Matt Damon 'violated' family rule while filming The Odyssey

Matt Damon has revealed the family rule he ‘violated’ while filming Christopher Nolan’s latest epic The Odyssey.

The 55-year-old Academy Award winner stars as Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, who must embark on a perilous 10-year journey home following the Trojan War. He battles violent storms, the Cyclops, and countless other deadly obstacles as he tries to reunite with his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and their son, Telemachus (Tom Holland).

The blockbuster, which boasts a large A-list cast, was nearly three hours long. It has become one of the most anticipated releases of 2026, with IMAX 70mm screenings selling out well in advance as moviegoers scramble to experience it on huge screens.

The Odyssey is one of the year's most hyped films (Universal Pictures)

It is also the first feature film shot entirely with IMAX film cameras, but despite adapting Homer's sprawling epic, Nolan was forced to keep the film under the three-hour mark because of the physical limitations of IMAX 70mm projection. The final runtime comes in at 2 hours and 52 minutes after the director trimmed the story to fit the format.

Damon did many of his own stunts and underwent a major physical transformation. Preparation was lengthy and in a new interview, Damon said he broke a ‘family rule’ in order to make the film.

The dad-of-four said that this film ‘took more out of our family’, when asked about how his daughters and wife, Luciana Barroso, adjusted to him dedicating so much time to the role. He told TODAY: “We’ve always had a two-week rule - this was the first time that we ever had to violate it, where it was stretches for three-and-a-half weeks and we were just away from each other. So, it was a big sacrifice for them and it was hard on us and I’m so proud of the movie but I’m so proud of them for really encouraging me.

Matt Damon with his wife Luciana Barroso and their four daughters (CARLOS JASSO / AFP via Getty Image)

He added: "I feel like my whole professional life built up to this experience and they were really on board with me doing it and I love them for that.”

Damon previously detailed how he transformed his body for the role. “I didn’t change it in an unhealthy way,” he told PEOPLE. “I think if I had done the opposite and put weight on, that would have been dangerous and it’s not something I’ll do anymore. I was happy to do it earlier in my life.”

“It was more about just getting really, really physically fit, which just really involves changing your diet, just a whole lifestyle change,” he explained. “You have to just be very, very intentional about everything you’re putting in your body.”

He described the shoot as ‘by far the hardest move to the most challenging movie I’ve ever been a part of’, describing the Nolan epic as feeling, ‘more like an expedition than a movie’.

“And if you were cold and wet, you just turned and you looked and Chris was just as cold and just as wet and going through it,” Damon recalled.

The Odyssey is released in UK cinemas on Friday, 17 July.