‘The Odyssey’: All the Ways Christopher Nolan’s Movie Is Different From the Book

When the first footage from Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” dropped, some of the worst people on Al Gore’s internet lost their minds (Elon Musk chief among them). They decried its inaccuracies, even though Homer’s epic poem is not only mythological, but also part of an oral tradition where it was expanded upon and reshaped over centuries. To disallow artistic license when it comes to “The Odyssey” is to deny its very essence.

It stands to reason that Nolan, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “Oppenheimer” and “Inception,” would take creative liberties with Homer’s tale in order to trim a 600-page story into a 3-hour film and put his own stamp on it. His Odysseus (Matt Damon) is a broken man haunted by visions of the Trojan War who, aided by the guidance of Athena (Zendaya), clashes with gods, sirens, giants, scylla and a cyclops on his 10-year journey home to Ithaca, where his loyal wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and callow son Telemachus (Tom Holland) are fending off dozens of suitors, led by the cruel Antinous (Robert Pattinson), vying for her hand — and Odysseus’s throne.

Nolan’s adaptation of “The Odyssey” deviates from Homer’s tale in a number of ways. Here are all the differences between movie and book.

[Warning: Spoilers ahead…]

Penelope & Telemachus

One of Nolan’s major changes to Homer’s epic poem concerns two of its central characters: Odysseus’ wife and son. In the book, Telemachus berates his mother on several occasions, even ordering her to her chambers to resume weaving after she requests a “less painful” song from the bard, commanding, “Speech will be the business of men, all of them, and of me most of all; for mine is the power in this house.” His condescension toward his mother surely represents patriarchal attitudes of the period. Nolan reversed their roles in the film, with Penelope frequently upbraiding Telemachus for his immaturity and even proclaiming how, if she had her way, she would watch the suitors “burn” to death. This is a more self-possessed Penelope than we’ve ever seen.

Sinon & Antinous

The character of Sinon, a double-crossing Greek soldier (and Odysseus’ cousin) who tricks the Trojans into bringing the Trojan Horse inside the walls of Troy, isn’t mentioned in “The Iliad” or “The Odyssey,” but rather Virgil’s “Aeneid.” Nolan repurposed the character, played by Elliot Page, in his film, turning him into an Ithacan shepherd boy who took Antinous’ place in being drafted for the war, and is misled by Odysseus into sacrificing his life so that the Trojan Horse can be brought inside Troy. Later, when Odysseus encounters Sinon’s dead soul in Hades, the fallen soldier tasks him with returning a totem to Antinous to remind him of his cowardice. It’s an interesting narrative choice by Nolan that casts Antinous, the most notorious of Penelope’s suitors, as even more of a spineless ass.

Helen of Troy & Clytemnestra

While both are minor characters in Homer’s poem, Nolan’s made a few changes to the characters. Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra twin sisters in the film when they are half-sisters in the book, and left Helen of Troy with a giant scar across her face as a mark of shame for its launching a thousand ships.

The Laestrygonians

If you were one of the many people curious if those heavily-armored, sword-wielding giants Odysseus and his crew clash with in “The Odyssey” trailer were in the book, well, they aren’t. Nolan took considerable creative liberties with the Laestrygonians, a tribe of man-eating giants descended from Poseidon. In Homer’s tale, they consume many of Odysseus’s men and lay waste to 11 of their 12 ships by hurling giant boulders at them. The film sees the Laestrygonians reimagined as gargantuan armored knights who trap Odysseus’s men in cages formed by manipulating the forest woods, destroying two of his three ships in the process.

Phaeacians & Lotus-Eaters

Naturally, Nolan had to make some cuts to trim a 600-page book into a 3-hour film, and thus chose to nix Odysseus and his crew’s time on Scheria with the Phaeacians, who are known for their impressive ships. On Scheria, Princess Nausicaa guides Odysseus to King Alcinous and Queen Arete, who agree to transport him to Ithaca on one of their mighty ships after he regales them with stories of the Trojan War. Odysseus and his men also land on an island of lotus-eaters, where his soldiers consume the lotus and subsequently stop caring about returning home, before Odysseus forces them back on their ships. This episode is missing from Nolan’s film as well. Instead, the filmmaker has Calypso (Charlize Theron) feed Odysseus the lotus so he forgets about wanting to return home.

Cyclops

Odysseus’s wittiest ploy in Homer’s tale concerns him and his men’s escape from the clutches of Polyphemus, the giant cyclops (and son of Poseidon). First, Odysseus tells the cyclops his name is “Nobody,” so when they ply him with wine and then blind him with a sharpened stake, he cries out to his concerned neighbors who hear his wails of pain, “Nobody is hurting me!” Then, Odysseus and his fellow soldiers sneak out of the cyclops’ cave by fastening themselves to the bottom of sheep, since the cyclops rubs the tops of his flock as they leave the cave. The “nobody” joke is missing from Nolan’s film, as is the plying with wine and the tying-to-sheep gambit; rather, Odysseus and his men escape the cave after blinding the cyclops by wearing shrubbery on their backs.

