Matt Damon returns to cinemas next year, in Christopher Nolan's epic retelling of The Odyssey. Having made numerous blockbusters by now, the Jason Bourne star knows what makes a good one, and Nolan’s work is in the upper echelon.
Speaking to Empire, Damon gave some insight into what it was like on-set for the mythological production. "I can say, without hyperbole, that it was the best experience of my career. I saw the horse on the beach and I was just like, 'Fuck.' It was just so cool," he states.
His third collaboration with Nolan, after Interstellar and Oppenheimer, this is Damon's first time leading one of the director's films, portraying the eponymous Odysseus. Despite all the moving parts, a considerable amount of the adaptation of Homer's poem involved just seeing what happens on the day.
"We were shooting that [Trojan horse] stuff next week, so I go, 'How are you going to do it?'" Damon remembers. "And [Nolan] goes, 'I don't know. We'll just get in there and figure it out.'"
But as is typical of Nolan, practicality is key. Just as an actual Boeing 737 collided with a building in Tenet for greater realism, there's genuine physicality among the monsters and beasts. "If you're going to have an existential crisis as you pass the Sirens and you're lashed to a mast, it's there. If it says you're running for your life from a Cyclops, you're going to run for your life," Damon explains. "Chris doesn't hide the ball."
A stacked cast joins him, including Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Jon Bernthal, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, and many, many more. The Odyssey arrives in theatres on July 17, 2026.
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