'The Odyssey's Mythical Creatures Took Inspiration From A Horror Legend ⁠35%

By Dais Johnston⁠61%

7/8/2026, 7:50:09 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 23 faulty reasoning types, including Halo Effect, Attempt to Sell a Product or Service, and Appeal to Authority, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 37.1% saturation with 200 hits. Analysis detected 1,227 faulty-reasoning hits from 539 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 42.5% and a BS Rank of ⁠35% (14,310 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 65.40% of the article peer group.

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is descending upon us steadily like a ship sailing ever closer to a siren. 
While we’ve seen plenty of clips in the trailers , there are still more surprises in store, including an apparently mind-blowing performance from Samantha Morton as Circe. 
But for many fans, it’s not the human characters that are the most anticipated — it’s the creatures . 
The Odyssey is, in a way, the original creature feature, full of monsters like the cyclops Polyphemus, the six-headed Scylla, and even some magical pigs. 
But in order to create monsters that will vibe with his realistic point of view and the awe-inspiring element of the original story, Nolan went straight to the master: Guillermo del Toro. 
Christopher Nolan took inspiration from Guillermo del Toro while creating the mythical creatures for The Odyssey. 
| Michael Kovac/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times , Christopher Nolan revealed that for The Odyssey , the design of the monsters was heavily inspired by Guillermo del Toro. 
The Scylla specifically was cited as a monster influenced by del Toro’s work. 
“I was very inspired by Guillermo del Toro,” he said. 
“What I learned from him is that a monster is not a monster. 
You have to approach them the way you approach any other character.” 
It’s no surprise that Nolan turned to del Toro’s catalogue for inspiration. 
The Oscar-winning filmmaker behind films like The Shape of Water and Frankenstein , made us fall in love with fish men, cower from eyeless Pale Men, and root for demonspawn. 
He’s perhaps the greatest sci-fi horror filmmaker of all time. 
But The Odyssey takes its inspiration from more than just del Toro. 
Polyphemus was heavily inspired by Goya’s painting of Saturn devouring his children. 
It’s definitely a more historical reference, but it’s still in line with del Toro’s gory-yet-artistic aesthetic. 
“That was very much the inspiration,” Nolan says. 
“We had it up on the wall. 
Whenever we brought in a new technology, that was the first thing we showed them.” 
Renowned theater actor and clown Bill Irwin plays the cyclops Polyphemus in The Odyssey. 
| Universal Pictures But one of Del Toro’s most powerful tools is the casting of the actors who portray his creatures. 
One of his longtime collaborators is Doug Jones, who has portrayed ghoulish characters in everything from Mimic to The Shape of Water. 
Aside from his tall, lean build, Jones is especially suited to this work because of his experience as a mime and contortionist. 
He has control over his body to portray characters that aren’t quite human. 
Nolan has his own answer to this: Bill Irwin, a longtime theater actor who has similar experience to Jones, plus a little extra. 
He’s also a renowned clown, best known as Mr. 
Noodle’s brother Mr. 
Noodle on Sesame Street . 
“In addition to being a great actor, he’s a mime, a clown, he knows how to use his physicality. 
He was the essence of it,” Nolan said. 
So even if GDT wasn’t involved directly with this movie, all of his best tricks are on obvious display. 
The Odyssey premieres in theaters on July 17. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 13.4%Dais Johnston: 4.4%Inverse: 4.0%Confirmation Bias13.4%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.6%Inverse: 0.8%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 3.5%Dais Johnston: 3.6%Inverse: 3.6%Availability Heuristic3.5%This article: 7.1%Dais Johnston: 1.4%Inverse: 1.5%Representativeness Heuristic7.1%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 2.5%Inverse: 2.3%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 3.6%Inverse: 2.8%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 6.9%Dais Johnston: 5.1%Inverse: 4.7%Framing Effect6.9%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.7%Inverse: 0.6%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.6%Inverse: 0.7%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.3%Inverse: 0.5%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 5.0%Dais Johnston: 5.9%Inverse: 3.8%Optimism Bias5.