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If there’s one thing Christopher Nolan’s films are known for, it’s their sense of humor.
Well, that’s not entirely true. Nolan’s films are dramatic, cinematic, and intensely exciting – among many other things – but… funny? Not really (except for a bit of dry, somewhat British wit, sometimes).
However, Nolan wanted to get a famous joke from Homer Odyssey In his epic reshuffle that begins this week, he was unable to make it work.
The joke is considered one of the oldest puns in the Western literary canon, a running gag that is nearly 3,000 years old.
In an interview on Daily show (Watch it here) Host Jon Stewart spoke highly of Nolan’s film, calling it “amazing” as well as heaping praise. Stewart said he watched the film with A.J Daily show Writer who studied the original Greek text.
“This is one that’s probably going to be a little difficult to watch Odyssey Stewart said.[The person] I love [the movie but] He had one note…
“Well, it’s a little too late,” Nolan said gamely (hey, some of that dry British wit).
“Apparently, there’s a joke Odysseus is playing with the Cyclops,” Stewart said. “He was very upset because he wasn’t in the movie.”
“I understand,” Nolan said. “It’s a pun. Puns in translation are difficult. I tried. It just couldn’t work.”
So that’s the joke.
(This contains very minor spoilers for the giant scene for those who haven’t read the original.)
In Homer’s version, the clever Odysseus (Matt Damon in the film) confronts the murderous giant in his cave. Odysseus first tells the creature that his name is “Nobody” (Otis In Greek). Later, when Odysseus drives a stake through the cyclops’ eye, the creature screams for help and the other cyclops come running. When asked who was attacking him, the giant shouted that “no one” does – so the others misunderstood him and left. As with the Trojan horse, giving a fake name was a trick that paid off later.
There’s additional wordplay with puns later, but you really have to delve into the original Greek for the jokes to work.
Speaking of the Trojan Horse, the sequence was a major departure from traditional filming, and all for the better. As shown in the trailer, Odysseus and his men leave the horse half-submerged on the beach rather than outside the gates of Troy on wheels, which seems like an obvious ruse.
“I was briefly attached to direct Troy – the film David Benioff wrote based on The Iliad,” Nolan said. “I came up with the idea of a horse half buried in the sand, about to be destroyed or carried away by the waves. And when the Trojans find it, the last thing it looks like – there are no wheels, and it doesn’t look like something that’s supposed to be carried into the city. That image stuck with me for decades. How can we present this to the audience in a way that they can believe? And that became the mantra for everyone in the film with every scene. People want to go on this journey with Let’s give them a reason to believe.”
“I guess what I’m saying is: Homer doesn’t have anything on you,” said an emotional Stewart.
Odyssey The film tells the story of the Greek hero Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his long, perilous journey home from the Trojan War to the kingdom of Ithaca, where his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway), son Telemachus (Tom Holland) and loyal servant Eumaeus (John Leguizamo) await his return. Along the way, he encounters mythical figures including the goddess Circe (Samantha Morton) and the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron), while Penelope is pursued by the treacherous suitor Antinous (Robert Pattinson). The film opens this week.
