Universal Pictures’ new trailer for The Odyssey is facing a barrage of criticism over the actors’ out-of-place accents and modern dialogue.
Directed by Christopher Nolan, the forthcoming epic is an adaptation of Homer’s epic poem, starring Matt Damon as the Greek hero Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope and Tom Holland as their son Telemachus. It also features Robert Pattinson, Zendaya and Charlize Theron.
In the latest teaser released Tuesday, Odysseus begs Calypso (Theron) to help him return home to his family after the 10-year Trojan War. While he’s been away fighting for his people, Penelope has attracted a band of suitors vying for her hand in marriage, including Antinous (Pattinson).
“I want you to choose me,” Antinous says, to which Penelope responds: “Ithica’s King is coming back.” Antinous disagrees: “No, he’s not.”
A following scene shows Antinous confronting Telemachus. “You’re pining for a daddy you didn’t even know,” he growls, “like some sniveling bastard.”
Several fans have taken issue with the actors’ American accents and the use of the term “daddy” — elements they say feel ill-suited to the ancient Greek setting of The Odyssey.
“The American accents are incredibly jarring for a movie in this time period,” one person wrote on Reddit, with a second arguing: “They should really all have British accents. Somehow that works better with history s***.”
“It just feels wrong,” a third said.
One pointed to Pattinson’s “daddy” line, calling it “so out of place in a sword & sandals movie with this much gravitas.”
“Agreed,” a second commented. “It felt so out of place. Same with Matt Damon’s ‘Lets Go!’ I’m hoping the dialogue isn’t too contemporary and pulls the viewer out of the period.”
Another suggested that the modern dialogue “has to be intentional.”
“For something as big as The Odyssey, you’d think they’d make the way the characters speak to each other sound less…modern?” someone added.
On X, others felt similarly. “Literally took me right out. Where’s the accents….wheres the grammar of that time period!?” one lamented, while a second questioned: “Dad …dad? …in that era…, I was expecting — ‘My father is coming home.’ Am I the only one who is a bit uncomfortable with this?”
Nolan announced he was adapting The Odyssey in December 2024, months after winning his first Oscar for his Cillian Murphy-led historical drama Oppenheimer.
During a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the director revealed that he first encountered The Odyssey during a school play aged “four or five.” Nolan acknowledged it’s “a story that we all kind of know a bit about,” but assured fans his adaptation would allow them to “come to it really fresh.”
The Odyssey is out in theaters July 17.
