Christopher Nolan‘s “The Odyssey” hits theaters everywhere today, and despite its critical acclaim (read The Playlist’s review here), the film is still courting controversy in some circles, namely in Nolan’s casting of actress Lupita N’yongo as both Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, Helen’s sister. So what does N’yongo’s co-star Jon Bernthal, who plays Helen’s husband Menelaus, King Of Sparta, in the blockbuster, have to say about all of this?
READ MORE: ‘The Odyssey’ Lives Up To The Hype And Is Set To Dominate Oscar Season
Bernthal addressed the backlash toward Nyongo’s role in “The Odyssey” in a new interview with THR, and the actor admitted he’s avoided the narrative. “I haven’t read any of that stuff—I’ve heard rumblings of it—and for me, it’s like, we’re making comments about a movie that people haven’t seen. It’s crazy,” said Bernthal. Then the actor defended Nolan casting N’yongo. “Besides being unparalleled in her beauty, Lupita is able to convey so much through so little. I’m just so glad it was her, and I can’t imagine anybody else playing that part.”
The damaged marriage between Helen and Menelaus plays a crucial part in the setup of Nolan’s latest, and Bernthal briefly touched upon the relationship between the two characters. “Lupita and I wanted to dig into the wound of, how can we take these epic characters in this epic scene, in this unbelievably grand setting, and show the festering rot of a relationship that is so unbelievably relatable to a modern audience—and to people who are in very complicated relationships everywhere?” explained the actor. Bernthal’s role isn’t as major as Matt Damon‘s, but like Benny Safdie, who plays Agamemnon, Helen’s captor, he’s important to the stakes of how Odysseus’ journey plays out. As for N’yongo, well, Helen’s abduction triggers the entire Trojan War in the first place.
It remains to be seen if the “woke” backlash over N’yongo’s casting will linger after the opening weekend of “The Odyssey,” or even into the upcoming awards season, when Nolan’s film may very well be an Oscars frontrunner in several categories. It certainly hasn’t affected the film’s critical response, although both N’yongo’s Helen and Bernthal’s Menelaus are admittedly smaller roles than those of Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, and Robert Pattinson. Still, don’t be surprised if the controversy over Helen, however silly it may seem, doesn’t lose steam over the course of the summer. After all, that would be life imitating art: there’s always an uproar about Helen of Troy.
“The Odyssey” is in theaters now.
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