Matt Damon has spent decades taking on physically demanding roles, but nothing prepared him for Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey.’
At 55, the actor had to change his daily life, push through exhausting filming conditions, and work on very little sleep. Looking back at the huge production, Damon has now called it the “hardest movie I’ve ever made.”
Matt Damon Gave Up Gluten And Struggled To Get Enough Sleep
During an appearance on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, released Tuesday, Damon opened up about preparing to play Odysseus. Poehler compared the challenge to his years as Jason Bourne, a role he first played at age 30. “It’s one thing running and punching in ‘Bourne’ in your 30s; it’s way different to be getting jacked in your 50s,” she said.
Damon agreed that preparing for such a demanding role at 55 required a completely different approach. “It’s just a complete, a complete lifestyle change,” Damon said. “There’s no planning it. Any other time I tried to do something like that, it was always like, ‘well, I’ll time my workouts…’ — this was like, ‘No.’”
Training could not simply fit around the rest of his routine. Damon had to fully commit to the process. “Just put your foot on the gas, and that’s it,” he added. “That’s the only way to do it — and eat a little less.”
Damon made several major changes while preparing for the role. He gave up gluten, a decision he said “completely changed my life.” The actor previously explained that the diet, along with working with a trainer for the film, helped him return to his high-school weight.
The demanding production schedule also affected his sleep. The team even joked about something called “the ‘Odyssey’ Five.” “If you could get five hours [of sleep], you were thrilled,” he said. On a couple of nights, the day’s strenuous filming left him so tired that he could not sleep at all.
Damon also said every actor had to deal with “physical discomfort” because of the demands of different scenes. The film placed characters in hard physical situations and difficult environmental conditions. “Every single person around you was weathering those same difficulties and pushing themselves,” Damon said.
Christopher Nolan Took The Cast To Extreme Real-World Locations
Nolan chose difficult real-world locations instead of relying on CGI for some major scenes. Damon recalled filming inside a cave believed to be one of the possible birthplaces of Zeus in Greek mythology. He said Nolan picked places that “nobody would be crazy enough to try to shoot in.” The film was shot across several countries and regions, including Italy, Greece, Iceland, Scotland, and Western Sahara.
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Production on ‘The Odyssey’ began in February 2025 and continued for six months, sending Damon and the production team on a dangerous filmmaking journey of their own. Nolan spent 91 days filming Odysseus’ encounters with the Cyclops, the Sirens, and Circe. Then the time came for Damon’s character to finally reunite with his wife, Penelope.
Filming began in Morocco with a huge set piece Nolan had dreamed of creating for decades: a full-scale timber Trojan Horse. The production often worked with a “we’ll see what happens when we get there” approach. Nolan even climbed inside the horse on the beach alongside the cast and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema to capture the right shot.
Apart from limited sound stage work in Los Angeles, the scenes happened entirely on location. The shoot moved across Greece, Iceland, Italy, and Scotland. Even other parts of the wider production also took place in Western Sahara. In Italy, the cast and crew climbed 900 feet up a mountain every morning. In Iceland, the team battled harsh sideways rain. Zendaya also previously said she could not open her mouth because of the freezing temperatures while filming in Iceland.
Production wrapped in August, nine days ahead of schedule, but the experience left everyone exhausted. Nolan has said he had never seen a cast and crew so drained before. Despite all the discomfort, Damon called playing Odysseus “one of the great roles of all time” and said being part of the team was “one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.” Looking back at the experience, he added, “It felt more like an expedition than a movie.”
In the end, Damon may have faced one of the toughest shoots of his career, but he clearly believes it was worth it. Between the hard training, little sleep, extreme weather, and difficult locations, ‘The Odyssey’ pushed him and the rest of the cast far beyond. Now, fans will get to see the result of all that hard work when the film arrives on the big screen on July 17.
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