Matt Damon reveals he said ‘yes’ to ‘The Odyssey’ even before reading script

Mumbai, July 7 (IANS) Actor Matt Damon, who will be seen as Odysseus in ‘The Odyssey’, shared that he committed to the project before even hearing the full pitch by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan.

“I said yes before he even told me what it was,” Damon recalls.

“Chris said, ‘Don’t you want to hear the pitch?’ I said, ‘Okay, sure.’ And he said two words: ‘The Odyssey.'”

For Nolan, Damon was always the only choice to bring Homer’s iconic hero to life.

“I needed Matt because I needed someone who had extraordinary talent and an incredible connection with the audience, and he was just in the right place in his life and career to play this part,” says Nolan.

“Odysseus is somebody with great imagination and wisdom, but he has a weary quality, too. It is a mature role with a lot of complexity to it and very difficult to play, but Matt really sunk his teeth into it.”

Nolan also credits Damon for helping shape the production beyond his performance.

“I needed someone who was not just willing to go on a rigorous journey but help lead it. Matt brings such positive energy to everything he does. He is able to channel the angst of difficult shooting circumstances into a character. He is an incredible motivator and a wonderful example to the rest of the cast and crew. The film would have been unthinkable without him.”

After reading Homer’s epic poem and Nolan’s screenplay, Damon was struck by the filmmaker’s ability to preserve the essence of the classic while giving it a fresh cinematic identity.

“It reminded me of his script for Oppenheimer, because that film was also drawn from a dense, substantial book, and he found an amazing way to distill it to its essentials without losing any of its plot, themes or richness,” Damon shared.

“Chris has restructured the narrative in an artful way that gives it real economy, and the themes he emphasizes give it a distinct identity and meaning. But it is still very much Homer’s Odyssey. It also has a strong emotional core and through-line that feels deeply personal. There is a universality in its specificity that I think will move anyone. The themes certainly resonated with my own life. It was an incredible piece of writing.”

The Odyssey will release worldwide from 17 July.

–IANS

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