Matt Damon as Odysseus in 'The Odyssey.' Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures As Josh Horowitz points out, Matt Damon had quite an impressive physique in The Odyssey, specifically in the bicep region. However, the actor confessed he can’t take full credit for all the times you see his muscular limbs in the film.
During a recent interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast host, Damon revealed that he actually had a female stunt double for one key scene in Christopher Nolan’s epic action fantasy film.
After thanking Horowitz for the “high praise,” The Rip actor explained, “When we did the forced perspective stuff of the Laestrygonians — I don’t know if there’s been a thing about how we did it — there were these stunt men who were all seven feet,” he said, referring to the giant warriors in The Odyssey.
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“And then they got stuntmen who were under five feet, and so my double was a woman, a female stunt performer, who had the greatest arms I’ve ever seen,” he added.
Damon recalled first meeting the stunt double in the catering tent while filming and going up to hug her and thank her “for all the work she put in.”
“So there are those shots in the movie where you see these giants looming over me, and so it was almost 100 percent my arms in the movie, but you gotta give it up where it’s due,” he said.
The Odyssey, based on Homer’s ancient Greek poem, follows King Odysseus’ (Damon) dangerous voyage back to Ithaca after the Trojan War, including battles with mythical creatures, as he attempts to reunite with his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and son, Telemachus (Tom Holland). The film also stars Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, Mia Goth, Corey Hawkins, Jon Bernthal, Samantha Morton, Travis Scott and Benny Safdie.
Following its July 17 release, the film scored a major box office victory, collecting more than $264 million globally in its debut weekend.
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