Update: The first reactions arrived calling the film a triumph, with the trailer’s dislikes at 566,000 as they landed.
A day out from Monday night’s world premiere of The Odyssey in London, Elon Musk decided Christopher Nolan needed one more hit before the lights went down.
Replying to a viral post showcasing the countdown trailer’s dislikes, which have now passed 500,000, Musk wrote: “Chris Nolan desecrated Homer and groveled on his knees just to meet the woke rules required to win an Oscar. What a worm.”
The reply has pulled over 57,000 likes and 750,000 views in seven hours and climbing. The post Musk boosted, which called the backlash the most embarrassing moment of Nolan’s career, sits above a million views itself.
So instead of Universal heading into premiere night with the focus on Nolan, the cast, and the first reactions, the loudest story around The Odyssey is the owner of X calling the director a worm.
Premiere Night Just Got Worse For Universal
The timing lands like a hammer.
Musk’s post hit as Universal headed into Monday night’s premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square, with the first social reactions due out the same day and the full review embargo holding until July 15.
Universal spent the weekend posting its premiere photos with the replies locked as the trailer dislikes pushed toward 450,000.
The casting backlash went international days ago, with Le Monde reporting from Athens and citing Musk’s amplification as a driver.
The studio has locked every door it controls. Musk owns the platform where the conversation is happening, and he just made sure the backlash stays pinned to the top going into premiere night.
Musk Has Been Hammering Nolan For Six Months
Musk has been hammering the film since the day the Helen of Troy casting broke.
Back in January, when the Lupita Nyong’o casting first ignited, Musk declared “Chris Nolan has lost his integrity” in multiple replies.
By May, the attacks escalated. “Chris Nolan is pissing on Homer’s grave. Disgraceful,” Musk wrote in response to Variety’s coverage. Then came: “Chris Nolan has shown total contempt for the Greek people,” echoing the criticism from Greeks who called out the production. Then he went even further: “Chris Nolan is an anti-White racist.”
The biggest post came May 15, when Musk claimed Nolan “desecrated the Odyssey so that he would be eligible for an Academy Award.” That single post has racked up 379,000 likes and 70 million views, more eyeballs than the trailer itself has drawn on YouTube.
Variety reported at the time that Musk was also retweeting posts mocking Elliot Page, whose casting has been its own front in the controversy.
Thatâs the part Universal canât spin away. Musk has personally kept the casting fight alive for six months on the platform he owns, and tracking has shown general audience interest sliding across the same window.
The Awkward Part: Musk And The Nolans Go Way Back
Here’s what makes the “worm” line so strange: Elon Musk is not some random Nolan hater on the internet. He is a longtime friend of the Nolan family.
Musk and Jonathan Nolan, Christopher’s brother, co-writer on The Dark Knight and Interstellar, and creator of Westworld, have been close friends for years after meeting at a physics conference.
Jonathan famously brought Musk out as his surprise guest at the 2018 Westworld SXSW panel, was at ground control for the Falcon Heavy launch, and cut the “Starman” launch film with Musk as a passion project between friends.
And Jonathan hasn’t stayed neutral on the movie Musk keeps attacking. He gave The Odyssey its first public rave back in February, telling CinemaBlend after screening the full film that it’s “tremendous. It’s an incredible achievement,” and calling it a spectacular movie.
In other words, the first public endorsement The Odyssey ever received, before any critic or influencer saw a frame, came from Elon Musk’s close friend.
Musk was also a Christopher Nolan admirer, at least recently. In April 2024, responding to the famous Tenet 747 crash footage, Musk wrote simply: “Nolan is awesome.”
So that’s the full picture. Musk went from “Nolan is awesome” to “what a worm” in two years, aimed at his close friend’s brother, over a film that same friend screened in full and publicly called an incredible achievement.
Whether the friendship survives the campaign is a question for the Nolans’ next dinner party, but it shows how completely this casting fight has scrambled old alliances.
Now The First Reactions Have To Fight The Algorithm
The first reactions are now the counterpunch, and they have more to reverse than any premiere week should.
Universal needs a wave of raves loud enough to drown out a week where the trailer ratio exploded, the studio locked its own comment sections, the backlash went global, and the owner of the world’s loudest platform called the director a worm hours before the curtain goes up.
Nolan has silenced pre-release noise with the work before, and the $80 million to $100 million tracking says the outcome is still live.
But the megaphone against this movie isn’t a hashtag campaign. It’s one man with 200 million followers and the algorithm in his pocket.
And as of last night, he’s still swinging.
For everything confirmed and still rumored about the film, see our full guide to Nolan’s The Odyssey.
