Matt Damon says Christopher Nolan took no shortcuts while shooting The Odyssey, recalling a set where the director endured the same cold, wet conditions as everyone else. The $250 million epic, shot entirely on IMAX 70mm film, hits theaters July 17 following a London premiere and early IMAX screenings on July 16.
With The Odyssey about to hit theaters, Matt Damon is dishing out the kind of on-set detail that fans actually want to hear. Speaking to People during the film’s press blitz, the actor described a shoot where Christopher Nolan refused to let anyone, including himself, dodge the elements. “If you’re on a boat when a storm rolls in at sea, you get wet with everybody else,” Damon said, painting a picture of a director who shivered right alongside his cast and crew. That leveling philosophy, Damon suggests, is exactly what turned a grueling shoot across seven countries into something resembling a genuine brotherhood.
No special treatment, even in a storm
With The Odyssey hitting theaters in just over a week, Matt Damon is sharing what it took to get there. Speaking with People, the actor recalled a shoot where nobody, star or crew member, got a pass. “There was no special treatment,” he said. “If you’re out on a boat in the middle of the ocean and you get caught in a storm, you get wet with everybody else.”
Nolan, cold and wet with the rest
That ethos started at the top. “Everybody’s on equal footing, including Chris, who was just as cold and wet as everybody else throughout the whole thing,” Damon recalled, adding that “nobody’s getting a hot beverage that you’re not getting.” The hardship paid off in cohesion. “So that made it feel like we were really all in it together, because we were,” he said, describing a lasting bond with cast and crew.
The conditions were no accident. Principal photography ran from February to August 2025 across Morocco, Greece, Italy, Scotland, Iceland, Western Sahara and Malta, with additional work on the Universal Studios Lot in Los Angeles.
A $250 million bet shot entirely on IMAX film
Damon plays Odysseus, king of Ithaca, on his decade-long journey home after the Trojan War. He is surrounded by Tom Holland as his son Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Zendaya as Athena, Robert Pattinson as the suitor Antinous, and Lupita Nyong’o in the dual roles of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo and Elliot Page round out the ensemble.
Budgeted at an estimated $250 million, the film is the first ever shot entirely on IMAX 70mm cameras, with Hoyte van Hoytema behind the lens and Ludwig Göransson composing the score. In a 60 Minutes interview, Damon explained what sets Nolan apart: “The stories he wants to tell are incredibly ambitious. And the way he wants to tell them is incredibly ambitious. In this case he wanted to do it 100 percent in IMAX, which had never been done.”
Days away from theaters
The film premiered in London on July 6 and opens in US theaters on July 17, 2026, rated R with a runtime of 2 hours and 52 minutes. Moviegoers who can’t wait get a head start: early IMAX showings begin July 16 at 2 p.m. ET.