EPIC FAIL

Musk’s Attempt to Beat Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ Backfires Immediately

The trillionaire’s version of Homer’s epic left much to be desired.

Elon Musk’s vow to create a “historically accurate” counterpart to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has embarrassingly backfired.

For nearly a year before the box office epic was released, Musk has railed against the film, slamming its casting choices and prompting a meltdown from his far-right, MAGA-coded supporters. The Tesla CEO said Nolan, an Oscar winner, “lost his integrity” by casting Lupita Nyong’o, a Black actress who has also won an Academy Award, as both Helen of Troy and her sister, Clytemnestra, and also called Elliot Page’s role as Sinon “one of the dumbest and twisted things I’ve ever heard 🤡🤡."

After the film’s release, the triggered trillionaire promised to make his own version of Homer’s tale using his problematic AI tool, Grok Imagine. “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer,” Musk announced in July.

On Monday, the first installment of the series was released, and the response was scathing.

“Holy f---, this is absolute s--t… as expected," wrote one user on X. “Perfectly encapsulates Elon’s taste. Absolute s--t,” said another. “This looks like a film made by someone who has never watched a film,” a user posited.

Throwing Musk’s own words in his face, one wrote, “It supposed to be historically correct. Why are they talking in English?”

Another said, “If this is what the richest man on the planet can come up with, I can safely say AI movies won’t be replacing actual movies anytime soon.”

Another simply said it was “soulless.”

EMPTY OUTRAGE

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The seven-minute film was created in collaboration with Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker, who each work in AI filmmaking, according to Variety.

The only character named is Odysseus, a fact that Mashable said was confusing, also dubbing the writing not “all that great” and saying the visuals were unnatural and “odd.”

In Musk’s rendition, every “actor” is white and speaks English. As The Independent points out, the latter goes against Musk’s assertion that his adaptation of the mythological film “would be ‘true to the art of Homer.’”

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Nolan’s much-awaited epic featured a star-studded cast and garnered rave reviews.

“Christopher Nolan’s cinema has been one of escalating enormity, and that evolution reaches its apex with The Odyssey, an adaptation of Homer’s iconic adventure classic that’s epic in every way,” wrote the Daily Beast’s Nick Schager.

The Odyssey made nearly $1.8 billion worldwide and broke 2026 box-office records.

Musk’s attempt has been viewed 6.8 million times on X.

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Meera NavlakhaEntertainment Reporter

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