Elon Musk v The Odyssey: The Feud
episodePreviously titled “Musk v Odyssey the fued” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 4, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance.
How is Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey building record-breaking pre-sale buzz?
Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster, The Odyssey, comes out later this month and the film has already broken box office pre-sale records. It's amassed critical praise and caused a feud on Twitter between Elon Musk and Tom Holland, the historian, not the actor. Joining me to explain and discuss all of this is Chris Wasser, who's a film critic with the Sunday Independent. Good morning, Chris.
Clare, good morning. How are you?
I'm great, but I'm really interested now in the Odyssey because of what's happening with the pre-sale bookings. That is really unusual, isn't it?
Not for Nolan. I mean, Nolan is probably... For the director, Christopher Nolan. The director, Christopher Nolan. I mean, he is a franchise to himself at this stage and probably the most important asset in the Universal Studio organisation. He brings together, you know, arthouse lovers and popcorn munchers in the same theatre. They all come out for this guy. And I've been racking my brains this morning trying to think of another director who does that. Does Steven Spielberg do that? You know, he had a hit in the first couple of weekends with Disclosure Day, but that conversation has ended. Do the Russo brothers do that at Marvel only when they have a Marvel film? Does James Cameron do that? Maybe with the Avatar films, but we see him, you know, less and less these days.
Nolan, every three years, he just brings people back into the cinemas. As I say, he is so important to Universal. His home used to be Warner Brothers before they had an unfortunate accident. not a falling out, but they just parted ways with him not agreeing with their release schedule anymore. But he is the most important director there. And that is why they give him $250 million to make a film. I mean, after he finished Oppenheimer and after that, you know, won all the awards in the world, I'm sure nobody at Universal thought for his next trick, I'm going to, you know, create a massive epic based on, you know, Homer's Odyssey. But that's what he's done and they trust him with it. And that's why there's so much buzz about this.
Yeah, but it's kind of changing the movie star narrative on its head a little bit, isn't it?
Yeah.
People are chasing the director and not the big star.
Yeah, that's absolutely right. I mean, if you look at the cast, a conversation that people have been having about the Odyssey is who isn't in this film? Because you have Matt Damon, you have Anne Hathaway, you've got Tom Holland and Zendaya, John Berenthal, Robert Pattinson. I could go on. But it seems like everybody was called for. And also, you know, there's so many big names in there, but there might not be an awful lot of big parts. But that doesn't matter. People are queuing around the block just for even, you know, five minutes in the Christopher Nolan film.
Why is Christopher Nolan considered a cinema 'franchise' and major studio asset?
But it's not really the movie star that brings people out anymore. It is the directors. But even then, there are such few of them. But no, yeah, you couldn't have predicted this like 20 years ago when Chris Nolan was attempting to, you know, make Batman cool again on the big screen. That, you know, people would start showing up for his original stories, that they start showing up for his historical epics. his sci-fi thrillers, that they just see the name Nolan above the cinema and go, that's what we're going to go see tonight.
Now, I know a lot of people will be frustrated with the Elon Musk element of all of this, but I have to admit, it's what drew me into this last night when I saw the London Times report about the spat between Tom Holland, the historian, not the actor, I feel I have to say every single time I mention him, and Elon Musk. So will you explain to us what's going on?
Yes. So Elon Musk is not happy that Lupita Nyong'o, an extraordinary actress of Kenyan heritage, is playing Helen of Troy in this film. And he and another right wing space cadet, Matt Walsh, they would have tweeted an awful long time ago about how, you know, this is It's not right.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:09
2
How is Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey building record-breaking pre-sale buzz?
0:09–2:35
3
Why is Christopher Nolan considered a cinema 'franchise' and major studio asset?
2:35–8:26
4
Which big-name actors are in The Odyssey and how big are their roles?
8:26–11:43
5
What sparked the Elon Musk vs Tom Holland (the historian) Twitter feud over casting?
11:43–12:12
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Claire Byrne Show
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