I mean, we can just decide to not go and see it. "Vote with your wallet" or however the saying goes. What do we care if Hollywood wants to waste it's money on things?
In a monetary way, you are correct. On the other hand, I care because if this doesn't fail at the box office, an entire generation of kids is likely to view this as their introduction to one of the greatest and foundational epics of Western Civilization. A story told millions of times, around millions of campfires, for thousands of years.
Like my Dad, for thousands of years, literate parents have read this to their tiny children, and adults have seen themselves reflected in the timeless characters portrayed in the story.
What bothers me about the way this movie seems to be handled (and I won't be certain it is out) is that the narrative changes are so out of context and all over the place.
For example, Helen, her actual father was supposed to be the God Zeus, who turned himself into a swan to seduce her mother to come over and pet the animal, and then he raped her. Want a black Helen that fits the narrative, or at least doesn't break it? Have Zeus turn into something mythical in Greece: A Black Swan.
Simple, elegant, and does not require the same actress to play her siter. But now pick the most talented and beautiful black women you can find, probably someone like the actress they are using, who is actually mixed race (I'm guessing black, Spanish, and Native American). The current actress might pull that off if the costuming and such were done correctly, make her look like a Princess of Sparta, but that's not what I'm seeing from the previews.
The one that I hope isn't true, either that or I hope the individual is the most talented actor ever seen, is the rumor that 100 pounds of Eliot Page are supposed to play the part of the greatest warrior of Bronze Age Greece. Achilles can be played by a delicate actor, after all, he was hidden on the girls' side of the castle when the military came looking for him. But he needs to be tallish, well-muscled for his size, and look like a hero.
I like some of Eliot's work, and I could see him in several major roles in this sort of epic, perhaps even as Petroculus (though that's a stretch). Since one wore the other's armor in battle, at least once, they have to be around the same size, though. While I don't know if it will be in an Odyssey movie, I think Eliot would be brilliant as the very twisted and deranged son of Achilles, who shows up at the end of the Iliad and demands a young Trojan Princess be sacrificed to be a bride for his dead father.
Heck, I could even see him playing Paris, except I suspect the actress playing Helen is too tall for that to work.
In any case, there are plenty of roles in the epic that can be played by all sorts of actors from all sorts of backgrounds. There's the queen who keeps Odysseus enchanted (a couple of them, actually), who could be of any race; there are crew members who can be played with, as they are not well fleshed out in the original story.
There are all kinds of things a good director can do to encourage a greater diversity of casting without creating this sort of situation. The demands that award-winning films include specific categories of people are also crazy, in my opinion. This isn't staffing a law office; this is entertainment and storytelling.
Sometimes things surprise you. I had to write a performance script for the abduction of Demeter, and at the last moment, my Apollo, who was the narrator, became ill and was replaced by an actor friend who was about 6'4" and looked like he should be playing Chaka Zulu.
It was a small performance, I was terrified, and he completely won the day. A professional actor can convince you they are almost anything if they are good enough. But the average person or audience is only willing to go so far down that road if things are so completely unexpected that they break the narrative.
I suspect that this may be what happens here, so much "out-there" and obviously "woke" casting and scripting isn't likely to resonate with audiences. There may be some surprises, but I'm not too hopeful at this point.
en.wikipedia.org
