Matt Damon has received a glowing endorsement from his closest friend for his portrayal of legendary Greek warrior king Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated blockbuster ‘The Odyssey’. The 55-year-old actor revealed that Ben Affleck called to congratulate him after seeing the film, an accolade Damon described as a once-in-a-lifetime moment.According to The Mirror, Damon explained that Affleck had already viewed the production and reached out with praise. “Ben has seen the movie already. He called me recently, and I was like ‘I have been waiting 45 years for this phone call,'” the outlet reported, underscoring the significance of receiving such recognition from his lifelong collaborator and friend.Set to premiere in theatres on July 17, the $250 million epic represents the most significant blockbuster of Damon’s career. The film marks the first feature production shot entirely on large-format cameras, an ambitious undertaking that Damon acknowledges came with considerable challenges. “We made the movie for the giant screens, and that is hard, but I am excited to share it with the world. We had some young actors in the movie. It is impossible not to root for them. They are such pros,” he said.
The film’s scope and cast
The film follows the legendary Greek king Odysseus as he struggles to return home to Ithaca following the decade-long Trojan War. The movie features an all-star ensemble including Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Samantha Morton and Charlize Theron, bringing together some of cinema’s most accomplished performers.Christopher Nolan directs the Bronze Age epic, building on his recent accolades after claiming both best picture and best director Oscars in 2024.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey stars Matt Damon as the legendary Greek king Odysseus in the filmmaker’s ambitious mythological epic.Image credit (Instagram)
Damon’s family at the London premiere
Damon attended the London premiere this week alongside his film producer wife Luciana Barroso, 49, and daughters Alexia, 27—her child from a previous marriage—Isabella, 20, Gia, 17, and Stella, 15.
The deep friendship between Damon and Affleck
Since launching an independent, artist-led production studio together in 2022, Damon has drawn parallels between his relationship with Affleck and that of legendary musicians Paul McCartney and John Lennon in a 2021 documentary about the iconic group. After viewing the documentary with his youngest daughter, who was 11 at the time, Damon found himself moved to tears by the final scenes.“It reminded me of how we both started out. At the end, there’s this incredible scene when they play for the final time on the roof in London. It’s like the most joyful thing as they are all in their 20s,” Damon explained. “I watched it with my youngest daughter, and she went, ‘Dad, why are you crying?’ The tears were just pouring down my face. It made me so sad, as there were these guys who couldn’t get past whatever it was that wouldn’t allow them to keep doing it together.“
Matt Damon reflected on his lifelong friendship with Ben Affleck, recalling their journey from aspiring actors in Boston to longtime Hollywood collaborators.Image credit (Instagram)
This viewing prompted Damon to contact his friend with a deeper appreciation for their shared journey. “So I just called Ben, and I was like, ‘man, I think this was our dream and our lives from the time we were teenagers.’ I mean we wanted to do movies together, we wrote Good Will Hunting together, starred in it together. After that we were a little allergic to working together for a while. Then, suddenly, a couple of decades went by, and it was like, ‘now we’re in our 50s. We’re starting a company together, and I don’t care,'” Damon said.
The shared bank account and early struggles
Reflecting on their cash-strapped beginnings as aspiring actors, before Good Will Hunting claimed two Oscars in 1998, Damon recalled their unconventional approach to funding their dreams. “We used to share a bank account that we would put money in that we had made professionally. So, if we got any part or extra work, we would get $50 or $100, and that money would go into our shared account. We used the money to go for auditions in New York, and we would take the bus from Boston,” he explained.The journey from Boston to New York for auditions was gruelling and frequently disappointing. “It would take about four or five hours to get to New York. We would walk into some place in midtown Manhattan, and they would just say after three minutes, ‘OK, thanks!’ We used to call getting rejected ‘OK, thanks.’ Because you used to go in there, beat your chest, pull your hair out and sob, and they just go, ‘OK, thanks.’ But we had this account to rely on. We also used it to play video games at this place on Madison Avenue, buy beers and go to auditions. Those were the three uses for the account,” Damon recounted.
The secret code and River Phoenix
The access code for the shared account referenced a young actor whom both men deeply admired. During an appearance on a podcast, Damon revealed the significance behind their secret password. “The code was ‘River P,’ because River Phoenix was an actor we really admired. He was our age, and he was getting the parts we wanted to play. So that was our secret code to get into our shared bank account,” Damon said, paying tribute to the performer who passed away from a drug overdose in 1993 at only 23 years old.
From struggling actors to Hollywood establishment
Today, boasting an estimated fortune and properties in multiple locations, Damon has little need for a shared bank account. Yet he still cherishes the excitement of every milestone the duo achieved during those formative years. “It feels as if you have won the lottery, but your best friend won it too. We’ve talked about that, Ben and I. And also just the fact that it didn’t seem weird to us in the 1980s that we were 14 and 16 years old and going to New York by ourselves to audition for things,” Damon reflected.The actor emphasized how unconventional their youth now appears in retrospect. “It was not until we had kids that we thought ‘can you believe that we would just go and audition like that?’ I mean, would you just let this kid go to San Francisco for the day by themselves? It seemed totally normal to us. We loved starting out as extras. It can be demeaning work, but we loved being on sets. We were thrilled to be there, and yeah, I mean, it was starting out in the business,” he said.
Continued commitment to craft
Now firmly established as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men, Damon’s rise to the top was built on relentless hard work, and he shows no signs of letting up. “Even as you get successful you might have to break a lot of eggs to get the omelette. You know what I mean?” he concluded reflecting on the continued effort required to maintain excellence in his craft.‘The Odyssey’ premieres in theatres on Friday, July 17.