Universal Pictures unveiled the first look at Matt Damon in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey earlier this week – and with the movie having only started filming in January, none of us expected to get a glimpse of it so soon. With that, the internet went wild for the early image, though now it appears not everyone was thrilled with what they saw...
Based on Homer's epic poem of the same name, The Odyssey will follow Damon's Odysseus as he sets off on a 10-year journey from Troy, in the hope of reuniting with his wife Penelope and their son Telemachus. Along the way, though, he encounters all sorts of otherworldly threats including a cyclops and a sea monster.
"The Iliad literally describes Odysseus wearing a kino leather helmet adorned with boar tusks, but Hollywood can never resist the siren song of the generic ancient broom helmet. This helmet is like cocaine to costume designers," one disgruntled fan said of Damon's costume.
Another took to X to echo the criticisms, tweeting: "The Odyssey is set during the age of [heroes] (aka the Mycenaean period) some time around 1200 BC and so the helmets would have been of the boar tusk style, not the corinthian style. The corinthian helmet didn't come into use until the Archaic period, around 700 BC."
Others made clear they weren't bothered either way, however, with a third writing: "I really couldn't care less that the helmet Matt Damon wears in the Odyssey movie is 'historically inaccurate.' News flash: it’s a story! The whole thing never happened!"
As with Nolan, historians recently called out Ridley Scott for the artistic licenses he took with Gladiator 2. "It always amuses me when a critic says to me, 'This didn't happen in Jerusalem.' I say, 'Were you there? That’s the fucking answer'," the filmmaker candidly told Total Film back in November 2023.
The Odyssey releases on July 17, 2026. Benny Safdie, Himesh Patel, Elliot Page, Will Yun Lee, Lupita Nyong'o, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and Tom Holland are all lined up to star alongside Damon.
While we wait, check out our roundup of the best Christopher Nolan movies if you're in the mood for more of his works.
