Matt Damon recalls Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' warning: 'This movie's going to be really hard'

Matt Damon is opening up about his first meeting with Christopher Nolan for The Odyssey, revealing that the Oscar-winning director made it clear from the start that the ambitious epic would be unlike anything he had done before.

During an interview on 60 Minutes, Damon said Nolan did not sugarcoat the scale of the project when they first discussed the role of Odysseus. “This movie’s going to be hard,” Nolan told him, according to Damon. When the actor responded with confidence after making dozens of films, Nolan doubled down: “No, this movie’s going to be really hard.”

Damon said Nolan’s prediction proved accurate. “It was the hardest movie I’ve ever done by far. I mean, not even close,” the actor said of filming the large-scale adaptation of Homer’s epic poem.

The actor leads the star-studded cast as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca whose perilous journey home after the Trojan War forms the basis of the ancient Greek story. The film also stars Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson and Charlize Theron.

Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Odyssey was shot entirely using IMAX film cameras and is one of the most technically ambitious productions of the filmmaker’s career. Damon recently told Time that he approached the role as though it were “the last movie I’d ever do,” reflecting how rare and significant the opportunity felt.

The Odyssey is scheduled to open in theatres on July 17, 2026.