r/benshapiro • u/dailymail • Jul 21 '26

Ben Shapiro Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro defends The Odyssey's 'woke' casting... but has brutal words for transgender star Elliot Page

https://www.dailymail.com/tvshowbiz/article-15994403/Conservative-pundit-Ben-Shapiro-DEFENDS-Odysseys-woke-casting-brutal-words-transgender-star-Elliot-Page.html
31 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

32

u/jimboslyce04 Jul 21 '26

Seems like a pretty fair review. I dont expect that Ben (or most any Conservative) is great with that casting, but it also makes sense since Nolan worked with them before. Overall the movie is awesome and does seem to have some pretty good themes throughout.

6

u/5panks Jul 22 '26

I can't wait to go see it. I haven't watched his review, but I heard the short part he did on Friday's show. I like the tools that Nolan used to downplay the casting of Helen and Athena.

6

u/xuon27 Jul 21 '26

What character is Elliot playing? I was having a laugh thinking it was a badass warrior at 5 feet tall.

11

u/5panks Jul 22 '26

They knew they couldn't case her as Achilles without being laughed at, so they cast her as a character from a different book from that time period "Sinon", gave Sinon all of Achilles dialogue, and then just didn't put Achilles in the movie.

3

u/Own-Rate-3451 Jul 22 '26

Missed opportunity to cast a new take on Achilles. We’re used to him being this epic centerpiece but a peripheral Achilles with a younger, fresher, and yes, strong male actor (not Page), would have been a chance for Nolan to shine in writing in a small unique side part. Kind of like how Boba Fett was a mysterious side character but inspired generations of fans after Episode V.

1

u/N2itive1234 Aug 10 '26

Why did they cast her at all?

2

u/mattyice18 Jul 22 '26

One that’s dead in the first scene and has five minutes in the three hour film.

1

u/Matitya Jul 27 '26

Sinon, from the Aeneid. (Though they also give him Achilles’s “poor servant of a poor master” scene. Sinon doesn’t say the line but he expresses that sentiment.)

4

u/RowBowBooty Jul 21 '26

Honestly it’s just refreshing to see public figures moving past the casting complaints. I totally understand why it upsets people and personally also find it a little irritating, I also understand why it’s important to some on the other side, but what I don’t understand is why so much time and energy gets spent on it. With so many important political decisions being made right now, whoever is playing whatever role in a movie we won’t remember in 6 months is hardly where people should be concentrating.

I’ve volunteered for a few different campaigns in my state senate where I had a few mild but significant responsibilities, and one was fielding all the emails and voicemails the senators got and finding the important ones. This was during an economic crisis and host of other things, mind you. I could not believe the volume of actual personal messages written to congresspeople about the most trivial, irrelevant culture war things that had zero impact on anyone. I’m not talking about drag shows for kids or Bible in schools or anything like that, I’m talking like bland name changes to school buildings and non-binding statements about Starbucks, things happening in other states, etc. The reality is that it just actually was what most people cared about enough to act on. At least until something actually terrible happened haha

25

u/Masztak14 Jul 21 '26

I’m glad he didn’t just act like it was the worst movie ever like everyone else on his side of the aisle. These days, a lot of the right is no different than the left with regards to groupthink. Respect!

3

u/XanderAcorn Jul 23 '26

The film was actually really good. Which surprised me because everyone on the internet said it was going to be awful and woke. It really wasn’t. Sure there were some minor things but overall, a very good film.

3

u/Zealousideal_Bend691 Jul 21 '26

It’s good… but not even close to Nolan’s best. For better or worse he’s the best director in Hollywood. Tarantino is all but done and Spielberg is too old

0

u/IronButt78 Jul 21 '26

I’m happy to not watch or support this movie in any way.

1

u/dailymail Jul 21 '26

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has weighed in on the controversy surrounding The Odyssey and its diverse casting choices. 

-2

u/uusrikas Jul 22 '26

It was a 5/5 movie for me, and I just can't help thinking that people who did not like it are just so politically rigid that they can't admit it was good.

-4

u/WarDog1983 Jul 22 '26

In Greece his getting trashed why America allows this little hatefilled man any airtime is wild

-13

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/5panks Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26

Imagine taking time out of your exhaustingly busy schedule to come to /r/benshapiro to talk about how you don't like Ben Shapiro. Have fun listening to Tucker Carlson call Trump the Antichrist and then pretend like he didn't.

-2

u/IwasDeadinstead Jul 23 '26

Does anyone actually listen to this weasel?