Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey draws from the literature of antiquity, but there’s an art history reference in the film that’s relatively more recent. And deeply gory.

In a major moment from Homer’s epic poem, Odysseus (Matt Damon) is heading home from the Trojan War with his men when they stop by an island for food and supplies. It’s here they find themselves trapped in the sheep-filled cave of the mighty Polyphemus (Bill Irwin), a towering cyclops who casually changes up his daily diet of homemade artisanal cheese for a bloody feast of weary Ionian soldiers.

The Odyssey‘s production design of Polyphemus is terrifying and weird: a colossal, awkward, human-like form with twisted facial features including a solitary, rotated eye. Snatching up Odysseus’ crewmates like popcorn, the cyclops stands for a moment crunching on a newly headless man, his bleeding body limp in the creature’s hand.

It’s this moment that art history nerds (hi) might connect with a familiarly gory scene, of a wild god feasting upon a torso: Francisco Goya’s early 1820s masterpiece, Saturn Devouring His Son.

Francisco Goya’s “Saturn Devouring His Son.”
Credit: Fine Art Images / Heritage Images/ Getty Images

Nolan has confirmed the cyclops was inspired by the 19th-century Spanish artist’s famous work, which depicts a violent moment from ancient Greek myth. As detailed in Barry B. Powell’s Classical Myth, Zeus’ dad Cronus (called Saturn by the Romans), was the leader of the Titans, powerful beings who sired the Olympian gods. Cronus’ mum Gaia (Terra) and dad Ouranos (Uranus) had a prophecy that he would be overthrown by one of his divine children — Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, Hera, or Hades. So, what did Cronus do? He ate them.

In fact, Cronus threw back his kids whole, which is important later in the story (Zeus, who was born in secret, managed to get his dad to vomit up his siblings and they indeed rose up against the Titans). But in Goya’s painting, Saturn/Cronus has not eaten his brood whole. With those wild eyes open, he’s ripped the head and arms off one of his children and is snacking away on the torso like a baby with a teething rusk. It’s pure madness.

And this is exactly how Nolan has Polyphemus feast on the Greek soldiers in The Odyssey. Like a child. A wild child of gods. Which, incidentally, is what Polyphemus is — the son of sea god Poseidon and oceanid or sea nymph Thoosa.

It’s no wonder Nolan had Goya’s gruesome visual on his mood board. Back to the original ancient text, Homer’s description of the cyclops’ feast (translated by Emily Wilson) is just as grisly, as he writes, “Leaping up high, he reached his hands towards my men, seized two, and knocked them hard against the ground like puppies, and the floor was wet with brains. He ripped them limb by limb to make his meal, then ate them like a lion on the mountains, devouring flesh, entrails, and marrow bones, and leaving nothing.”

Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens also did a horrifically figurative version of Saturn Devouring His Son earlier in the 17th century, a moment of infanticide and child cannibalism which can’t really be unseen.

So, when you’re watching The Odyssey, think of Goya’s bloodthirsty, paranoid Saturn and one of the most gory snackscapades in art history.

The Odyssey hits theaters July 17.

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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 10 seconds ago

Possibly no TV series ever made has had such a meteoric rise and epic fall as The X-Files. The early seasons captivated ‘90s audiences with a potent combination of sexy lead actors and stories about alien abductions and government conspiracies. The franchise arguably hit a high point with the first movie, The X-Files: Fight the Future. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. Later seasons got progressively worse, and David Duchovny eventually left the show for good. He came back for the worst revival in television history, one that followed up on some of the revelations of the second movie, The X-Files: I Want To Believe.

Whereas Fight the Future advanced the complex mythology of the series, I Want To Believe was modeled more after the series’ monster-of-the-week episodes. Unfortunately, the monster was weaksauce, and the film’s vestigial ties to some of the stupider lore really dragged it down. But could this failed film be one good edit away from being a banger? Chris Carter seems to think so. Last year, he teased that he was working on an R-Rated director’s cut of the film, one that brings it to bloody life like never before. Now, fans will be able to judge for themselves: The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn will begin streaming on Hulu on August 14.

Somehow, Mulder And Scully Returned

The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a movie where Mulder and Scully have long since left the FBI; she’s a doctor, and he’s a hermit. But when an FBI agent gets kidnapped, and a Catholic priest starts seeing her in psychic visions, the Bureau gets Mulder to consult on the case because of his prior experience with all things spooky. Unfortunately, the PG-13 movie was a flop: it has a 32 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and audiences alike. It also earned only $68.4 million against a $30 million budget, with its box office likely suffering because it premiered only one week after Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

It’s a movie so bad that most X-Files fans would rather forget that it exists. However, when Chris Carter appeared on David Duchovny’s Fail Better podcast last year, he said that he was working on an R-rated director’s cut and hinted that it would premiere on streaming. “Now I have a chance to go back and make the scary movie that I always intended to make,” he said. “It’s not just doing a director’s cut to do a director’s cut. It’s really kind of bringing to life something that for me was on the page and never got to the screen.”

It’s Alive!

For better or for worse, the teasing is over. Previously, the new cut (titled The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn) was set to debut on Disney+ in June, but it got quietly yoinked off that streamer’s schedule to make time for some last-minute tweaks. Now, the movie is set to premiere on Hulu on August 14. While Carter is excited to show us his original vision for this flawed sequel, it’s not yet clear how it will differ from the theatrical version. It’s also not clear what the weird new title is about, though many think it’s a hint that Carter has, Frankenstein-style, cobbled together a new film out of assorted footage that had been left on the cutting room floor.

Will this director’s cut from Chris Carter leave fans screaming “it’s alive,” or will we just want to burn the movie with fire? Like Mulder always says, the truth is out there. And we can find out together: The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn premieres on Hulu on August 14. Here’s hoping it can help to erase the stink of Season 11 from our collective minds!