Whoopi Goldberg tells Odyssey critics to skip Elliot Page film
Goldberg defended Elliot Page’s casting on The View as Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey passes $300 million after a record opening weekend.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Whoopi Goldberg’s message to people angry about Elliot Page being in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey was short: if the casting bothers you, stay home.
On Tuesday’s episode of The View, Goldberg responded to online complaints about the film’s ensemble, including a video of Ben Shapiro objecting to Page’s role and saying it was “stupid to cast Elliot Page as a dude” in the adaptation.
Goldberg said some conservatives may share that reaction, but questioned why critics would spend energy on a movie they do not want to watch.
“If you don’t want to see it, then don’t go see it,” Goldberg said on the ABC daytime show. “Why do you care who’s cast in it?”
She continued, “You don’t like Elliot Page? Don’t go see the damn movie. Don’t do it. We will be okay if you don’t go see it.”
The exchange came as Deadline reported that The Odyssey has passed $300 million after a record opening weekend. Page, a trans actor, plays the Greek soldier Sinon. The online backlash also followed earlier speculation that Page would play Achilles, according to Deadline.
Goldberg was not the only View co-host defending the film. Alyssa Farrah Griffin called The Odyssey “a masterpiece” and argued that complaints about the movie being “woke” missed what she described as a conservative theme running through it.
Griffin said the film is about loyalty to family, faith, institutions and the consequences of war. She said she did not understand why conservative viewers could not embrace the movie as “a really excellent film with a good message for families.”
Joy Behar said critics were focused on “woke,” and Griffin replied that she saw nothing woke in the film.
Sarah Haines also criticized people weighing in without having watched the movie. She said there is “a unique ignorance” in commenting on something unseen and compared it to refusing to vote, then complaining about the result.
“You cannot not see the film and complain about how awful it is, when you haven’t seen the film,” Haines said, adding that she agreed with Griffin’s praise of the movie.
The casting debate around Nolan’s The Odyssey has stretched beyond Page. Deadline reported that Elon Musk and Matt Walsh were among those who criticized the casting of Oscar-winning Black actor Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. Others have criticized the casting of Black musician Travis Scott.
Nolan previously dismissed the backlash as “irrelevant,” according to Deadline, because much of it came before the movie had been released. He said such criticism “comes with the territory” when adapting a major piece of intellectual property.
The Odyssey follows Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, as he tries to return home after the Trojan War to Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway, and Telemachus, played by Tom Holland.
The cast also includes Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Bill Irwin, Samantha Morton, Jesse Garcia, Will Yun Lee, Rafi Gavron, Shiloh Fernandez and Mia Goth.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.