Matt Damon physically transformed to play Odysseus in Christopher Nolan‘s ‘The Odyssey’, but despite this, he also had some help from stunt performers in some key scenes.In a new interview, Damon revealed that one of his stunt doubles was a female standing in as the Greek hero as the character faces the giant Laestrygonians. “When we did the force perspective stuff with the Laestrygonians, there were these stuntmen who were all seven feet, and then they got stunt men who were under five feet,” Damon said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “My double was a woman, a female stunt performer who had the greatest arms I’ve ever seen. When she came into the catering tent, it was the first time I met her. I went up and hugged her and thanked her for all the work she put in,” added Damon. Speaking about the making of the fight scene, Damon revealed that director Nolan and his team created the towering Laestrygonians using practical filmmaking techniques instead of relying entirely on CGI. According to Damon, the production employed ‘forced perspective’ to enhance the height difference. As per the report, the stunt performers portraying the giant Laestrygonians stood at around 7 feet tall, while the stunt doubles playing Odysseus’ army were approximately 5 feet tall. Fans soon took to social media to share their surpise over the creation of scenes and more. One said, “Christopher Nolan avoided CGI and used 7ft stuntmen to portray Laestrygonians in The Odyssey. The giant leader, King Antiphates, is portrayed by actor Josh Stewart, while Matt Damon’s stunt double is Devyn Dalton, who is just under 5ft.”Another added, “The enormous height difference between the actors playing the Laestrygonians and the doubles for Odysseus’ crew in THE ODYSSEY, revealing how Christopher Nolan is creating the giants through practical scale.”Based on Homer’s epic poem, ‘The Odyssey’ follows the story of Odysseus and his long journey home after the Trojan War. The movie is made on the IMAX camera and is currently screening in IMAX theatres.The film stars Matt Damon in the lead role, alongside Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron and an ensemble cast.According to Deadline, the ‘Odyssey’ has had an epic box office run so far with a USD 264.1 million global opening weekend. This number is a record for Nolan, whose Dark Knight Rises premiered in 2012 to USD 249 million worldwide. The film already scored the best Monday this year in the US with a reported USD 18.67 million. It has already become Nolan’s biggest worldwide opening, beating his previous releases ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ with USD 249 million and ‘The Dark Knight’ with USD 198 million.
