Matt Damon thought he and Tom Holland were sharing a heartfelt father-son moment while filming “The Odyssey.”
As it turns out, Holland was just trying to breathe.
The Oscar winner stopped by “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and shared one of the funniest behind-the-scenes stories from Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic, revealing that a touching scene between Odysseus and his son Telemachus nearly became memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Damon, who plays Odysseus, explained that he spent much of the day filming on a boat while Holland remained on shore portraying Telemachus. With the two actors separated for hours, Damon could only watch Holland from a distance as cameras rolled.
That’s when he noticed something that looked surprisingly meaningful.
Matt Damon Thought Tom Holland Was Making a Heartfelt Acting Choice
According to Damon, he kept seeing Holland place his hand over his heart during the emotional reunion scene. Assuming Christopher Nolan had directed the gesture, Damon decided to do the same.
After all, what better way to sell a father-son reunion than with a subtle, emotional moment?
Only later did Damon learn he had completely misread the situation.
“I was like, ‘Chris told you to do that, put your hand on your heart?'” Damon recalled asking Holland after filming wrapped.
Holland’s response instantly changed everything.
“‘Mate, my costume was choking me.'”
Damon burst out laughing as he retold the story, explaining that because he’s nearsighted, Holland’s attempts to loosen his costume looked more like a meaningful salute than a wardrobe emergency.
“I thought he was, like, saluting me,” Damon joked. “That it was like a father-son moment.”
Instead, Holland was simply trying not to get strangled by his costume.
The misunderstanding became even funnier because Damon had unknowingly copied the gesture throughout the scene. In the end, audiences will never see it.
“Needless to say, it’s not in the final film,” Damon laughed.
Behind the Scenes Was Just as Wild as the Movie
As funny as the story was, Damon said filming “The Odyssey” was no easy adventure.
Speaking with People, the actor described the production as “more like an expedition than a movie,” with filming taking the cast through Greece, Morocco, Iceland, Scotland and Italy before wrapping inside massive water tanks at Universal Studios.
If anyone thought the studio portion would be easier, they were mistaken.
According to Damon, giant jet engines blasted water across the set during the final sequences, creating conditions that were just as brutal as filming outdoors.
“It was definitely about as hard as you can make water work in a controlled environment,” he said.
Christopher Nolan even poured water directly over Damon’s face while filming close-up shots on a raft, prompting the actor to joke that production wrapped with what felt like “waterboarding.”
The physically demanding shoot also helped Damon conquer one of his biggest fears.
“I worked through a lot of them on this one, definitely,” he said. “Claustrophobia was one, but I hope I’m on the other side of that one now.”
Despite the freezing temperatures, demanding locations and relentless water effects, Damon said the experience was one he’ll never forget because everyone was committed to giving everything they had.
“You could not look in any direction and not see somebody just giving everything they had for this kind of common project,” Damon said.