Sex

Odysseus is a far more conflicted character in Homer’s tale, succumbing to sex with Calypso on her island for seven years and getting the sorceress-goddess Circe to release his men from her spell in exchange for his bedding her. Nolan has changed Odysseus into a fully loyal wife guy who’s imprisoned on Calypso’s island by consuming memory-erasing lotus and turns the tables on Circe (Samantha Morton, extraordinary) when he holds a blade to her sister, who’s been transformed into a crow.

The Accents

Every character in Nolan’s film not only has an American accent but does little to adjust their tone of voice. It’s especially jarring in the cases of Benny Safdie’s ruthless warrior Agamemnon, since Safdie doesn’t exactly have the most imposing of voices (the film also goes through great pains to avoid showing Safdie’s face), and Jon Bernthal’s Menelaus, king of Sparta, who sounds just like, well, streetwise Jon Bernthal. Having every actor affect a Greek accent would be a bit much, so perhaps the British-accent route, a la “I, Claudius,” would prove less distracting.

The Gods

While Zendaya’s Athena, who mostly pops up to approve (smile) or disapprove (shakes head) of Odysseus’ actions, Hades, god of the Underworld, Calypso and Circe all make appearances in Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” the other Gods are noticeably absent from Nolan’s film. There are no Zeus or Poseidon or Ino or Heracles sightings, and the herald Hermes, who has a pretty big role in Homer’s tale — freeing Odysseus from Calypso and giving him a magical herb to shield him from Circe’s spells — is nowhere to be found.

The Disguise

The back half of Homer’s tale sees Odysseus spending a lot of time wandering around Ithaca, embedding with the suitors and gathering intel on who remains loyal to him whilst disguised as a wrinkled old beggar, courtesy of Athena. Nolan’s film does away with the wrinkled-old-man ruse, instead having Odysseus shield his bruised-and-battered face with the hood of his cloak.

Ambush

In Homer’s “Odyssey,” Penelope’s suitors, led by Antinous, lay a trap for Telemachus — who’s sailed off to find word of his missing father — waiting in a vessel at the island of Asteris and ready to attack. Athena warns Telemachus of the assassination attempt, allowing him to bypass the strait and evade the suitors. Nolan’s film has Telemachus and his trusted advisor, Mentor (Ryan Hurst), ambushed by the suitors at a temple dedicated to Apollo. Mentor is killed, but Telemachus narrowly escapes with his life thanks to Odysseus, who lays waste to the suitors in beggar garb. Antinous, meanwhile, has remained in Ithaca.

Laertes

The single biggest character omitted from Nolan’s take on “The Odyssey” is Laertes, Odysseus’s aged father and the former king of Ithaca. Laertes, a once heroic warrior, is the one Penelope is weaving that shroud for that she undoes every night, hoodwinking her suitors. Consumed with grief over his son’s 20-year absence — the same grief that claimed the life of his wife (and Odysseus’ mother) Anticlea — he’s abandoned the palace of Ithaca and retired to his farm, withering away while awaiting Odysseus’ return. Odysseus’ reunion with Laertes on the farm is one of the most emotional scenes in the book, as well as a troubling example of Odysseus’s gaslighting fetish, as he torments his father by posing as a stranger before revealing his true identity. Thanks to the powers of Athena, Laertes joins Odysseus in battle against the revenge-seeking families of the slain suitors, killing Eupeithes, the father of Antinous.

Slaying the Suitors

In Nolan’s take on “The Odyssey,” after stringing his bow and firing an arrow through a line of axes, Odysseus single-handedly takes on the suitors, vanquishing one after another and sustaining near-fatal wounds in the process. Telemachus’ lone contribution is killing Melanthius, the traitorous Ithacan farmhand, thus preventing him from continuing to arm the suitors. The slave women are spared, and, after witnessing Odysseus’ bravery, many of the suitors stop fighting and bend the knee to their rightful king. Homer’s version is much more brutal and boasts a far more heroic Telemachus, who fights alongside his father against the suitors, with the duo (and two loyal servants, aided by Athena) killing every last one of the bastards. Then, Telemachus and Odysseus force the slave women who’d slept with the suitors to clean the blood off the floors before they’re hanged. As for Melanthius? His death is the most gruesome of all: he is first bound, then has his ears, nose, hands, feet and genitals chopped off. Ouch.

The Ending

Nolan’s film ends with Penelope immediately embracing a heavily wounded Odysseus after his suitors’ battle royale, Telemachus crowned king, and Odysseus and Penelope sailing off into the sunset, having been forced into exile after the vengeful war hero sent so many Ithacan suitors to Hades. Homer’s poem has wise Penelope test Odysseus by requesting that he move their bed. Odysseus tells her that he’d carved the bed out of an olive tree and it cannot be moved (correct answer!) and the two lovingly embrace. Then, the families of the slain suitors assemble and vow revenge, clashing with Odysseus, Telemachus, Laertes and the loyal servants — only to have Athena intervene and abruptly put a stop to the fighting.