Matt Damon Spills the Behind-the-Scenes Drama
While speaking to Elle Magazine, Damon said, “Chris is known for being very circumspect.” He added, “So when you do a take, it’s not like he says, ‘That was great.’ He’ll go, ‘Yep, good. Okay.’ And that is the equivalent of the greatest praise you could ever get.”
That careful system, built over years of making movies like Oppenheimer, Inception, and The Dark Knight, completely fell apart when Zendaya stepped in front of the camera. She plays Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and one particular scene reportedly broke Nolan’s famous calm.
Related:
Why Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Black Armor May Be More Historically Accurate Than Fans Think
Damon remembered the moment with a mix of awe and confusion. Nolan called, “Cut.” There was a pause. Then came one word: “Perfect.” “Literally, Tom [Holland] and I were obsessed with this,” Damon said. “She got a ‘perfect’? I’ve never even gotten a ‘great.’ She got a ‘perfect’?”
Tom Holland and Matt Damon Became a Two-Man Gossip Mill on Set
After that, things got weird on set. Damon and Holland, who play Telemachus (Odysseus’ son), turned into a two-person gossip machine. They kept checking with each other after every take to see if Nolan would finally crack for them. “He and I bitched about it for the entire rest of the film,” Damon admitted. “‘Did you get anything today?’ ‘No, I got a ‘good’ — moving on.’ ‘Yeah, me too.’”
In case you missed it:
‘The Odyssey’ Inspired Marvel? Christopher Nolan Makes a Bold Superhero Claim
That confession carries weight because Damon has worked with Nolan before. This is their third movie together, after Interstellar (2014) and Oppenheimer (2023), where Damon’s performance as General Leslie Groves got a lot of praise. If anyone should have gotten a “great” by now, it’s Matt Damon. But Nolan’s word choice has a limit, and Zendaya blew right past it.
Why Nolan Called Zendaya’s Performance “Perfect” Despite the Brutal Shoot
In the same ELLE piece, Nolan explained why he broke his own rule, and his reasoning was understandable. The movie was shot in rough conditions on IMAX cameras across several countries. It was physically brutal. Actors spent hours in salt spray, wind machines, and heavy costumes. At the same time, Zendaya was also filming Euphoria Season 3, often flying straight from one set to the other.
“We would be in the maddest, craziest situations, just all of us fighting the elements, tearing our hair out,” Nolan said. “And she would sort of parachute in from her other job with this sense of true grace and poise.” He added, “I mean, she’s literally playing a goddess; it’s a tall order. She’s a true movie star, but also an incredible actor.”
Zendaya stayed modest about the whole thing. When ELLE asked her about it, she just laughed and said, “I didn’t know they were keeping score.”
As for Holland, who is engaged to Zendaya in real life, he seems fine with it. People who worked on the movie say he proudly tells friends, “My fiancée broke Christopher Nolan.” Damon, though, is still waiting for his “great.”
The Odyssey comes out in theaters on July 17, 2026. Whether Matt Damon will finally get that elusive “great” remains Hollywood’s biggest unanswered question.
You might also want to read:
Christopher Nolan Has a Radical Way to Show Gods in ‘The Odyssey’ And It’s Not What You Expect
