Actor says starring as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s IMAX epic was a rare career-defining opportunity.
Matt Damon said he approached his leading role in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic “The Odyssey” with the mindset that it could be the defining project of his career.
In a new profile published by Time magazine, Damon reflected on portraying Odysseus in Nolan’s ambitious adaptation of Homer’s classic tale, admitting he treated the production “like the last movie I’d ever do.”
“There aren’t a lot of people in their mid-50s as protagonists in these epics,” Damon said. “I looked at this like the last movie I’d ever do.”
While clarifying that he has no plans to retire from acting, Damon noted that opportunities to lead large-scale cinematic epics at his age are increasingly uncommon in Hollywood.
The actor also praised Nolan’s commitment to practical filmmaking, highlighting the director’s decision to shoot the project entirely on IMAX cameras using real locations, practical sets and in-camera effects rather than heavy reliance on green screens.
Damon compared Nolan’s approach to the filmmaking style of legendary British director David Lean, known for classics such as “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Doctor Zhivago.”
“Movies like this are not getting made anymore,” Damon said. “To do this without a green screen, the way that David Lean would have done it, I don’t know anybody, with the exception of Chris, that’s even trying to do that.”
Damon described the physically demanding production as both exhausting and inspiring, crediting Nolan’s hands-on leadership style during filming.
“When you’re uncomfortable — and you are most of the time, physically, just by nature of what’s required to get these shots — if you turn and look over your shoulder, he’s no more than five feet away and doing the same thing without complaint,” Damon said.
The film features an ensemble cast including Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Robert Pattinson as Antinous, Zendaya as Athena, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, Lupita Nyong’o in dual roles as Helen and Clytemnestra, and Travis Scott as a bard.
Theron, who previously worked with Damon on “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” described his performance as “the part of a lifetime.”
“The Odyssey” is billed as the first feature film shot entirely on IMAX cameras and is scheduled to open in theaters on July 17.