Lupita Nyong’o is ready to talk about the role that has MAGA losing it.
The Oscar winner has been cast as Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming blockbuster adaptation of the Greek epic, The Odyssey, and she is “honored” to play the part, she told Elle on Thursday, despite the online campaign waged against her by right-wingers. “I mean, she is iconic,” the actress told the outlet about her classic character, but “This is a mythological story.”
“I’m not spending my time thinking of a defense. The criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not.” Nyong’o also explained that she trusts Nolan’s vision. “I’m very supportive of Chris’s intention with it and with the version of this story that he is telling. Our cast is representative of the world.”
Her comments come after MAGA commentators, including and most especially Trump 2024 election bankroller Elon Musk, have said quite a bit about her role.
Musk has been joined by other commentators, including NewsMax host Rob Finnerty, who had a meltdown on his show last Thursday over Nyong’o, a dark-skinned, Kenyan woman, being cast in Nolan’s movie. It’s a “complete rewriting of history,” Finnerty complained, since the fictional character, Helen of Troy, “was not Black.”
Musk went on a days-long posting spree about the casting and the rumored selection of trans actor Elliot Page to play the warrior Achilles. “One of the dumbest and twisted things I’ve ever heard,” Musk wrote in a reply to an article reporting the rumor.
Page’s casting has not yet been confirmed, but Nolan revealed that Nyong’o would play Helen in an interview with Time earlier this month. Others cast in the film include Oscar winners Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and Charlize Theron, as well as Zendaya, Tom Holland, and Robert Pattinson.
“I was so deeply honored to be entrusted with the role,” Nyong’o said in her first comments about the film, while steering clear of the ongoing discourse. “All you have to do is say nothing,” she added.
Nolan’s confirmation prompted Musk to elevate his attack strategy, targeting former Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences President David Rubin, who oversaw the implementation of the Academy Awards’ Representation and Inclusion Standards, claiming the director only cast Nyong’o because he “wants the awards.”
“F--- YOU, Rubin, you f---ing douchbag![sic]” Musk wrote in an X post.
Despite his and others’ meltdowns, Nyong’o told the site that she’s enjoying the ride. In addition to Helen, she will also play Helen’s sister in the epic, Clytemnestra. Plans for her character are under tight wraps, and she doesn’t mind keeping the secrets. “I love it,” she said.
The star is unlikely to be surprised by outbursts like MAGA’s over her casting, as she told the site, “This is an industry where commerce is governing the art. The commercial part of it is unimaginative. Something like Sinners will happen, and then every studio will look for its new vampire movie. So the lack of imagination exists anyhow, and then it’s just exacerbated by the racial component.”
What’s more, as for the implication that she is not “beautiful” enough to play Helen, the actress said, “You can’t perform beauty.”
“I want to know who a character is. What is beyond beauty? What is beyond looks? That’s the thing about doing such a well-known text, which has been studied and interpreted and derived from. The research could be endless. The good thing about working with a writer like Chris is that it’s on the page. The investigation starts with the pages you’re given. That’s what I based it on.”
On a personal level, Nyong’o said she knows how to block out the noise.
“I was talking to students at Yale yesterday, and the very teacher who put me on tape for 12 Years a Slave was interviewing me. She read out all the directors I’ve worked with, and I thought to myself, ‘Wow, when you put it like that…’ And in that moment, I was reminded that I am loved.”
She continued, “So I can’t spend my time thinking about all the people who still don’t love me. You’ll find the representatives who believe in you, and you’ll get on with it. I want to believe I’m built to last.”
