “nothing progressive” about the additions of actors like Lupita Nyong’o and Zendaya, deeming their roles only as “providing aid to the white protagonist.”
“Despite the manufactured online outrage, there is nothing inherently wrong with the movie’s attempt to approximate contemporary American speech,” she said, briefly defending Nolan. “But writing dialogue is not one of Nolan’s talents. The language is relentlessly expository, humourless, and flat.”
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Previously speaking to Empire, Nolan pointed to the opening line of Wilson’s translation, “Tell me about a complicated man,” as a “huge part” of what interested him in The Odyssey. Wilson shared that she was “humbled” to hear that...until she saw the film.
“I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script,” she declares. “Sadly, [Matt] Damon’s Odysseus isn’t complicated or wily or artful. “
Critics and audiences aren’t aligned with Wilson. The Odyssey is currently Certified Fresh at 94 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with a 97 percent verified audience score, and, only two weekends into its release, the film has already grossed $640 million, as the demand for tickets continues to be unparalleled. Despite her criticisms, Wilson is excited for Nolan’s success.
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“The release of The Odyssey is still an event to celebrate,” she wrote. “In what we are told is the streaming era, this epic is bringing audiences back to cinemas. In what we are told is a time of declining literacy and the ‘death of the humanities’, translations of The Odyssey, including mine, are flying off the shelves. Some of those who buy the book or show up in cinemas to watch Tom Holland may go on to study ancient Greek.”
She continued, “Perhaps the film will persuade a few college administrators not to cut their literature, language and history departments. Nolan, who studied English at University College London — where students still study The Odyssey as a first year ‘foundational text’ — is doing his best to get the general public reading again, and I am grateful.”
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
