EXCLUSIVE: Even though their adaptation of The Odyssey doesn’t open for another two months, Universal Pictures and Matt Damon look to have found their next big adventure. While a deal isn’t done, sources tell Deadline that Damon is in talks to star in the untitled event film from Everything Everywhere All At Once duo Daniels, aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
Ryan Gosling had been circling the role this past spring but when schedules could not meet and he had moved on from the film, Universal went to another heavy-hitting A-lister to star in the pic.
Universal and reps for Damon could not be reached for comment.
Damon is coming off a busy 2025 that included back-to-back shoots of the Netflix action pic The Rip and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. After a grueling six-month shoot on The Odyssey, sources say Damon was in no rush in finding his next thing and instead planned to rest and spend time with family. In recent weeks, however, he began looking at scripts for projects that would follow The Odyssey‘s massive promotional campaign, and the Daniels‘ film stood .
Following a meeting with the duo, Damon gave the thumbs up. The plan would be to shoot the film later this summer in Los Angeles after Damon is done promoting Odyssey, which bows July 18.
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Details on the project remain under wraps. Kwan, Scheinert and Jonathan Wang will produce through their company Playgrounds’ overall deal with Universal. Playgrounds’ Kwan and Wang recently produced The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist from Universal’s specialty studio Focus Features. It bowed in March.
Executive VP Production Development Sara Scott and Director of Production Development Jacqueline Garell will oversee the Daniels’ new project for Universal.
It’s been three years since Daniels swept the 2023 Oscars with their A24 pic Everything Everywhere All at Once, with a lot of time spent developing this secret project that was set up at Universal in 2024. After recently dating the film for November 19, 2027, word began to spread that while much of the ensemble would be younger talent, the studio and Daniels were aiming high for the star that would be at the center of the cast.
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With Damon now on board, Daniels will now look to build the rest of that cast.
Damon is repped by WME.