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Published 11:25 23 Jul 2026 GMT
Matt Damon has revealed that filming Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey forced him to break a major "non-negotiable" family rule for the first time.
The 55-year-old admitted his wife and children agreed to make a rare exception while he filmed the epic action fantasy film, despite the project keeping him away from home for far longer than they normally allow.
"It just took more, and it took more out of our family, and they had to, you know, we've always had a two-week rule. This was the first time that we ever had to violate it," Damon said during an interview on TODAY on July 14.
The Academy-winning star previously explained to The Guardian in 2012 that the family's "two-week rule" means they "can't be apart as a family for longer" than that period. But shooting The Odyssey pushed beyond that limit.
"There was like stretches of like three and a half weeks, and we were just away from each other," he said, describing the production as a "big sacrifice" for his family.
"It was hard on us, and I'm so proud of the movie, but I'm so proud of them for really encouraging me," he continued. "I feel like my whole professional life built up to this experience, and they really were really on board with me doing it, and I love them for that."
Damon shares daughters Isabella, 20, Gia, 17, and Stella, 15, with wife Luciana Barroso. He is also stepfather to Alexia, Barroso's daughter from a previous relationship.
Damon has described the film as the most demanding project he has ever taken on.
Speaking to Willie Geist on Sunday Sitdown, he called the Nolan blockbuster the "capstone" of his career.
"(It's) definitely the hardest movie I've ever done, just because it was so ambitious," he said. "I've been just an incredibly lucky man, and that's how I felt on the set, every day, of this movie."
The film, based on Homer's epic poem, stars Damon as Odysseus, the Greek hero who endures a difficult 10-year journey home to Ithaca and his wife Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway, after the Trojan War.
The star-studded cast also includes Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo and Samantha Morton.
While the Good Will Hunting star was grateful for the opportunity, he admitted the physical demands of filming were relentless.
In an interview with Andy Cohen on Radio Andy, he joked that much of the cast was battling aches rather than feeling like action heroes.
"A lot of us are middle-aged people and what we got was back pain," he said, adding that running across the stone sets while wearing sandals quickly took its toll.
"Oh my God, running through Troy, like, you know, it's all stone," he continued. "You're in these sandals and they're very real. Our feet were all scuffed up."
Damon said the sore backs proved even worse than the cuts and scrapes.
"It was a heavy Advil movie in those weeks when we were doing all that action stuff," he added.
The Odyssey was released in theatres on July 17 and has already earned praise from critics, with some describing it as Nolan's finest film to date.
The movie also set a new record as the director's biggest box office debut, taking in $264 million, according to Universal Pictures.
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Published 14:04 18 Jul 2023 GMT
You know how it is. One minute you're deciding to take a break from work, the next minute a generational director is calling you, offering you a major role in his upcoming blockbuster. What are you going to do?
OK, so maybe none of us have ever experienced this exact dilemma, but it accurately describes the journey Matt Damon took to becoming Leslie Groves in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer.
The 52-year-old, who also recently starred in Nike-based biography Air, has recently revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he was discussing with his wife Luciana Barroso about taking a break from acting.
But there was one condition that Damon negotiated to allow him back in front of the camera before the break was over.
"This is going to sound made up, but it's actually true," Damon explained, "I had - not to get too personal - negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off.
"I had been in Interstellar, and then Chris put me on ice for a couple of movies, so I wasn't in the rotation, but I actually negotiated in couples therapy - this is a true story - the one caveat to my taking time off was if Chris Nolan called."
We wonder what happened next...
"This is without knowing whether or not he was working on anything because he never tells you. He just calls you out of the blue. And so, it was a moment in my household."
So, as a result of said phone call, Damon found himself portraying Groves, the general who oversaw the Manhattan Project, where the United States' atomic bombs were created ahead of being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan at the close of World War Two.
Damon's co-star in the film, Cillian Murphy, who plays the titular Oppenheimer, confirmed that Nolan's method of calling actors out of the blue was in fact his preferred method of approaching them for roles.
"Chris' way of operating is that he just calls you out of the blue. I genuinely had no idea. He said he was making a movie about Oppenheimer and he said, 'I'd like you to play Oppenheimer.' I had to sit down. It was kind of overwhelming."
It is an approach that Nolan says is "a fun way to do it", although it isn't without its problems.
"It means that it's very difficult to call you to go out to dinner or something. Because every time you answer the phone it's like, what is it going to be?", explained the director.
As for Damon, his 2023 isn't over with Oppenheimer. He will also be starring in Ethan Coen's Drive Away Dolls, which is released in September. He is also confirmed to be lending his voice to John Krasinski's Imaginary Friends, although we will have to wait until May 2024 for that one.
Presumably, both of those projects were signed off before his now infamous couples therapy session.
Published 10:36 22 Jul 2026 GMT
Charlize Theron made an admission about her time on set with former co-star Matt Damon and how she had to suppress some thoughts about him.
