{"id":542416,"date":"2026-07-15T09:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/542416\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T09:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:09:14","slug":"bring-him-home-how-a-matt-damon-meme-perfectly-captures-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/542416\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bring Him Home\u2019: How a Matt Damon meme perfectly captures Christopher Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey"},"content":{"rendered":"

MUMBAI \u2013 Hollywood has spent almost three decades, and an estimated US$600 million (S$776 million), trying to get Matt Damon home, to the point that it has even spawned a meme.<\/p>\n

Steven Spielberg sent an entire platoon, along with a US$70 million production budget, to rescue the American actor\u2019s character, Private James Ryan, in Saving Private Ryan (1998).<\/p>\n

Christopher Nolan marooned astronaut scientist Mann<\/a> on an icy planet in Interstellar (2014) to the tune of US$165 million, but he failed to escape it.<\/p>\n

Ridley Scott shelled out US$105 million to bring stranded space botanist Mark Watney back to Earth from Mars in The Martian (2015).<\/p>\n

Now, Nolan is at it again.<\/p>\n

In his US$250 million adaptation of Homer\u2019s The Odyssey<\/a>, which opens in Singapore cinemas on July 16, Damon plays legendary Greek king Odysseus, whose voyage home to Ithaca from Troy after the Trojan War stretches into an arduous 20-year odyssey filled with monsters, gods and impossible temptations.<\/p>\n

Waiting for him in Ithaca are his devoted wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and their son Telemachus (Tom Holland), who has grown into a young man while his father remains lost at sea.<\/p>\n

Also joining the star-studded cast is Zendaya as the goddess Athena, alongside Lupita Nyong\u2019o, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson and Jon Bernthal.<\/p>\n

When The Straits Times asks Damon at The Odyssey\u2019s Mumbai press junket on July 11 whether his first reaction to Nolan\u2019s offer was \u201cnot again\u201d, the 55-year-old laughs it off.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot at all,\u201d says Damon, who won the best screenplay Oscar for Good Will Hunting (1998) with American actor-director Ben Affleck. \u201cThe movies in which they are trying to get me home are Saving Private Ryan, Interstellar, The Martian and this one. So you can keep losing me as much as you want. These are four films I\u2019m very, very happy to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nolan chuckles when the long-running meme is brought up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely looked at The Martian tagline, \u2018Bring Him Home\u2019, and I thought, well, we could just steal that tagline,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But behind the joke lies the very reason the Oscar-winning writer-director wanted to adapt Homer\u2019s 3,000-year-old epic in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cHomecoming narratives are very important in movies,\u201d the 55-year-old British-American film-maker tells ST in a separate interview.<\/p>\n

Our conversation unfolds inside the Taj Mahal Palace overlooking Mumbai\u2019s historic Gateway of India, where Nolan, Damon and Holland are in the bustling Indian metropolis for The Odyssey\u2019s Asian premiere. \u201cIt is one of the reasons I wanted to make The Odyssey. Obviously, this is the ultimate homecoming narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eternal human desire to return home<\/p>\n

Nolan has taken audiences into dreams (Inception, 2010), black holes (Interstellar) and the birth of the atomic bomb (Oppenheimer, 2023). Yet, he realised there was one foundational story Hollywood had somehow never fully and truly embraced.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a film-maker, you are looking for something you can challenge yourself with \u2013 something you have not done before, and something you can bring to audiences that hopefully they have not seen before,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a surprise for me to realise that Homer\u2019s foundational epic had not really been told in this way. That is a huge opportunity for a film-maker.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many people recognise Odysseus\u2019 name, Nolan believes surprisingly few know the complete story. \u201cI really wanted to bring this adventure story to audiences as a movie, so you do not have to know anything about Homer coming into the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked how a 3,000-year-old story is relevant today, Nolan says he found himself drawn to something far more universal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found it in my other films. In Inception, that element plays; Interstellar certainly plays with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Anne<\/p>\n

Anne Hathaway as Penelope and Tom Holland as Telemachus in The Odyssey.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: UIP<\/p>\n

