WASHINGTON: Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced plans to produce an artificial intelligence-generated version of The Odyssey, saying the project will remain historically accurate and stay faithful to Homer’s original epic.
In a post on X, Musk said the film would be created using Grok Imagine, an AI-powered content generation platform. He stated that the adaptation would accurately reflect the historical setting and preserve the essence of Homer’s work. Alongside the announcement, Musk shared an AI-generated video of nearly three minutes featuring a scene between Odysseus and Calypso.
The announcement follows Musk’s recent support for a proposal by an X user suggesting that filmmaker Mel Gibson produce a historically accurate adaptation of The Odyssey with an estimated budget of $100 million. The proposal envisioned authentic ships, weapons, armour, characters and dialogue based directly on Homer’s original poem. Responding to the suggestion, Musk wrote, “I’m in.”
Musk has also been critical of filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey. In recent posts, he accused Nolan of altering the original story in pursuit of awards and argued that the film departed unnecessarily from the source material.
He further criticized the casting of actress Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, questioning the decision and alleging that Nolan’s creative choices reflected ideological considerations. Musk also described Nolan as having displayed racist tendencies, comments that have generated debate on social media.
Despite the criticism, Nolan’s The Odyssey has performed strongly at the global box office. According to industry reports, the film earned more than $264.06 million worldwide during its opening week, underscoring strong audience interest despite the controversy surrounding the adaptation.
