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Tom Holland is defending his decision to call Matt Damon’s character “dad” rather than “father” in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming adaptation of ‘The Odyssey’.
In the film, Holland plays Telemachus, son to Damon’s Odysseus, as Nolan reworks the ancient Greek epic for modern audiences. That choice of casual, contemporary language, including the “dad” reference, has stirred up criticism from some quarters, but Holland isn’t backing down.
Speaking to Channel 4 News, he pushed back on the backlash. “Because I would not have even said ‘father’ back in the day, would I? It would’ve been Greek. So, it is no less correct,” he said.
Nolan echoed that sentiment, arguing that people often approach ancient stories with unnecessary reverence rather than treating them as living, relatable narratives. “When you look at the ancient world, people tend to view it in weird ways. There’s a lot of cultural prejudice. There is a lot of sort of elevating it, because it is old, you know, whatever it is. I just wanted to make it feel fresh for modern audiences,” he explained.
He continued, pointing out that going back to the source material reveals something far more grounded than audiences might expect. “When you go to the poem, what you find is something that’s really earthy and grounded and accessible.”
Nolan added that his direction to the cast centered on stripping away assumptions about how ancient stories “should” sound. “And so, for me in building the world of the film, what I talked to all the actors about, I just want to center it on that and make it feel very fresh for modern audiences and do away with some of those assumptions that aren’t based on anything logical, they’re just, as I say, cultural prejudices or things over time,” he said.
The comments follow earlier criticism directed at the film over its use of modern dialogue and American accents in a story rooted in ancient Greek tradition. Nolan dismissed the backlash as premature in an interview with The Telegraph, noting that reactions circulating before release do not hold much weight. “Look, these conversations that happen before people see the film, they are always irrelevant, because no one having them knows what the film actually is yet,” he said.
The Odyssey opens in theaters across the United States and United Kingdom on July 17.

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