Ben Affleck spent 20 minutes dissecting Robert Pattinson’s performance in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey with co-star Matt Damon, according to Yahoo.
Speaking at a screening event in Los Angeles on Saturday night, Matt Damon recounted how Affleck reacted after watching the movie. Affleck drew a contrast between Damon’s role and Pattinson’s portrayal of Antinous, the antagonistic ringleader of Penelope’s suitors.
“Ben goes, ‘You had the benefit of all of the might and power of Christopher Nolan storytelling at your back,’ and I went, ‘Yeah,’ and he goes, ‘Rob had all of the weight and heft and power of Christopher Nolan’s storytelling coming down on him. And the way he did it, it was like watching a guy run into an avalanche,’” said Matt Damon.
Damon praised Pattinson’s approach to playing the character. He said that the actor actively looked for ways to make his antagonist more cowardly and hateable.
Damon also detailed how the director approached the central figure of Odysseus, focusing specifically on his weariness, shame, and regret.
The Los Angeles Q&A featured several members of the cast, including Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, and Elliot Page, discussing their experience on the film. Patel said that Damon was always smiling, happy, and loving it, even during more taxing moments.
During the production, the documentary “Behind the Scenes of ‘The Odyssey’” reveals that the giant creature was initially represented by a crude stick-figure puppet. The original plan was to shoot the sequence on an L.A. soundstage late in production.
Matt Damon praises Robert Pattinson’s performance in #TheOdyssey pic.twitter.com/PlrJGyUDuT
But after Nolan and De Jong scouted Greece and found a real cave, the team had to finish the puppet and get it standing on a Greek mountain within two months.
Nolan’s latest project is his most successful film at the box office, grossing over $1.8 billion. During a Q&A moderated by Robert Downey Jr., Nolan confirmed that the film’s ending deliberately echoes his previous film Oppenheimer.
“As I wrote the end, I suddenly found a bit of Oppenheimer in there – that sort of connection,” said Christopher Nolan.
The production’s behind-the-scenes efforts are captured in a 75-minute documentary titled Behind the Scenes of ‘The Odyssey,’ which premiered Tuesday night at the Spielberg Theater on the Universal Studios lot ahead of the film’s home release on November 17, 2026.