Matt Damon wearing rugged armor as King Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey.
Sharing the Muscular Glory
Matt Damon is earning high praise for his rugged, muscular physique in Christopher Nolan’s epic action fantasy, The Odyssey. But the actor readily admits he cannot take full credit for every bicep shot featured in the film.
Matt Damon wearing worn armor and gazing intently as King Odysseus.
During a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Damon pulled back the curtain on the movie’s practical effects. He revealed that a female stunt double stepped in for a crucial action sequence to help pull off an intricate camera trick.
The Magic of Forced Perspective
To bring the Laestrygonians—a tribe of mythical giant warriors—to life without relying on heavy CGI, Nolan utilized old-school forced perspective. The production hired stuntmen standing at least seven feet tall to play the towering adversaries.
“When we did the forced perspective stuff of the Laestrygonians… there were these stunt men who were all seven feet,” Damon explained. To make the giants look even larger on camera, the crew needed a much smaller stand-in for Damon to manipulate the visual scale.
The Stand-In With the “Greatest Arms”
“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,” Damon said.
The actor made sure to track her down during production. He recalled walking into the catering tent specifically to hug her and thank her for the intense physical work she contributed to the role.
“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,” Damon noted.
A Box Office Titan
Based on Homer’s ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey follows King Odysseus (Damon) on his perilous journey back to Ithaca following the Trojan War. He battles mythical threats to reunite with his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and son, Telemachus (Tom Holland).
The film boasts a massive ensemble cast, including 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.
Audiences have flocked to Nolan’s practical-effects spectacle. Following its July 17 release, the film shattered box office expectations, pulling in over $264 million globally during its opening weekend.
