Leading up to the release of The Odyssey, there has been so much unwarranted and unnecessary outrage about Elliot Page‘s casting in the movie.
Viral tweets over the past couple months have claimed that Elliot would be playing Achilles in the film, with right-wing commentators comparing him to Brad Pitt as Achilles in the movie Troy. This led to outrage from conservatives who couldn’t fathom the idea of a transgender man playing Achilles.
While it shouldn’t be an issue if Elliot was playing Achilles to begin with, the outrage was completely unnecessary because he never was playing that role. Achilles isn’t even featured in The Odyssey.
Who does Elliot Page play in The Odyssey?
Elliot plays Sinon, a character who actually was never featured in Homer’s The Odyssey, but played an important role in the Trojan War.
Sinon’s story is featured in Virgil’s Aeneid, with him being described as a Greek warrior who deceives the Trojans and gets them to bring the Trojan Horse into the city, leading to the downfall of Troy.
In Christopher Nolan‘s movie The Odyssey, Sinon is chosen as a boy to enter the Greek army. Robert Pattinson‘s Antinous slyly switched spots with Sinon, forcing the boy to go into the army while he was spared.
Matt Damon‘s Odysseus betrays Sinon during the war, making Sinon think that he was left behind by the Greeks to present a “gift” for Athena. The Greeks were inside the Trojan Horse though. As Sinon was unaware of the plan, he was unable to give up the plan to the Trojans, leading to the horse being dragged into the city. He’s immediately killed by the Trojans.
Later in the movie, Sinon’s ghost appears and blames Odysseus for lying.
Christopher Nolan reacts to unwarranted controversy
Nolan himself reacted to people ranting about the movie without seeing it.
“These conversations that happen before people see the film — they’re always irrelevant, because no one having them knows what the film actually is yet,” he told The Telegraph.
Learn about every character in the movie.
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