Sometimes things manifest. With “The Odyssey” officially opening on Friday, it looks set to be the biggest film of the summer. Perhaps we saw that coming — or at least Matt Damon did.
A photo surfaced of Damon on the set of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” in 1998. He was reading a book. That book? “The Odyssey.”
A Photo That Inspired Hollywood Photos
“This was taken in August 1998 in Piazza Navona, Rome, and shot on film, hence the grain,” Greg Williams wrote on Instagram. “It happened because I’d met the late director Anthony Minghella, who lived at the end of my road and was very supportive of me, and someone I cared for very much. I was doing a Sunday Times commission celebrating British cinema – which I turned into my first book, Greg Williams On Set. These shots were part of that project. But it’s probably the closest I’ve ever got to taking one of the pictures that made me want to photograph Hollywood. It feels like Life magazine in the ’50s – it’s only the modern boom, lights and the clothing of a woman in the background that tells you that it’s not that era. There was a terrific rainstorm that day so they were waiting for it to pass, sheltering under a reflector that the crew turned into a giant umbrella to keep us dry.
“I’d met Matt’s co-star Cate Blanchett (sitting on the chair in the forefront) on Elizabeth, but it was my first time working with Matt. This was a moment when he was moving from co-star roles to lead; he was really dialled into the work. A quick Google revealed he was reading a 1954 Penguin edition of Homer’s classic, which is very much what Tom Ripley might have chosen to read.
Needless to say, the photo aged well.
It’s a favourite photo of mine partly because it captures a quiet moment on a busy set so well, with the name of the project on the back of the chair – ‘it does what it says on the tin’. But I also like it because the lines of this photo all lead to Matt: the spokes of the umbrella, the building lines in the background, the turn of Cate’s head, even the line of her bra strap. It’s a picture I’ve loved for a long time but it now has added resonance. It’s amazing that a photo that is 30 years old now has more relevance than ever. It’s a picture that’s aged well.”
‘The Odyssey’ Comes to Life
Damon got the lead in the live-action film, surrounded by a star-studded cast, and admitted it was the most difficult shoot of his career. He said that resonated through the entirety of the film. Every department, he said, was pushed hard. He said that being a part of that group was “an unbelievable feeling.”
Tom Holland, who also stars in the film, agreed. “I’ve never seen camaraderie quite like it, and it was even the little things.” From “Cory,” the wardrobe person, to transportation — everyone had a job to do.
Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Elliot Paige, Anne Hathaway and Charlize Theron all make appearances in the movie based on the historic poem by Homer.
