Christopher Nolan has defended taking creative liberties with his upcoming film The Odyssey. In a recent interview, the Oscar-winning filmmaker said adapting the epic for modern audiences required changes to the original text.

Nolan said adapting the ancient poem into a feature film posed unique challenges because the original audience was already familiar with the story.

“When you look at the text of the poem, it has really incredible payoffs. But the set-ups that a movie requires aren't there in an epic poem because its audience is familiar with the elements. So when Odysseus encounters Argos near the end of the poem, you know, his faithful hunting dog ... his audience knows it's coming. For us, we have to set that up. Once I sort of started to figure out that, okay, you have to take some liberties with it, you've got to move some things around in order to try and get across the impression that you had from experiencing the poem, you know, that's when things started to gain momentum,” Nolan told Reuters.

Asked whether he wanted to educate audiences through the film, Nolan said entertainment remained the primary goal.

“For me, we're making the film for people who know nothing about Homer and this epic poem, and we make it for people who are very interested in that world and love it. You have to make it work for everybody,” he said.

Composed more than 2,000 years ago, The Odyssey is one of the world's most widely read works of literature. Nolan's adaptation stars Matt Damon as Odysseus alongside Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron and Robert Pattinson.

The film has drawn criticism for not casting any Greek actors, particularly the decision to cast Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy. Critics have also questioned the historical accuracy of the armour and weapons used by several characters.

The controversy has been driven by several far-right Greek figures and amplified on social media by Elon Musk.