Elon Musk Backs Mel Gibson's 'Historically Accurate' Odyssey Remake After Criticising Christopher Nolan's Film

Elon Musk has backed a proposal for Mel Gibson to direct a historically accurate remake of Homer's Odyssey after criticising Christopher Nolan's recent film adaptation. The SpaceX and Tesla chief responded 'I'm down' on X to a suggestion he provide $100 million (£74.8 million) for the project featuring painstakingly authentic ships, armour, weapons and casting with all dialogue in Homeric Greek.

Nolan's The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, opened last weekend to strong numbers and reviews despite the backlash over its casting choices.

Musk's Longstanding Objections to the Nolan Film

Musk has repeatedly taken issue with the casting in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. He accused the director of selecting Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy in order to win awards and claimed Nolan had lost his integrity.

The film also features Elliot Page in a supporting role, which drew further comment from Musk in earlier posts on the platform. Despite the online criticism, the picture achieved a global opening of $264.1 million (£197.4 million) and earned near-universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike according to review aggregators.

The blockbuster's success has not deterred Musk from pursuing alternatives he considers more faithful to the source material. As of 23 July 2026 the debate continues online among fans of classical literature and cinema who question modern interpretive choices in epic adaptations of ancient texts from the Greek tradition.

The Viral Pitch for Gibson's Involvement

A user on X proposed that Musk give Mel Gibson the funds for an Odyssey adaptation with historically accurate details and dialogue delivered straight from the original poem in Homeric Greek. Musk's two-word reply immediately attracted widespread attention across the platform and beyond into mainstream coverage.

Gibson is known for period dramas such as Braveheart and Apocalypto, though some observers have noted that his films sometimes take liberties with historical records in service of dramatic effect. No formal agreement has been announced and it remains unclear whether the project will proceed beyond the initial exchange of messages on the social network.

Supporters of the idea argue it would restore fidelity to Homer's text after what they see as modern alterations in the Nolan version. The proposal specifies authentic ships, armour, weapons and casting to match the Bronze Age setting of the epic poem as closely as possible for a modern cinema audience seeking authenticity.

Musk's Separate Plan for an AI Generated Version

In parallel Musk announced that his xAI tool Grok Imagine would produce a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer before the end of the year. He shared an early AI-generated clip depicting a scene from the poem involving Odysseus and Calypso.

The AI project offers a rapid alternative should the live-action Gibson idea fail to materialise in the coming months or years ahead. Observers note that producing a feature-length film with current AI technology remains ambitious given the complexities of narrative coherence and visual consistency over an extended runtime of two hours or more.

Musk has expressed interest in seeing both approaches to the classical material play out in practice. Whether either initiative advances beyond social media posts is uncertain at this stage but the exchanges have highlighted ongoing discussions about adaptation fidelity in major studio productions of classical works from antiquity.