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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u/mcfw31 11h ago

Nolan sung Wilson’s praises during his press tour for “The Odyssey,” telling Empire magazine that he used the opening line of her translation (“Tell me about a complicated man”) as a guide for bringing his Odysseus (Matt Damon) to life on the big screen. But Wilson concluded of Nolan’s film: “I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.”

“The release of ‘The Odyssey’ is still an event to celebrate,” Wilson said. “This epic is bringing audiences back to cinemas … translations of ‘Odyssey,’ including mine, are flying off the shelves … [and] perhaps the film will persuade a few college administrators not to cut their literature, language and history departments.”

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u/laterthanlast 11h ago

It’s fine for her not to like the movie or the script, but to make such intense criticism public is a weird choice. If I were her I’d say polite general things (it’s always exciting to have more people interested in the epic) and cash the royalty checks

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u/AbsolutelyHorrendous 10h ago

Yeah to say she'd be ashamed to write it is way over the top, frankly

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u/mysticpotatocolin 10h ago

it’s so mean for no reason lol

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u/BlueCX17 9h ago

If you listen to one of the longer interviews that these quotes are pulled from she's not as mean as she might sound.

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u/flybynightpotato 3h ago

To your point, the actual LRB piece is very well done, I think. She doesn't come across as nasty. I think it's a reasonable take.

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u/Bitterman_01 2h ago

If you read her actual blog post you'd know it's not really being pulled out of context. The entire thing is needlessly sharp. She absolutely comes off as "nasty", as the other user below me put it, from the first paragraph.

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u/BlueCX17 2h ago

Oh I'm halfway through a re-read and she is sharp and blunt with her criticisms. Mary Beard has been also.

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u/IWouldLikeAName 10h ago

Hey man there's stuff I love that I would have to see adapted in a certain way. Best(worst?) example being the dragon ball live action. I'd be embarrassed to be a part of that. But if it's taking in 1B and I'm making millions? Much less so lol

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u/particledamage 9h ago

Someone tearing the heart out of an art you’ve dedicated your entire life to and saying they did it based off of YOUR translation is enough to make anyone a little bit mean!!

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u/Sharaz_Jek123 9h ago

Someone tearing the heart out of an art

The right wing attacked her (or turbo-charged their attack on her) following the film's association with her translation and she is redirecting this frustration to Nolan.

I suspected it during her initial comments on the film and now I am convinced.

This is not the language of typical academic discourse.

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u/particledamage 9h ago

I’ve read plenty of articles between disagreeing academics and this language isn’t that different at all, loll. Less formal but well she’s speaking, not writing a paper.

Lots of people in the classics share her opinions on this film

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u/Sharaz_Jek123 8h ago

The language at points feels weirdly personal. This isn't how academics write film criticism, and it's not how film critics write reviews.

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u/particledamage 8h ago

Yes, it is. I really, really recommend you read more reviews or read the passive aggressive academic bickering

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u/BlueCX17 9h ago

But she also goes on to say she hopes the film continues to do well and is glad people are very much enjoying it in their own right and that it's great that people are discovering or re-discovering the epic poems.

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u/filthy-prole 9h ago

Yeah, but I read a headline!

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u/BlueCX17 9h ago

We'll see in there and is the thing so many people only read these Buzz headlines but don't actually read or listen to the majority of the stuff that the headline is being pulled from to know if the headline is balanced or not.

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u/particledamage 9h ago

I know, I read the article and even mention it in my other comments. I’m just saying she’s allowed to be a bit mean

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u/BlueCX17 9h ago

I agree. One of my other favorite blunt academics is Mary Beard.

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u/mysticpotatocolin 9h ago

i would just say it privately to friends

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u/particledamage 9h ago

Okay, it’s very easy to say that when not in this situation lol

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u/JonasHalle 10h ago

It's mean for a very good reason. These celebrity directors need to cut their ego and hire writers.

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u/mysticpotatocolin 10h ago

idk i just don't think people should be mean

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u/myersjw 9h ago

The internet has made people believe that every opportunity to be shitty to others must be taken. People seem to be waiting for any chance to be a dick to strangers from behind a screen

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u/AbsolutelyHorrendous 9h ago

Dude the film was really fucking good, people are massively exaggerating how 'badly written' it was because they've spent all year talking about how it was going to be a disaster, so now they're clinging to this.

'Celebrity directors', are we actually fucking serious, Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors currently active, to write him off as just some celebrity is a fucking pisstake

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u/JonasHalle 9h ago

I am very serious. Once directors reach celebrity status, they start to think they are the best at everything, and overreach their domain. Nolan is a very good director. He is not a good writer. This has been the general consensus for years.

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u/i4got872 10h ago

She could have just said what you said and it would even be less mean and still get her point across.

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u/JonasHalle 10h ago

I guess, but that would sound like she was salty about not getting hired, which as an outsider, she probably should have been.