Matt Damon Received enthusiastic recognition from his closest friends for his portrayal of the legendary Greek warrior king Odysseus in Odysseus Christopher NolanThe highly anticipated blockbuster The Odyssey. The 55-year-old actor revealed that Ben Affleck called him to congratulate him after watching the film, with Damon calling the honor a once-in-a-lifetime moment.According to the Mirror, Damon explained that Affleck had already seen the work and praised it. “Ben has seen the film. He called me recently and I was like, ‘I’ve been waiting for this call for 45 years,'” the outlet reported, stressing the importance of receiving such recognition from his lifelong collaborator and friend.The $250 million epic, which premieres in theaters on July 17, is the most important blockbuster of Damon’s career. The film marks the first feature film shot entirely with a large-format camera, and Damon admits it was an ambitious undertaking that came with its fair share of challenges. “We made this movie for the big screen, which was hard, but I’m excited to share it with the world. We have some young actors in the movie. It’s impossible not to support them. They are so professional,” he said.
The scope and cast of the film
The film follows the legendary Greek king Odysseus as he struggles to return to his home in Ithaca after the decade-long Trojan War. The film features an all-star cast including Tom HollandAnne Hathaway, Zendaya, Rob Pattinson, Samantha Morton and Charlize Theron, bringing together some of the film industry’s most accomplished actors.Christopher Nolan directed the Bronze Age epic, adding to his recent list of accolades after winning the 2024 Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director.
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” stars Matt Damon as the legendary Greek king Odysseus in the filmmaker’s ambitious mythological epic. Image source (Instagram)
The Damon family attended the London premiere
Damon attended the London premiere with his film producer wife Luciana Barroso, 49, and daughters Alexia, 27, from a previous marriage, Isabella, 20, Gia, 17, and Stella, 15.
Damon and Alfred’s deep friendship
Since co-founding an artist-led independent production studio in 2022, Damon likened his relationship with Affleck to that of the legendary musician. Paul McCartney and John Lennon in a 2021 documentary about the iconic group. After watching the documentary with his then 11-year-old youngest daughter, Damon found himself moved to tears by the final scenes.“It reminded me of how both of us started. At the end, there was this incredible scene when they were playing for the last time on a London rooftop. It was like the happiest they’d ever been in their 20s,” Damon explained. “I watched this movie with my youngest daughter and she said, ‘Dad, why are you crying?’ Tears were streaming down my face. It broke my heart that these people couldn’t get over anything that didn’t allow them to continue to do this together.“
Matt Damon looks back on his lifelong friendship with Ben Affleck, retracing their journey from aspiring actors in Boston to longtime Hollywood collaborators. Image source (Instagram)
This viewing prompted Damon to contact his friend and develop a deeper appreciation for their shared journey. “So I called Ben and I said, ‘Man, I think this is our dream and life since we were teenagers.’ “I mean we wanted to make a movie together, we wrote Good Will Hunting together, we starred in it together. There was a time after that when we were a little allergic to working together. Then, all of a sudden, the decades go by and it’s like, ‘Now we’re in our 50s. Let’s start a company together, I don’t care,” Damon said.
Shared bank accounts and early struggles
Before Good Will Hunting won two Oscars in 1998, Damon looks back on their cash-strapped beginnings as aspiring actors and the unconventional ways they financed their dreams. “We used to share a bank account and we would put money into our shared account for jobs we had done professionally. So if we had any partial or extra work, we would get $50 or $100 and it would be put into our shared account. We used the money to go to New York to audition and then take the bus from Boston,” he explains.The journey from Boston to New York to audition was grueling and often disappointing. “It took about four or five hours to get to New York. We would walk into somewhere in downtown Manhattan, and three minutes later they would just say, ‘Okay, thank you!’ We used to call rejection ‘Okay, thank you. ‘ Because you used to go in, beat your chest, pull your hair and sob, and they’d just say, ‘Okay, thank you.’ But we have this account to rely on. We also used it to play video games, buy beers, and go to auditions at this place on Madison Avenue. Those were the three uses of the account,” Damon recalled.
Password and Phoenix River
The access code to the shared account referenced a young actor they both deeply admired. During an appearance on the podcast, Damon revealed the meaning behind their secret code. “The codename is ‘River P’ because River Phoenix is an actor we admire very much. He’s our age and he’s playing the role we want to play. This is our password into our shared bank account. Damon said, paying tribute to the performer who died of a drug overdose in 1993 at the age of 23.
From struggling actor to Hollywood celebrity
Today, Damon has an estimated wealth and properties in multiple locations, so there is little need for a shared bank account. However, he still cherishes the excitement of every milestone the two achieved as they grew up. “It feels like you’ve won the lottery, but your best friend has also won the lottery. Ben and I we’ve talked about that. The fact that we were 14 and 16 years old in the 1980s when we were 14 and 16 years old going to New York to audition on our own was not a surprise to us,” Damon reflects.The actor emphasized how unconventional their youth was in retrospect. “It wasn’t until we had the kid that we thought, ‘Can you believe we’re auditioning like this?’ I mean, are you going to let this kid go to San Francisco for a day by himself? It seemed completely normal to us. We like to start with the extras. It can be a degrading job, but we love working on set. We’re excited to be there, yeah, I mean, it’s just the beginning,” he said.
Continuous dedication to craftsmanship
Now one of Hollywood’s most popular leading men, Damon’s rise has been built on relentless hard work, and he shows no signs of letting up. “Even if you succeed, you probably have to break a lot of eggs to get an omelet. You know what I mean?” He concluded by reflecting on the constant effort required to maintain excellence in his craft.The Odyssey will premiere in theaters on Friday, July 17.
