Update: The first reactions are in, with Variety naming Nyong’o’s performance among the career-best of the cast, as the trailer’s dislikes hit 566,000.
Lupita Nyong’o has new comments circulating on premiere day, and they’ve handed the backlash its next round of ammunition.
Speaking with the YouTube channel DC Film Girl during the film’s press junket, the Helen of Troy actress was asked about the resilience of the two women she plays.
Her answer: “What Chris is interested in this film is investigating the cost of war. When you read the Iliad and the Odyssey, very little time is spent in the perspective of the women. It’s told from a very masculine side of things. But this film takes time to really consider things from the female perspective. And so we see in Helen and Clytemnestra how this war has affected them both, and they respond to it very differently because their experience of it is very different.”
She closed the thought by saying it was enriching to take the time to humanize the two women and consider what that era looked like for them.
Two Clips, One Pile-On
Another clip is also going viral on X, with millions of views, from a different interview: Jake Hamilton’s Jake’s Takes sit-down with the cast, where Hamilton asked the ensemble a hypothetical: if you were sitting in a theater next to Homer and could ask him about your performance, what would you ask?
The cast answered with bits. Damon joked Homer’s first reaction would be that the IMAX is awesome.
Nyong’o’s answer: “So, Homer, how do you feel about the screen time given to these women considering how little you spent with them?” Followed, with Hamilton egging her on, by a grinning “remember us?”
Premiere Day Keeps Getting Louder
The timing compounds everything.
The clips caught fire on the same day the countdown trailer crossed 500,000 dislikes, a day after Elon Musk called Nolan “a worm”, and days after the casting backlash went international via Le Monde.
Nyong’o has consistently declined to defend herself against the criticism, telling Elle in May that the criticism will exist whether she engages with it or not.
She also found herself in the hot seat over resurfaced Black Panther comments and comments about her Woman King exit.
The first premiere reactions are due within hours.
For everything confirmed and still rumored about the film, see our full guide to Nolan’s The Odyssey.
