Matt Damon Says He Approached “The Odyssey” as If It Was ‘the Last Movie I’d Ever Do'
Matt Damon Says He Approached “The Odyssey” as If It Was ‘the Last Movie I’d Ever Do'
Jack SmartWed, May 13, 2026 at 12:15 PM UTC
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Matt Damon in 'The Odyssey'
Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures
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Matt Damon leads Christopher Nolan's star-studded adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic The Odyssey
In a new Time magazine profile on Nolan, Damon said he approached the ambitious project “like the last movie I'd ever do”
The Odyssey is in theaters July 17
The Odyssey isn't Matt Damon's last hurrah onscreen, but he sure approached it as such.
In a new Time magazine profile of filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his upcoming Homeric epic (in theaters July 17), Damon reflected on how rare a role like Odysseus is, especially for a 55-year-old actor.
“There aren't a lot of people in their mid-50s as protagonists in these epics,” said the Oscar winner. “I looked at this like the last movie I'd ever do.”
Time indicated the actor isn't actually retiring; Damon saw The Odyssey as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — and challenge, considering it's a big-budget action flick filmed on location with mostly practical effects. The actor told the outlet that playing Odysseus was the most rewarding experience of his Hollywood career.
(Left-right:) Christopher Nolan, Matt Damon and Zendaya on the set of 'The Odyssey'
Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures
“Movies like this are not getting made anymore. 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 said.
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Like the late Lean, a British filmmaker known for large-scale epics including 1962's Lawrence of Arabia, Nolan, 55, created vast practical sets and action sequences. The Oppenheimer director's ambitious retelling of the ancient Greek myth is also the first feature-length film shot entirely on IMAX.
“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,” said Damon of his director. “There's something really nice about being a soldier in the foxhole and looking over and the general is right next to you.”
The Odyssey also stars Anne Hathaway as Odysseus' wife Penelope; Tom Holland as their son Telemachus; Robert Pattinson as Antinous, one of Penelope's persistent suitors; Zendaya as Athena, the goddess of wisdom; Charlize Theron as the nymph Calypso; Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, John Leguizamo as Eumaeus and Himesh Patel as Eurylochus, all players in the Trojan War.
The Time profile also confirmed that Lupita Nyong'o is playing Helen of Troy, as well as the character's twin sister Clytemnestra. Also among the star-studded cast is Travis Scott, playing a bard.
Matt Damon at Bring Change to Mind Revels And Revelations Celebration on April 27
Credit: Miikka Skaffari/Getty
Theron, 50, told PEOPLE at a recent premiere of her action movie Apex that it was “lovely” to reunite onscreen with Damon, an old friend who costarred with her in 2000's The Legend of Bagger Vance. His lead role in The Odyssey, she teased, “is really the part of a lifetime.”
The Odyssey is in theaters on July 17.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