The South African-American actress has never been shy about sharing her thoughts with the public, having opened up about her liberating new dating life since her divorce.
But the mom-of-two has now taken this a step further, directly speaking about one of her Odyssey co-stars and the shape they were in.
Matt Damon is known for starring in some of the biggest films of the last three decades or so, from Good Will Hunting to the Jason Bourne film series and The Martian.
But one thing about the 55-year-old that isn't spoken about much is his appearance, and Theron made sure this didn't go unnoticed.
Speaking during the film's recent world premiere in London, Theron didn't hold back.
Theron, 50, was asked about "the shape" that Damon was in for The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan's latest film, and she was candid with her reply about her married co-star.
“I made this movie with him… I’ve seen him without all of that suit on,” she told Entertainment Tonight.
She took a moment to think before adding: “It’s weird. I’m, like, staring at him weirdly. I’m looking at his a**.”
The Mad Max actress joked that she had to stop herself as she "shouldn't do that" as "that's just wrong," but further praised how "amazing" Damon looks.
Theron plays Calypso, and Damon is Odysseus in Nolan's latest blockbuster, which hit cinemas last week, and it isn't the first time the pair have worked together.
They starred in The Legend of Bagger Vance with Will Smith in 2000, and Theron told the Today show that reuniting with Damon was "sentimental".
She explained: “We did the first take, and I just went, ‘Oh my God, we did this when we were babies, and here we are, two old humans,'
“[He’s] just one of my favorite people... it’s rare that you get to do something like that, you know, to experience the same experience, like 30 years later, and with someone as great and as wonderful,” the Oscar winner admitted.
She went on: “He’s just good people. He’s lovely people to be around, and we’re all so happy for him that he got this opportunity [to play the titular role]. A better man couldn’t have gotten it.”
Damon started to date then-bartender Luciana Barroso in 2003, before tying the knot two years later.
The pair have since welcomed three daughters, Isabella, 20, Gia, 17, and Stella, 15, and are going strong after over two decades of marriage.
The actor also adopted his partner's daughter Alexia, 27, from a previous partner, admitting to People that family dinners are a "non-negotiable."
Speaking on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast in July 2025, Theron opened up about sleeping with a man in his 20s, despite being 24 years older.
She explained: "I'm sounding very cocky here, but I think it's because I found this freedom in my forties, where I'm like, 'Oh my god,' so I just want to say this in perspective.
"I've probably had three one-night stands in my entire life, but I did just recently f*** a 26-year-old and it was really f****** amazing and I've never done that and I was like, 'Oh, this is great okay.'"
"Let me just say that 26-year-old is the luckiest f****** man walking on this god damn planet," Cooper responded. "He's walking different today knowing."
"He is for sure is not, but thank you," Theron added.
She also admitted: "I sound like I'm sitting here sounding like I do. So when I do, I'm like, 'Oh, f*** yeah, I should have done this in my 20s.'"
Published 11:04 09 Jan 2026 GMT
Matt Damon has opened up about how he transformed his physique for a new movie role - and the one thing he had to cut out to drop 30lbs.
The actor, 55, is set to take on the lead role of Odysseus in Christopher Nolan's upcoming movie, Odyssey, set to be released in July 2026.
The upcoming epic action fantasy film is an adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek Odyssey, following Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, and his long and perilous journey home to his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), following the Trojan War.
As well as Damon and Hathaway, the all-star cast also includes Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Lupita Nyong'o.
Damon addressed his preparation for the movie role on Jason and Travis Kelce's New Heights podcast on January 7, explaining the lifestyle changes he had to make.
Jason said that Damon looked "pretty yoked up" in some of the early shots that had been released from the movie, to which the actor responded that he got into "really good shape and lost a lot of weight".
Damon compared it to how the Kelces would prepare for games in the NFL, as being on shape becomes necessary as part of your job.
Revealing how he did it, Damon explained: "[Nolan] said he wanted me lean but strong, and so it's a weird thing, I don’t want to bore the s*** out of you but I literally, just because of this other thing I did with my doctor, stopped eating gluten.
"I used to walk around at between 185 [pounds] and 200 and I did that whole movie at 167. I haven’t been that light since high school.
"So it was a lot of training and a really strict diet."
Gluten is a protein that is found in wheat, rye, barley, and many processed foods made using these ingredients, including breads and pasta, and can cause a dietary intolerance in some individuals with Celiac disease.
This occurs when the body's immune system responds to the gluten, damaging the lining of the small intestine, per the Cleveland Clinic.
Despite Damon crediting a gluten-free diet for his weight loss, doctors have long dismissed it as a method to shift the pounds.
According to the Cleveland Clinic: "There’s absolutely no evidence that simply getting rid of gluten will result in weight loss. But if you eat a gluten-free diet you may make healthier food choices because you’re more aware of how to read food labels.
"Eating gluten-free often may cause you to eat more whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, and lean meats. These diet changes are often healthier and lower in calories."
