Kelsey Grammer is fed up with Hollywood taking creative liberties when it comes to historical films. The actor is calling out modern filmmaking for ignoring history.
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Grammer appeared on The Katie Miller Podcast. Talks turned to The Odyssey with Podcaster Katie Miller asking, "Hollywood seems determined to reinvent nearly every classic, like 'The Odyssey,' and distort it just a little bit to fit their views. Have you watched 'The Odyssey'?"
"I haven't seen 'The Odyssey,' so I'm not really too aware of that," Grammer said. However, he said that he is a bit frustrated by the lack of accuracy with films. "I think old England is probably full of White people... I think historical significance should be respected a little bit, culturally."
The actor noted that things are starting to pivot now with things.
"Yeah. They're probably figuring it out. I think eventually flopping doesn't work so well," Grammer said. "We're not shooting a lot of movies these days. But I mean, I'm glad they made 'The Odyssey.' I mean, I don't know if they've, you know, pitched it too far in to our particular culture to divorce you from the idea of what actually happened."
Kelsey Grammer Calls Out Hollywood
Meanwhile, Emily Wilson, who translated Homer's The Odyssey, called out the film for failing to capture the spirit of the poem.
"I had hoped that Nolan's affinity with these Homeric themes might push him to new creative heights, and enable him to conjure more believable characters. But 'The Odyssey' features his usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality ... the film's vision is too confused, its characters too underdeveloped, to deliver what it half-promises in terms of big ideas - although it is very good at conveying big bangs and big giants," Wilson's scathing review reads.
She also adds, "Nolan's Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great. It has nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war, or about the relationship between one warrior's glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends and neighbors. It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible."
