The Odyssey star John Leguizamo has no real interest in Elon Musk’s proposed AI-generated film based on Homer’s Greek epic.
“Yeah, it’s going to be beautiful. It’ll be phenomenal,” the actor sarcastically reacted to Musk’s planned movie in a Wednesday, July 29, interview with The Latest York Times. “Good luck with that fake, soulless, empty [version].”
Leguizamo, 66, added, “I just don’t understand individuals who exit of their technique to hate-monger. José Martí, the good Cuban poet and revolutionary, said there are two sorts of men: those who create and those who destroy.”
Earlier this month, Musk vowed to release an AI-generated version of Homer’s Odyssey using his Grok Imagine platform before the top of 2026. He had previously criticized The Odyssey director Christopher Nolan’s casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and trans actor Elliot Page because the Greek soldier Sinon.
“Before this 12 months ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that’s historically accurate and true to the art of Homer,” Musk, 55, claimed in a July 21 X post.
Leguizamo plays blind swineherd Eumaeus in The Odyssey, which also stars Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and Zendaya.
In his interview with The Latest York Times, the veteran actor applauded Nolan for eschewing CGI as much as possible for The Odyssey, relying as an alternative on practical effects and real locations.
“Hollywood is beginning to embrace AI and pondering that’s going to resolve things — is it?” Leguizamo said. “The Odyssey shows you that that’s not what people really need.”
“The incontrovertible fact that the whole lot was so practical makes it easier for the actors to act, after which the outcomes are so far more real and organic,” he added. “It’s palpable that what you’re seeing on camera is actually happening. I mean, that incredible scene with the ghosts of the dead soldiers, stuntmen were buried underneath the sand with snorkels. Like 100 people were buried, then they arrive up. Oh, my God, it’s so riveting to observe!”
Leguizamo also revealed that he prepared to be hated by movie fans after his character is first introduced by throwing a puppy off a cliff.
“Can you think?” he said. “I assumed, ‘I’m going to be probably the most reviled person in cinema history!’ That’s what they did with runts back then, only the strong survived. However the puppy was protected, there was anyone with a soft blanket catching it right off camera.”
The Odyssey has grossed over $660 million worldwide thus far and earned critical acclaim. The film stands at 94% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.