That timeless and eternal human desire to return home binds together every strand of The Odyssey: a husband\u2019s longing to reunite with his wife, a father desperate to see the son he barely knows and a young man searching for the parent whose absence has shaped his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is Tom Holland telling this coming-of-age story. There\u2019s a love story at the heart of it. It\u2019s a film about war and loss and death,\u201d says the celebrated auteur, who won best picture and best director Oscars for Oppenheimer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that is why generation after generation has been fascinated by this story for 3,000 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father and son \u2013 on screen and off<\/p>\n

That emotional centre extended beyond the screenplay.<\/p>\n

Damon and British actor Holland, 30, spent weeks rehearsing scenes together before the cameras rolled, developing the father-son bond that anchors the film.<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Matt Damon as mythological war hero Odysseus in The Odyssey.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: UIP<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of it was just so clear on the script,\u201d says Damon, who is married to Argentina-born producer Luciana Damon. The couple have four daughters, aged 15 to 27. \u201cThe screenplay is a real masterwork. Chris is an extraordinary writer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holland agrees. \u201cWe were really lucky that the three of us \u2013 Matt, Anne and I \u2013 bonded really quickly,\u201d he says. \u201cIt felt like Chris gave us such a clear north star of what he wanted us to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Off-screen, their relationship proved just as effortless, as Holland had grown up watching Damon.<\/p>\n

Holland says: \u201cGetting the chance to work with him was incredibly exciting. I\u2019m delighted to say Matt goes above and beyond any expectation I ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n

The admiration flowed both ways.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/p>\n

Tom Holland in The Odyssey.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: UIP<\/p>\n

Damon says he already knew of Holland\u2019s reputation long before they met, thanks to mutual friends from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Damon had made cameos as an Asgardian actor in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Thor: Love And Thunder (2022).<\/p>\n

Holland has played the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man in three standalone superhero movies \u2013 Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) \u2013 and appeared in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).<\/p>\n

Holland\u2019s next web-slinging outing is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which opens in Singapore cinemas on July 30.<\/p>\n

Says Damon: \u201cI had heard absolutely glowing reports about Tom from crew members, fellow castmates and people on the business side.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cHe completely exceeded my expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked whether he became a father figure to Holland during filming, Damon rejects the idea immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom\u2019s got it fully figured out,\u201d he says. \u201cI did not feel the age gap, even though there is one. I really see him as a colleague.\u201d<\/p>\n

Living a fairy tale\"Matt<\/p>\n

Matt Damon and Zendaya in The Odyssey.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: UIP<\/p>\n

If Damon arrived as Nolan\u2019s trusted collaborator \u2013 The Odyssey marks their third film together after Interstellar and Oppenheimer \u2013 Holland, a new Nolan recruit, entered the production with the excitement of someone fulfilling a lifelong dream.<\/p>\n

The experience became even more surreal because he was sharing it with his wife, American actress Zendaya, 29, who is also a first-timer in a Nolan film and Holland\u2019s Spider-Man co-star.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the celebrity couple had moments when they simply looked at each other and marvelled at the fact that they were in The Odyssey together, Holland smiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, all the time. My mum called me when we were away filming in Morocco, and she said, \u2018It\u2019s like you are living your own fairy tale.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is kind of nuts that we get to do this together. I could not be more grateful to Chris for giving both of us the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sense of wonder never really left him.<\/p>\n

During the press conference earlier, when The Odyssey team addressed a host of Indian journalists, Holland \u2013 who has been in his fair share of big-budget blockbuster productions \u2013 recalled being in awe of the scale of his latest project.<\/p>\n

On his first day visiting the Moroccan set, he crested a sand dune, expecting a normal filming location. Instead, he found himself staring at what looked like another civilisation. \u201cIt felt more like I had gone back in time than I had walked onto a film set.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands of performers filled the landscape. Ships lined the shore. Horses charged across the beach.<\/p>\n

\"Odysseus<\/p>\n

In Greek mythology, Odysseus devised the Trojan horse that allowed Greek soldiers to infiltrate and conquer the city of Troy.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: UIP<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember an assistant director saying, \u2018Just go that way, and eventually you will find the crew.\u2019 I walked for what felt like miles,\u201d Holland says.<\/p>\n

