Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o has said she would question the ancient Greek poet Homer about the limited representation of women in his epics if she ever had the chance to meet him.
Nyong’o, who stars as Helen of Troy and her sister Clytemnestra in filmmaker Christopher Nolan's upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey, made the remarks during an interview with Jake Hamilton for Jake’s Takes.
Hamilton asked members of the film’s cast to imagine watching The Odyssey with Homer and what they would ask him after seeing the film.
“I would be like, ‘So, Homer, how do you feel about the screen time given to these women considering how little you spent with them?’,” Nyong’o replied.
When Hamilton jokingly asked if she would lean forward and give Homer a challenging look, Nyong’o responded, “Yes. Like, ‘Hmm? Remember us?’”.
In a separate interview with YouTube channel DC Film Girl during the film’s press tour, Nyong’o said Nolan's adaptation places greater emphasis on women’s perspectives than the original epics.
“What Chris is interested in this film is investigating the cost of war,” she said. “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.”
Nyong'o said this focus was one of the key reasons she was drawn to the project, rather than the mythology surrounding Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra.
Nolan’s The Odyssey has faced criticism online in recent months, with debate surrounding the casting of Nyong’o as Helen.
Earlier this year, speaking to Elle, the Oscar-winning actress said she had no intention of engaging with criticism over her casting in the film. “This is a mythological story. I’m very supportive of Chris’ intention with it and with the version of this story that he is telling.”
“Our cast is representative of the world. I’m not spending my time thinking of a defense. The criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not,” she added.
Also starring Matt Damon, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and Anne Hathaway, The Odyssey is set to hit theatres on July 17.