Arguably the most hotly anticipated movie of the summer is none other than “The Odyssey,” celebrated filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning “Oppenheimer.”

It is a film the likes of which Hollywood rarely signs off on nowadays — an ambitious sword-and-sandals epic with massive sets, some practical effects, and a cast of thousands. The $250 million-budgeted tentpole, adapted from Homer’s epic and hitting theaters July 17, is the first in Nolan’s career to be shot entirely on 70 mm Imax cameras. It stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, a Greek king who’s embarked on a long journey home filled with one outstanding obstacle after another to return to his fearlessly devoted wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway). The all-star cast is rounded out by Tom Holland as Telemachus, Robert Pattinson as Antinous, Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, Zendaya as Athena, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, and Benny Safdie as Agamemnon.

In a series of interviews with Time magazine, Nolan and his creative team opened up about the making of “The Odyssey” and addressed the wave of online criticism regarding the armor of his warriors, which many online felt resembled Batman’s more modern-looking Batsuit.

“There are Mycenaean daggers that are blackened bronze,” Nolan said. “The theory is they probably could have blackened bronze in those days. You take bronze, you add more gold and silver to it and then use sulfur… With Agamemnon, Ellen [Mirojnick], our costume designer, is trying to communicate how elevated he is relative to everyone else. You do that through materials that would be very expensive.”

Nolan also defended the casting of rapper Travis Scott as a bard, whose appearance in an early trailer caught some by surprise.

“I cast him because I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap,” Nolan said.

Anyone who’s been following Nolan’s career knows the British filmmaker is painstaking when it comes to accuracy. On “Interstellar,” he hired a team of scientists to get the physics to be as accurate as possible. He took a similar approach to “The Odyssey.”

“For ‘Interstellar,’ you’re looking at, ‘What is the best speculation of the future?’ When you’re looking at the ancient past, it’s actually the same thing,” Nolan said. “‘What is the best speculation and how can I use that to create a world?’”

He added, “Hopefully they’ll enjoy the film, even if they don’t agree with everything. We had a lot of scientists complain about ‘Interstellar.’ But you just don’t want people to think that you took it on frivolously.”

French President Emmanuel Macron sparked a firestorm of criticism after he interrupted a youth-focused session at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi on Monday, publicly scolding attendees for talking over speakers and calling the disruption “a total lack of respect.”

Video from the event showed Macron rising from his seat and walking onto the stage during the “Africa Forward: Creation in Motion” session, which featured artists and young entrepreneurs speaking about culture and innovation.

“Excuse me, everybody. Hey, hey, hey,” Macron told the audience. “I’m sorry, guys. But it’s impossible to speak about culture, to have people like that super inspired, coming here, making a speech with such a noise.”

“So this is a total lack of respect,” he continued. “I suggest if you want to have bilateral or speak about somebody else, I mean something else, you have bilateral rooms, or you go outside. If you want to stay here, we listen to the people, and we’re playing the same game.”

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Macron was immediately criticized for his uninvited remarks on social media. A former member of Parliament from Zimbabwe, Fadzayi Mahere, called the French leader out on X. “Respectfully @EmmanuelMacron I don’t believe that it’s courteous or appropriate for you to come onto our Continent and talk down at people like this. They are not your kids. Don’t be condescending. Imagine if a guest of the state did the same in your country? Would it fly? I don’t think so.”

Another post from a Kenyan-Canadian lawyer with 3.1 million followers announced, “Africans don’t need @EmmanuelMacron’s permission to speak in Africa,” said Dr. Miguna Miguna, who in January announced he was running for the Kenyan presidency in 2027, according to local reports. 

A report published Monday by Modern Ghana, the interruption carried a symbolic irony, as Macron had traveled to Kenya to promote what Paris describes as a more equal and respectful partnership with African nations, moving away from what critics have long viewed as a paternalistic post-colonial model.

The incident took place during the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, where more than 30 African leaders, business executives and young entrepreneurs gathered for discussions focused on economic development, innovation and cooperation between Africa and Europe.

Kenya’s Standard Media reported that the exchange “cast an unusual shadow” over the summit, noting that some civil society groups characterized the two-day summit as a “reengineering of imperialism.”

The moment underscored the balancing act facing Macron as France attempts to redefine its relationship with Africa following years of political tensions and military withdrawals from several West African countries.

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Earlier Monday, Macron told students at the University of Nairobi that “Africa is succeeding” and argued the continent needs investment to strengthen its sovereignty rather than dependence on development aid, according to Modern Ghana’s report by Mustapha Bature Sallama. The report also noted Macron acknowledged France’s own financial constraints during the remarks.

Macron has increasingly emphasized partnerships with African youth, entrepreneurs and cultural leaders as Paris recalibrates its Africa strategy amid growing competition from Russia, China and Turkey for influence across the continent.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Published on 12/05/2026 – 18:19 GMT+2•Updated
18:26

A vast majority of EU member states criticised the reopening of the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale during a “heated discussion” among the bloc’s culture ministers on Tuesday in Brussels.

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Many ministers also expressed support for the European Commission’s move to freeze a €2 million grant to the Biennale Foundation for allowing Russia’s participation, several diplomats told Euronews.

The issue was raised by Latvian Minister of Culture Agnese Lāce, who called for preventing what she described as “the instrumentalization of cultural institutions by Russia.”

According to people in the room, a total of 14 ministers denounced Russia’s presence but stopped short of directly criticising Italy, which was represented at the meeting by Ambassador Marco Canaparo in place of Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli.

Several countries, such as Belgium, Spain and Poland, argued that culture cannot be used to whitewash the war of aggression launched by Russia against Ukraine and stressed the importance of avoiding any sanction circumvention by Russian individuals involved in the exhibition.

The Commission and Cyprus’s EU rotating presidency called for a suspension of funding, reallocating the Biennale’s money to Ukraine’s reconstruction.

Brussels has so far strongly condemned the Biennale’s decision to allow Russia to reopen its national pavilion, claiming that culture “should never be used as a platform for propaganda” and warning that the Russian stand could become a “platform to individuals who have actively supported or justified the aggression against Ukraine.”

In April, the Commission initiated proceedings to cut funding, notifying the Biennale of a breach of the grant’s conditions, which, if not addressed, could lead to the suspension or termination of the grant.

The foundation maintains that the event should remain “a place of dialogue, openness and artistic freedom” and that it cannot prevent a country from participating, as any state recognised by the Italian Republic can apply to join the exhibition.

Russia maintains a pavilion within the exhibition area and, under the rules, can independently decide whether to take part in each edition of the Venice Biennale. Its last participation was in 2019, as Russian artists withdrew in 2022 and the country did not present a pavilion in 2024, instead lending its space to Bolivia.

Russia’s participation in 2026 sparked controversy within the Italian government, as Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli boycotted the opening ceremony, while vice prime minister Matteo Salvini defended the “freedom of art” and even paid a visit to the Russian pavilion.

This year’s edition opened on Saturday, amid protests for the participation of Russia and Israel. The Russian dissident collectives Pussy Riot and Femen displayed slogans against Vladimir Putin while wearing balaclavas and topless.

The Biennale’s international jury, which will assign the main awards to the pavilions, collectively resigned after criticism for its decision to exclude from prizes those countries whose leaders are currently accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.