Christopher Nolan defended one of the boldest creative choices in his upcoming epic The Odyssey: casting rapper Travis Scott in a supporting role.

Speaking to Time, the Oppenheimer director explained that Scott’s presence is meant to echo the oral tradition of Homer’s poem.

“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.

Scott appears briefly in promotional footage, sharing a banquet scene with Tom Holland’s Telemachus, Robert Pattinson’s Antinous, and Jon Bernthal’s Menelaus.

Though his exact role remains under wraps, fans speculate he may be portraying Demodocus, the blind bard who sings tales of Odysseus.

The collaboration marks a reunion.

Scott previously contributed the track The Plan to Nolan’s 2020 thriller Tenet, co-written with composer Ludwig Göransson.

Nolan also addressed online chatter about the film’s costumes, which some critics claim stray from historical accuracy.

He countered that Homer’s myth was always interpreted through the lens of later eras.

“The oldest depictions of Homeric characters tend to be depicted in the manner of people living in Homer’s time,” he explained.

Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, he added, used materials like blackened bronze and gilded accents to signal Agamemnon’s elevated status.

Ultimately, Nolan urged audiences to embrace his vision even if they disagree with the details.

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

With Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, and Charlize Theron as Calypso, The Odyssey is shaping up to be one of the summer’s most ambitious releases.

Nolan is clearly prepared to defend every decision behind it.

Actor Geena Davis talks about starring in the new series “The Boroughs,” if there are parallels between herself and the character she plays, and why she’s drawn to supernatural projects. She also addresses representation in the entertainment industry.

• Source says Modi has cut size of motorcade “significantly”.
• PM requests EVs in motorcade without new purchases: source.
• Modi’s smaller motorcade has same security protocols.
  

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “significantly” cut the size of his motorcade to save fuel, a government source said on Wednesday, days after he urged citizens to tighten their belts amid a surge in energy prices triggered by the Iran war.

Modi appealed to people on Sunday to adopt austerity measures, including avoiding unnecessary foreign travel, using public transport, reducing gold purchases and cutting their use of cooking oil, as soaring global energy prices put pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Following the appeal, some critics on social media questioned the large motorcades of senior Indian politicians, Modi’s domestic flights and his upcoming Europe visit on his official aircraft.

The number of vehicles in Modi’s motorcade was reduced while ensuring essential security components, in line with the protocol of the Special Protection Group that guards the prime minister, the source said, without specifying the motorcade’s actual size.

Modi gets the highest level of personal security in the country and his motorcade was known to have about a dozen vehicles before the reduction.

Modi scaled down motorcades for visits this week to his home state of Gujarat and the northeastern state of Assam, the source said, adding that the prime minister had also asked for electric vehicles to be included in his motorcade where feasible but without making any new purchases.

The source declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, relies heavily on the Strait of Hormuz, closed by the US-Israeli war with Iran, for supplies of crude, liquefied natural gas and cooking gas.

Higher oil prices threaten to widen the country’s current account deficit, hurt growth, and stoke inflation while Washington and Tehran struggle to reach a deal to end hostilities, more than a month after a tenuous ceasefire paused fighting.

India has avoided raising petrol and diesel prices so far but an increase is considered imminent due to the situation in the Middle East.