The Accent of Power: Why Hollywood's Obsession With British Period Accents Needs a Reboot Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has sparked confusion among fans and scholars due to its anachronistic accents, which break with a long standing convention in Hollywood filmmaking.
For decades, period dramas and fantasy epics have relied on the "Queen's Latin" trope, where British actors are cast to play characters from various cultures and time periods, speaking Received Pronunciation English as if they're reciting Shakespearean sonnets.
This phenomenon is rooted in early Hollywood epics of the 1930s and '40s.