Matt Damon compares Christopher Nolan to 'a drowned rat' during challenging 'The Odyssey' shoot

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Matt Damon has praised Christopher Nolan as the two teamed up for ‘The Odyssey’. The actor compared the celebrated filmmaker to “a drowned rat” while recalling a challenging scene they filmed together.

Damon plays Odysseus in the upcoming epic drama, which releases on July 17. 

Matt Damon praises Christopher Nolan's dedication

During a recent interview with Today, Damon opened up about the demanding conditions the cast endured while filming. He also noted that it was not just the actors but Nolan himself who faced the same challenges alongside them.

The 55-year-old star told Willie Geist during the July 12 episode of 'Sunday Sitdown,' “Directing is by far the hardest job on set.”

“When you’re out there kind of in the middle of a storm and you’re soaked and you’re cold and you’re like, ‘Man, I’m in discomfort right now,’ it is helpful to turn and see the person with the harder job ... looking like a drowned rat, just as cold, just as wet, and never complaining,” he stated. 

Christopher Nolan warned Matt Damon about filming

The ‘Good Will Hunting’ actor also revealed during the interview that Nolan had warned him before work began on ‘The Odyssey’.

“He was like, ‘This movie’s gonna be hard.’ And I looked at him like, ‘I’ve made, I don’t know 80 movies.’ And he goes, ‘No… This movie’s gonna be really hard.’ He, to his credit, was not lying,” Damon said.

Matt Damon details grueling 'The Odyssey' shoot

The film also stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, and Elliot Page alongside Damon, who revealed that everyone was “pushed to kind of the limit of what they could do.”

“But the beauty of it is you look around and everyone is going through it with you,” he added.

Christopher Nolan filmed real vomiting for 'The Odyssey'

Earlier, Nolan himself shed light on the filming experience and the challenges the cast and crew faced.

The 55-year-old director recalled shooting on a 115-foot wooden longship, where cast and crew members were tossed around by waves, making many of them seasick and causing them to vomit.

But the ‘Interstellar’ filmmaker saw an opportunity and reportedly asked them, “Excuse me. But would you mind if we get the vomiting on camera?”

“Credit to them, they said, ‘Absolutely, bring it on.’ They were really game for it. And that day ended up being fabulous as well as miserable; it yielded some of my favorite shots in the film,” Nolan disclosed.