After Matt Damon starred in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar and Oppenheimer, he and the British filmmaker reunited for the latter's latest IMAX project, The Odyssey. In playing the lead role of Odysseus, Damon had to act out the character's attempts to brave the elements and mythological figures as well as his own psychological struggles amid his quest to return home to his family. This is one of Nolan’s most ambitious features and, funny enough, Damon referred to his director as a “drowned rat” when bringing up his directing style. Of course, the actor also shared a reasonable explanation for that description.
Nolan definitely had a lot of work on his hands when helming The Odyssey, which has become one of the runaway hits of the 2026 movie schedule. He took on the challenge of filming the movie solely with IMAX cameras across several countries, and he shot the movie with as many practical effects as possible. With all of that in mind, Matt Damon spoke on The Today Show’s Sunday Sitdown, expressing that Nolan looked like a “drowned rat” while facing the challenges of shooting on cliffs and dangerous waters:
