It’s no secret that filming a Christopher Nolan movie can, oftentimes, be a bit of an extreme sport. That apparently holds true yet again with the gargantuan undertaking that is The Odyssey, so much so that even the movie’s biggest stars were in awe at what they were experiencing throughout the production process.
Few, if any, were more floored than Matt Damon. That’s saying a lot, considering the critically-acclaimed, award-winning actor with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has an iconic cinematic resume that has required him to push himself to the limits.
Nothing, however, has left him slack-jawed and wide-eyed like The Odyssey, and he took a moment during a recent promotional video to explain exactly how unreal Nolan’s process was for the film.
Matt Damon on Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey: ‘Who Would Try This?’
“This is definitely the biggest movie I’ve ever done in my career,” Damon said. “It feels like we’ve made six or seven movies and, in a sense, we did. Each chapter of this adventure was at a different location that posed a different challenge. … Every location we’d get there, and I’d just start laughing like, ‘Who thought we should shoot a movie here?'”
He continued: “We’re shooting in Nester’s Cave in Greece, which is an incredible place, but nobody’s ever tried to shoot a film up there. To see the rigging that they did to basically turn it into a natural sound stage — I don’t know any other director who would try it. I mean, there’s a reason we call these things odysseys. This is The Odyssey, and it really is a journey through these incredible places and, hopefully, it really profoundly entertains and moves people.”
Ruth Du Jong, production designer on The Odyssey, explained why Nolan refused to settle for a Hollywood set.
“There was no location that was easy, but all the locations made sense for the story,” she said. “It wouldn’t be the film that it is without being there and doing it for real.”
Zendaya, Tom Holland Also Floored by The Odyssey Filming
The Odyssey features an ensemble cast that includes many of the top names in cinema, including Zendaya and Tom Holland. The recently announced newlyweds will share a screen together for the first time outside the billion-dollar live-action Spider-Man franchise, and both joined Damon in expressing their disbelief in Nolan’s genius.
“There are parts of the world that I would’ve never seen or heard about had it not been for this experience,” Zendaya said. “As an actress, it’s such a luxury to be in such an immersive space. I don’t have to pretend to be on the boat. I’m on the boat. We were at sea.”
Holland echoed the sentiments: “The scale was so, so big. I think what makes Chris’ movies so different is that he goes the extra distance to make it feel authentic to us on set, which then makes it feel more authentic for the audience in the theater.”
When audiences sit down to experience The Odyssey this summer, they’ll do so knowing there’s knowing it’s not a green screen film or one shot on a Hollywood backlot. Instead, they’ll quickly realize the actors and production crew were literally pushed to their breaking point.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey will premiere in theaters worldwide on July 17, 2026.
- Release Date
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July 17, 2026
- Runtime
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172 Minutes