Lupita Nyong’o is done letting others define what beauty looks like. In a new profile in Elle magazine, the Oscar-winning actress addressed the online backlash over her casting as Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film “The Odyssey,” pushing back on critics—including Elon Musk, who questioned whether a Black woman should play a character mythologized as the world’s most beautiful.
As theGrio previously reported, Alec Baldwin publicly defended Nyong’o after Musk amplified conservative commentator Matt Walsh’s objections to the casting, and Nyong’o has spoken openly about Hollywood’s history of trying to limit her to slave roles after her Oscar win. The Hollywood Reporter reported that the controversy heated up last week when Walsh posted that Nolan was “a coward, too afraid to do anything that even slightly challenges the spirit of the age.” Musk replied to the post with a single word: “True.”
Nyong’o addressed the debate with a clarity that left little room for debate.
“You can’t perform beauty,” she told Elle. “I want to know who a character is. What is beyond beauty? What is beyond looks? That’s the thing about doing such a well-known text, which has been studied and interpreted and derived from. The research could be endless. The good thing about working with a writer like Chris is that it’s on the page. The investigation starts with the pages you’re given. That’s what I based it on.”
She also reminded critics of something they seemed to have overlooked: “This is a mythological story,” she said, noting that the film’s cast is intentionally broad. “I’m very supportive of Chris’s intention with it and with the version of this story that he is telling. Our cast is representative of the world. I’m not spending my time thinking of a defense. The criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not.”
On what the casting means to her personally, she was clear about where her energy is going. “I was so deeply honored to be entrusted with the role,” she said. As for those still unwilling to accept her in it: “I can’t spend my time thinking about all the people who still don’t love me. You’ll find the representatives who believe in you, and you’ll get on with it. I want to believe I’m built to last.”
“The Odyssey” opens in theaters July 17, 2026.
