Derrickson to Musk: 'Doesn't Know Shit About Cinema'
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Elon Musk vowed that Grok "will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer" before year-end, sharing a three-minute AI-generated clip that was actually manufactured by a Grok user, not by Musk or xAI directly.
- Scott Derrickson ("Doctor Strange," "The Black Phone" director) responded on Musk's own platform X: "@elonmusk doesn't know shit about cinema & he stopped reading in his 20s... His opinions on art are worthless."
- Musk had attacked Nolan's casting back in March, calling the director "an anti-White racist" for casting Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy and reposting comments mocking transgender actor Elliott Page's role as Sinon.
- "The Odyssey" opened to $264 million worldwide and continues to sell out screenings months in advance, weathering Musk's anti-woke backlash without visible commercial damage.
- The film is not Musk's first Hollywood target — he previously mocked "Barbie" for its feminist themes and Disney's "Snow White" reboot starring Rachel Zegler.
Why it matters: Musk's crusade against "The Odyssey" has not dented its commercial performance ($264 million opening, ongoing sellouts), while his AI-Odyssey vow spotlights a pattern of attacking filmmakers' casting on X and then positioning himself as an artistic alternative — a credibility gap Hollywood figures including Derrickson and Olivia Wilde (per Variety's headline) are now publicly calling out.