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 1.9%Inverse: 2.1%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 9.3%Dais Johnston: 6.5%Inverse: 8.7%Negativity Bias9.3%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.2%Inverse: 0.6%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.9%Inverse: 1.1%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.0%Inverse: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.2%Inverse: 0.8%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.1%Inverse: 0.2%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 31.7%Dais Johnston: 6.0%Inverse: 5.4%Halo Effect31.7%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.7%Inverse: 0.2%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.0%Inverse: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 2.2%Inverse: 1.9%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 1.0%Inverse: 0.8%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.1%Inverse: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.6%Inverse: 0.4%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.1%Inverse: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 16.1%Dais Johnston: 4.6%Inverse: 2.7%Appeal to Authority16.1%This article: 4.3%Dais Johnston: 2.2%Inverse: 2.1%False Dilemma4.3%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.3%Inverse: 0.6%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.7%Inverse: 0.5%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 6.3%Dais Johnston: 7.8%Inverse: 8.0%Hasty Generalization6.3%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.1%Inverse: 0.1%Red Herring0.0%This article: 3.5%Dais Johnston: 0.7%Inverse: 0.9%Bandwagon3.5%This article: 5.6%Dais Johnston: 5.3%Inverse: 4.2%Appeal to Emotion5.6%This article: 2.4%Dais Johnston: 1.3%Inverse: 1.1%Begging the Question2.4%This article: 3.5%Dais Johnston: 2.8%Inverse: 3.4%Post Hoc (False Cause)3.5%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.1%Inverse: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.4%Inverse: 0.5%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 2.4%Dais Johnston: 0.1%Inverse: 0.1%Appeal to Nature2.4%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.7%Inverse: 0.6%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 11.5%Dais Johnston: 1.5%Inverse: 1.3%Anecdotal11.5%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.1%Inverse: 0.2%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 2.4%Dais Johnston: 2.0%Inverse: 2.5%Ambiguity (Equivocation)2.4%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.0%Inverse: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 4.6%Dais Johnston: 0.2%Inverse: 0.3%Middle Ground4.6%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.0%Inverse: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.2%Inverse: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.0%Inverse: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 12.8%Dais Johnston: 2.0%Inverse: 1.6%Unattributed Quote12.8%This article: 8.5%Dais Johnston: 1.0%Inverse: 0.5%Quote-first Misdirection8.5%This article: 37.1%Dais Johnston: 20.4%Inverse: 21.3%Biased Writer Voice37.1%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 1.0%Inverse: 1.5%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 5.6%Dais Johnston: 0.1%Inverse: 0.2%Politically Left Leaning Bias5.6%This article: 0.0%Dais Johnston: 0.0%Inverse: 0.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 24.1%Dais Johnston: 3.3%Inverse: 2.0%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…24.1%

539 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers21%attributed speech425writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 32 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageLos Angeles Times • 36 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 30 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 100.0% coverageChristopher Nolan • 8 words • 100.0% coverageChristopher Nolan • 7 words • 100.0% coverageChristopher Nolan • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 100.0% coverageUniversal Pictures • 21 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 9 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 3 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 0.0% coverageChristopher Nolan • 19 words • 100.0% coverageChristopher Nolan • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Universal Pictures

100%flagged-word coverage
21 attributed words18% of attributed speech81% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice+57.9 ptsWriter: 42.1%Universal Pictures: 100.0%100.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -30.6 ptsWriter: 30.6%Universal Pictures: 0.0%0.0%Unattributed Quote-8.2 ptsWriter: 8.2%Universal Pictures: 0.0%0.0%Politically Left Leaning B-7.1 ptsWriter: 7.1%Universal Pictures: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection-2.4 ptsWriter: 2.4%Universal Pictures: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.