'This Is The One': Matt Damon On Why 'The Odyssey' Is The Defining Film Of His Career

For Damon, the movie is a graduation of sorts when it comes to films directed by Nolan. He first had an extended cameo in the filmmaker's 2015 sci-fi epic "Interstellar" and then played a supporting role in the multiple Oscar-winning movie "Oppenheimer".

The actor said he just felt a lot of gratitude to be part of the story. "It took every kind of tool in the toolkit that I've been evolving and refining for my life to meet this moment. And I got to meet it with the most extraordinary group of people. So I would have to say this is the one (film)," the Hollywood star told reporters here.

"Having the benefit of those 35 years behind me and to have the opportunity to play a role like this, he's such a fascinating, complex character," he added. Damon said working on "The Odyssey" felt like making a movie with David Lean, the celebrated director of epics like "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago".

"To do it at this scale, in this way, with Chris, everything practical, everything in camera, it felt like my one chance to make a David Lean movie. And I always wanted to do that. And I felt such gratitude from the moment he called me... I had a sense of what this was going to entail," said the actor, who won the Oscar for best original screenplay with Ben Affleck way back in 1998.

In "The Odyssey", Damon leads an ensemble cast which also includes Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Samantha Morton, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie and John Leguizamo.

The movie is an adaptation of ancient Geek poet Homer's epic about Odysseus (Damon), the King of Ithaca, on his decade-long journey home after the Trojan War as he confronts vengeful gods, mythical creatures and a series of perilous trials, while his wife Penelope (Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Holland) await his return.

The actor said it felt like he was among "kindred spirits" as every single person there wanted to be there and nowhere else. "We collected crew members in every country we went to. And you knew you were working with the elite from that country who were coming on board for that section to kind of take on that set piece.

"And then you'd move on and you'd pick up new members in Greece, in Italy, in Iceland, in Morocco. It was just the most exceptional group of people who were all there for the same reason."

The 55-year-old said he was amazed by the sheer scale of the production and once joked with producer Emma Thomas that he was glad he was not a producer on the movie. "She said to me, 'This is like six or seven movies, but we've actually made each of these movies already. We've been on the water with 'Dunkirk'.

We've been up the mountains with 'Batman'. So we've made all of these movies, and so we're prepared to make this one. And that's kind of how I felt," he said. He recalled filming an elaborate battle sequence, only to later learn from cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema that it was meant to serve as a flashback.

"We were shooting the sacking of Troy, and there was a shot where Hoyte was following me with the camera, he had it on his shoulder, and buildings were on fire, and there were thousands of people battling, and somebody ran past me on fire, just through the crowd, as a little detail in the shot.

"And through this incredible, beautiful chaos, we hear Chris shout, 'cut' and everything stops. And Hoyte takes the camera off his shoulder and hands it off. He turns to me and says, 'you realize this is a flashback.'

So that was my moment where I went, 'This is really big, this is as big as it gets'," Damon said. He believes Odysseus' story in the film serves as a reminder that people must live with the consequences of their decisions. "So choose carefully," he added.

Asked about the enduring appeal of "The Odyssey", Damon said it lies in its ability to resonate differently with people at various stages of their lives. "As a young man, I probably viewed it more as a coming-of-age story.

Now, encountering it again in my 50s, it struck me very differently. I really related to this character with a lot of life behind him, "He's flawed, he doesn't make the right choice, he very much has to live with what he's done.

I mean, complicated is the word that Homer used (to describe the character), so that would be one, but having been through this experience, perhaps endurance," he said.

Produced by Universal Pictures and Syncopy, "The Odyssey" will release in theatres in India on July 16, a day ahead of its worldwide debut on July 17.