Eventually, he spotted Nolan and Damon standing at the centre of the organised chaos.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember pinching myself. This is unlike anything that I have ever done before \u2013 and probably ever (will do) again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides Morocco, The Odyssey was shot across six different countries, including Greece, Iceland, Italy and Scotland.<\/p>\n

Spectacle with a heartbeat<\/p>\n

Damon had a similar moment while filming the sacking of Troy. Odysseus was the strategic mastermind of the Greek forces, and orchestrated the decisive end to the long war by devising the Trojan horse that allowed Greek soldiers to infiltrate and conquer the city.<\/p>\n

He recalls: \u201cBuildings were on fire, thousands of people were battling and somebody ran past me on fire, just as a little detail in the shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The sacking of Troy in The Odyssey.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: UIP<\/p>\n

When Nolan finally called \u201ccut\u201d, the chaos instantly dissolved.<\/p>\n

\u201cCinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema took the camera off his shoulder, handed it away, turned to me and said, \u2018You realise this is a flashback,\u2019\u201d says Damon, laughing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was my moment where I went, \u2018This is really big. This is as big as it gets.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Remarkably, the spectacular sequence serves merely as the backstory to Odysseus\u2019 titular journey. For Holland, that is precisely what makes The Odyssey so unusual.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will see things you have never seen before. But you will also feel the heartache and longing,\u201d he says. \u201cMoviegoers will feel a sense of connection to Chris\u2019 work that feels really unique and perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Holland, Telemachus\u2019 journey is ultimately about protecting his mother Penelope from the suitors lusting after her and the empty throne of Ithaca.<\/p>\n

That emotional story becomes even more powerful because Nolan chose to shoot the three-hour film entirely with IMAX film cameras, making it the first feature film to ever do so.<\/p>\n

\"Christopher<\/p>\n

Christopher Nolan (far left) with actors Zendaya (right) and Matt Damon. Nolan shot the entire film with IMAX cameras.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: UIP<\/p>\n

\u201cShooting those really intimate moments on an IMAX camera felt like the audience was already in the room with us,\u201d says Holland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a sense this movie is a love letter to cinema \u2013 and therefore to our audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making mythology feel human<\/p>\n

That same philosophy shaped every creative decision.<\/p>\n

Even the score avoids the sweeping orchestral sound traditionally associated with Hollywood\u2019s sword-and-sandal epics.<\/p>\n

Working with three-time Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Goransson, Nolan deliberately sought something more grounded. The Swedish musician most recently won best original score for Oppenheimer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not want to be like the Hollywood movies of the 1950s and 1960s,\u201d says Nolan. \u201cWe wanted an earthy and accessible world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than relying on lush romantic orchestration, he experimented with ancient Mediterranean-inspired sounds and traditional Greek instruments, creating a score that feels rooted in the culture from which Homer\u2019s poem first emerged.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt prompted him to think in a different way,\u201d Nolan says. \u201cThere is nobody better at doing that than Ludwig.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Matt Damon (centre) as Odysseus.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: UIP<\/p>\n

Odysseus is no flawless hero. He makes catastrophic mistakes. He carries unbearable guilt. He lives with the consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed somebody who could keep the audience on side even as we are seeing Odysseus do some questionable things,\u201d Nolan says, explaining his casting of Damon.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt is an incredible actor. He has the charisma and the empathetic ability to open up a character to the audience and bring them into his way of seeing the world… Matt makes him accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Damon, that complexity is exactly why the role has become the defining performance of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cEncountering this story again in my 50s, it struck me very differently,\u201d he says. \u201cAs a young man, I probably saw it as a coming-of-age story. Now I relate to someone who has lived a lot of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to sum up Odysseus, he pauses, before saying: \u201cYou live with the consequences of your choices. So choose, and care for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Odyssey opens in Singapore on July 16. Shaw Theatres Lido\u2019s Lumiere Grand is the only cinema to screen the movie on 35mm film in South-east Asia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MUMBAI \u2013 Hollywood has spent almost three decades, and an estimated US$600 million (S$776 million), trying to get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-542416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}