From Greece with love
Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway drew inspiration from their own marriages to bring truth to Nolan’s retelling of Homer’s epic
Universal Pictures
- Michael Hodges
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You have both worked with Christopher Nolan before, has he achieved something unique with The Odyssey?
Matt Damon I don’t want to make too many grand claims, but it certainly feels like an incredible statement from Chris. Just the ambition, the scale of this story that we embarked on, and trying to tell it in IMAX, which had never been done before. It felt more like an expedition than a movie. And we didn’t know if we were going to be able to do it. They came up with a blimp [a bulky camera covering] to deaden the sound of the IMAX camera. So, Chris then developed a mirror system so we could see each other. All of these intimate scenes we’re doing – I mean Annie’s right there; I can feel her breath – but we’re actually looking at a mirror.
The intimacy between Penelope and Odysseus is key to the whole movie working, was that nerve-wracking?
Anne Hathaway Always. Matt and I had met on Interstellar, so there’s always that kind of nervous thing when you’re going to drop deeper into knowing someone. But I felt like I had a cheat sheet, because so many of my friends are his friends. I’ve been hearing amazing stories about him as a human being for so many years.
Matt We each have these long marriages that we’re in, so this story is relatable for both of us. We talked about that. It’s something that we both have a direct relationship to in our lives. I think it helped us both understand what Penelope and Odysseus had.
Anne There was truth to the story, people actually do feel a love that’s this rich and this deep, and we are lucky enough to have said, “I believe in this” from personal experience.
Matt Damon in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. Paramount/Landmark Media
Is there a message in The Odyssey that is especially meaningful now?
Matt I thought about it a lot. The story has endured for 3,000 years, so obviously it has relevance to every generation that’s encountered it. But it feels particularly relevant today. The first thing I said to Chris when I read the script was, “Wow, this traffics in a lot of the same themes as Oppenheimer.” But it also depends on where you are in your own life. Some people view it as a story about war; some see a love story. I talked to a veteran who was on the crew who said he thought it was about PTSD. What you bring to the story also has bearing on what it reflects back to you.
Anne I think it’s endured for as long as it has because of that very simple concept, treat others as you would be treated yourself. We haven’t managed it yet, and the original text is saying there are consequences of that.
Perhaps they should screen it at the White House?
Matt I’m sure they would love to see it.
Anne If you are someone who has power, or someone who wants power, then it’s not a bad idea to familiarise yourself with The Odyssey.
Anne Hathaway in Interstellar. Paramount/Landmark Media
Was there pressure to deliver in such a high-profile film?
Matt It’s a new story you’re telling, it’s a new set of obstacles that you have to manage. For me, I think I gain confidence the older I get, and the more experience I have. But there’s never a role where I look at it and go, “This is going to be easy.”
Anne I would have been disappointed with myself if I didn’t give it everything I could think of, but at the end of the day, I try to give everything I have to everything that I do. It’s just this one is a story that deals with really high-stakes questions. You know, what does it mean to love someone with your whole soul? I don’t know that every part I’ve played has wrestled with questions that are that deep, and I don’t know that I’ve ever performed in front of an IMAX camera that could see so many things while you are dealing with those questions. So, I did the only thing I could think of, which was not to worry about it too much. I just gave it to Chris, and said he’ll sort
it out. He knows what he’s doing.
When you’re so exposed to the public do you keep a part of yourself back?
Anne No, I don’t. I tried that early on and it got very confusing, the idea of having a public self and a private self. I found that I’m much happier when I’m the same to everybody in every situation. Who knows how long this is going to go this way for me? It could all fall by the wayside tomorrow. I think about that a lot, it would be awful to get to the end of my life and to have been famous but not to have been a real person. I’m really lucky, the stuff that I invest in, the real stuff that I think about the most, is the stuff that we share. It’s the fabric of our life, that’s what really interests me. I get to wear an outfit I couldn’t normally afford, somebody did my hair this morning, and all that’s just delightful, really. But it’s temporary.
Matt Damon in as Odysseus. Universal Pictures
There is CGI in The Odyssey, but is Nolan going back to how Hollywood directors used to do things?
Matt Without question. I think he is unappreciated as the actors’ director, a really phenomenal director of acting.
Anne But phenomenal in unexpected ways. When I first worked with him, I thought that what he was interested in was technical perfection, and so I tried to give that, but what I’ve actually come to appreciate about Chris is that he is really interested in humanity. I experienced it on this film. If you were pushed to your limit and the things that you needed for the performance weren’t right there at the ready, in the exact moment, you weren’t punished for it, there was space made for it. He understood what you needed to get over that moment. For someone like me, he knew that I needed to laugh. So, in the middle of this incredibly emotional moment in the movie, when I couldn’t catch my breath, he made me laugh. And that got me breathing again, and within a few takes I was back doing it. He’s there for you as a human being, and that makes all the difference.
If Nolan does the Iliad, will you go back for that?
Matt If he picks up the phone, we’ll do that.
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Anne We’ll do anything.
Authors
Michael Hodges
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