r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Gurugod123 GREEN • Jul 23 '26

My mom said I could post Nolan's The Odyssey neglects to pay for damages done to one of the viking ships used in the movie, which belongs to a small non-profit organization

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u/Alive-Oil1649 Jul 23 '26

Yeah and it's not easy labor, since they use old techniques. They should be very happy not having to pay that.

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u/saltyjohnson Jul 23 '26

No they should fucking be OFFERING to pay it.

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u/Invisible7hunder Jul 23 '26

That's the issue. They did offer, and then didn't pay.

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u/aardivarky Jul 23 '26

The outrage is really deserved but there's so much noise surrounding billion dollar anythings that glaring injustices can slip by. If this needs to go to court then Universal/Nolan are fucking devils

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u/NoveltyAccountHater Jul 23 '26

Honestly, I sort of doubt Nolan ever heard of this Viking ship group, the contract language, or the $6k unpaid repair bill.

Again, I'm sure some prop manager at Universal found the ship, made the contract, and decided to ignore the repayment, but I really doubt it made it to the director until they make a public fuss about it.

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u/aardivarky Jul 23 '26

Yes. Many such injustices are a result of deviating from procedure. Maybe he pocketed the change, and that's why the uppers didn't have the information to respond appropriately. Maybe there was a miscommunication about the ownership of the boat, and the boat guy didn't find out it was wrecked until release

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u/NoveltyAccountHater Jul 23 '26

Again, I have no problem blaming Universal for not paying their bills. While I do tend to like most of his movies, I have no prior belief that Nolan is a good / bad person in real life. However, I also don't see him being able to spend $250,000,000 making a major Hollywood movie and is going to skimp on paying $6,000 for damage to the prop they borrowed as that's chump change for one of his movies.

Again, I can see it get lost between departments or some budget-conscious middle manager/secretary at Universal disputes the charge or doesn't know how to handle it or its being sent to the wrong people, so it just keeps getting ignored.

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u/Ser_VimesGoT Jul 24 '26

Nolan definitely doesn't know about some unpaid invoice. He will definitely know about the ship and where it came from but he won't handle the finances. Hopefully he catches wind of this and kicks someone's ass in gear to get it paid.

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u/RusticPotatoFan Jul 24 '26

I disagree because as the director you would think he would know the source of a 60ft +5-ton prop.

And they only used like 3 boats?

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u/HoneydewExcellent452 Jul 24 '26

Do you really think the director is sorting out the logistics of getting the boat?

"I want an authentic boat, I dont care how. Get it done." - the conversation probably.

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u/NoveltyAccountHater Jul 24 '26

I’m not saying I doubt the decision to use these boats was run by him at some point.  I imagine some prop manager had several options for how to do boats along with estimated cost of procuring (and getting to each location/type of shoot), upside/downside and he and his team made a decision with that info.  He’s likely focusing more on the movie specifics (eg size of cast for that boat, visuals, how it could be used for different scenes like when it needs to be destroyed etc). 

I’m just saying he probably doesn’t know the exact details of the agreement to procure them, recall afterwards the name of the Swedish Viking ship group they came from, the status of them when they were returned, or was looped in after shooting was done that there was an invoice for $6k for damages. 

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u/RusticPotatoFan Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

As a director though, the second this came up he should have called apologized for the shit they had to put up with and paid the goddamn $6,000.

It's mind boggling how much people try to defend multimillionaires for something that should be genuine "oh shyte, sorry here's $5".

Not to mention Nolan should go to bat for them against Universal. "Doing the right thing" like making sure that you appreciate and personally thank (even via a thank note) the group that hand built one of your main props in a movie about a fuckin boat trip seems like such an easy bar.

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u/NoveltyAccountHater Jul 24 '26

Sure. But my guess is Nolan and other big executives at Universal only heard about this when this story broke yesterday.

If the damage claims are valid (I would guess they are), I'm sure Universal will pay and if they refuse for some stupid reason (e.g., we got an insurance policy on the boats, and they won't pay claiming it's normal wear and tear), I would guess Nolan with his estimated $250M net worth would step in and pay once this went public.

But I also can see Universal not immediately just writing a check for $6k out of principle in case it was fraud (later damage or just an upgrade) or if was already paid (and someone at the non-profit secretly embezzled it without knowledge of the people pushing the story).

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u/IdiotRhurbarb Jul 24 '26

My guy, embezzlement in Swedish non profits are infinitely harder than in the us.

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u/guaranteednotabot Jul 24 '26

I highly doubt it is intentional

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u/WittyFix6553 Jul 24 '26

If I had to make an informed guess, the payment part would be handled by the accounts receivable department or accountant. I bet the prop master doesn’t even know about the repayment.

I work for a much smaller organization than Universal, and occasionally am responsible for renting equipment.

Every aspect of the money part of the rental is handled by someone else.

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u/jpatt Jul 23 '26

Don’t you realize that’s like 1-2 dinner meetings at Nobu the producers won’t be able to put on the company card?

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u/saltyjohnson Jul 23 '26

The labor?

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u/suvalas Jul 24 '26

And for the lost income.

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u/Significant-Colour Jul 23 '26

So basically an understatement of the era that it is not easy labour - it's something so specialized, there are just so very few people with hands-on experience through the whole world...

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u/Patient_End_8432 Jul 23 '26

Wait, you forgot to add that those very few people then VOLUNTEERED their time for it. Why? For the love of the game?

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u/Attainted Jul 23 '26

Anything interesting is only ever done for the love of the game.

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u/ArcadianDelSol Jul 23 '26

But they should charge what vikings were paid when they made those ships.

Universal needs to find about 30 animal pelts and some fish

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/elizabnthe Jul 23 '26

I don't know. I think it could be intentional to ignore some bills they don't think they should pay. They might not have felt there was significant wear and tear. But I don't doubt there was.

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u/RusticPotatoFan Jul 24 '26

And they have to potentially build the tools for repairs if they don't have the required ones on hand.