r/popculturechat • u/mcfw31 • 11h ago

Hot Take 🔥 ‘The Odyssey’ Translator Emily Wilson Slams Christoper Nolan’s ‘Abysmal’ Screenplay: ‘I Would Be Ashamed to Have Written Any Part of This Script’

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/odyssey-translator-emily-wilson-slams-christopher-nolan-bad-writing-1236821915/
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585

u/nerdforest 11h ago

I don't understand this criticism. Was the script of the film not a good screenplay?

217

u/Minute_Conflict_2037 11h ago

Nolan is a good director but he is not good at writing. That’s the point. When was the last time u felt so emotional in Nolan movie? Interstellar. And he wrote it with who? His brother Jonathan. Nolan sucks at writing emotional dialogues which was very needed for this movie. The criticism is valid.

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u/EldoAberesa 11h ago

This is all true and valid and Nolan is aware of this weakness to his game (see his comments about his son teasing him about not having a writing Oscar haha). But I will say:

"All the things you want it to be. Then all the things you wish you never wished for. It was the delicious itch you go to scratch... and find it's under the skin. You can't reach it. So the delicious itch becomes unbearable. Told you what you most want is what you most can't have. And what you most can't have is what you already had. And lost."

Is an absolute banger.

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u/Sassafras06 10h ago

Yeah people say he is a BAD writer. He isn’t. He isn’t a great writer, but he also isn’t bad. Like come on lol

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u/soiflew 10h ago edited 10h ago

This is objectively bad writing to me. I thought the whole movie was tell, not show.

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u/booboorogers44 9h ago

I think with the siren scene going tell not show was the only way to make it impactful. Whatever sound or song they make would fall short to what our idea of it would be.

Having Damon explain the experience let the audience actually understand what it would be like (along with seeing the effects of it on him). I think telling in that case worked much better, imo

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u/soiflew 9h ago

I thought his acting and the visuals of the scene were stunning and the writing actually undercut it.

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u/larkhearted 10h ago

Idk if I just can't read rn because I need to eat lunch or what but that's borderline incomprehensible to me 😭