As it stands, a completely gluten-free diet is only recommended for those who need to do it for health reasons.
Published 16:18 07 Jun 2023 GMT
Steven Spielberg has spoken about the moment a young Drew Barrymore asked him to be her dad while filming E.T., and why he had to say no.
The young actress was just seven when the Spielberg-directed movie - an emotional flick about an alien who is accidentally left behind on planet Earth - became an instant blockbuster and the highest-grossing film of all time, catapulting her into stardom.
This week, Barrymore, now 48, took part in an interview with New York Magazine's E. Alex Jung, where the actress reflected on her tumultuous childhood and her bond with Spielberg.
In her interview, Barrymore called the famed director "the only person in my life to this day that ever was a parental figure."
It's widely known that Spielberg went to immense efforts to preserve Barrymore's childhood innocence on the set of the 1982 movie, ensuring that the young actress didn't discover that the alien was just a prop. In her interview, Barrymore explained that she told Spielberg to kick out the men operating the animatronic alien E.T.
"I didn't want to burst the bubble," Spielberg also told the magazine. "So I simply said, 'It's okay, E.T. is so special E.T. has eight assistants. I am the director, I only have one." The Jaws director said he shot the film in "strict continuity" to keep the magic alive for Barrymore even when the cameras weren't rolling, making sure assistants were present to make E.T. 'come alive' when Barrymore told him her secrets during lunchtimes.
Barrymore has been transparent about her tumultuous childhood, having been raised by her mother after her abusive alcoholic father left them when Barrymore was young.
During the interview, Barrymore spoke about how her mom, Ildiko Jaid Barrymore, who was also her manager, seemingly treated her as a "friend" or "client" and would take her to "industry parties" and "nightclubs" where she would end up indulging in things that no child should ever be exposed to, including alcohol and drugs such as cocaine - this ended up in an addiction that would land her in rehab by age 13.
Once, she asked Spielberg to be her dad. He said no. "She was staying up way past her bedtime, going to places she should have only been hearing about, and living a life at a very tender age that I think robbed her of her childhood," Spielberg said. "Yet I felt very helpless because I wasn't her dad. I could only kind of be a consigliere to her."
Though, he did come to a compromise, agreeing to be her godfather instead, and the pair maintain an extremely close bond to this day.
Published 11:34 15 Jul 2023 GMT
Matt Damon has opened up about one of the lowest points in his life while filming a movie.
The actor, who was recently seen in Paris promoting his new film Oppenheimer alongside Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt, recalled the moment he realized there was something gravely wrong while on set.
In an interview with Jakes Takes, the 52-year-old said that the project made him fall into "a depression."
"Without naming any particular movies...sometimes you find yourself in a movie that you know, perhaps, might not be what you had hoped it would be, and you’re still making it," he said.
He continued: "And I remember halfway through production and you’ve still got months to go and you’ve taken your family somewhere, you know, and you’ve inconvenienced them, and I remember my wife pulling me up because I fell into a depression about like, what have I done?"
He then explained how his wife helped him navigate the situation.
"She just said, 'We’re here now,'" the Good Will Hunting star said. "You know, and it was like... I do pride myself, in a large part because of her, at being a professional actor and what being a professional actor means is you go and you do the 15-hour day and give it absolutely everything, even in what you know is going to be a losing effort.
"And if you can do that with the best possible attitude, then you’re a pro, and she really helped me with that," he added.
Though Damon might not have revealed the exact name of the movie, multiple other outlets including Variety and Men's Journal hinted that it could be The Great Wall, which was released in 2016.
Directed by Chinese creative Zhang Yimou, the movie told the story of "a mercenary warrior (portrayed by Damon) who is imprisoned within the Great Wall and discovers the mystery behind one of the greatest wonders of the world" as per IMDb.
Men's Journal described the visual effects in the movie as "embarrassingly shoddy" and even went as far as adding that the general storyline was "limp" also emphasizing that the entire thing was just playing on the "white savior" trope - a pretty exhausted narrative if we ever there was one.
Damon spoke of the trainwreck during a 2021 interview with Marc Maron on his 'WTF' podcast saying: "I was like, this is exactly how disasters happen. It doesn’t cohere. It doesn’t work as a movie."
And it seems as though his own daughter thought the same thing.
"... My daughter knows it," he continued. "Whenever she talks about the movie, she calls it 'The Wall.' And I’m like, come on, it’s called The Great Wall. And she’s like, 'Dad, there’s nothing great about that movie.' She’s one of the funniest people I know."
He also told the host that even during the production of the film, he didn't have a good feeling about it.
"I came to consider that the definition of a professional actor; knowing you’re in a turkey and going, 'OK, I’ve got four more months. It’s the up at dawn siege on Hamburger Hill. I am definitely going to die here, but I’m doing it,'" he said. "That’s as sh**** as you can feel creatively, I think.
"I hope to never have that feeling again," he added.
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