The Odyssey's Matt Damon On How Christopher Nolan Contacted Him Without Owning A Phone, 'Level Of..'
Matt Damon confirmed that Christopher Nolan does not use a smartphone. Here's how he contacted the actor for his role in 'The Odyssey.'
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Add BollywoodShaadis on GoogleAfter a long wait, Christopher Nolan’s latest offering, The Odyssey has finally released in theatres. The film stars Matt Damon in the lead role, ‘King Odysseus.’ As the buzz surrounding the film continues to grow, Matt Damon revealed in an interview how he first got word from Christopher about the film, even though the director has no cell phone.
How did Christopher Nolan contact Matt Damon to star in The Odyssey?
During his recent interview with People, Matt Damon confirmed that Christopher Nolan, even in 2026, operates without a cell phone. Previously, Christopher had revealed that he does not communicate via text or email. Opening up about how he got contacted to do The Odyssey, Matt claimed that it was the British filmmaker’s wife, Emma Thomas who “had texted me, ‘Are you around for a call today?’ Because Chris famously doesn't have a phone.”
As per Matt, it is Emma who always gives them the heads-up whenever Christopher is going to call. He said, “And then you get a phone call from a nondescript number, because he's just picking up a line at Universal Studios.” Interestingly, Matt claimed that even Christopher himself doesn't know “what number it's going to be.”
For those who don't know, The Odyssey reunites Matt Damon and Christopher, after they previously worked together on Interstellar and Oppenheimer. The movies came out in 2014 and 2023, respectively. Recalling the exact moment Matt found out about Christopher's plan for adapting the famous Homer epic, the actor shared:
“He called, and we chatted for 10 or 15 minutes. It was only six months after Oppenheimer had gone through the Oscars and all of that. So I just thought we were catching up, which we did. And then he blurted out, ‘Yeah, I’m thinking of going back to work.’ And I went, ‘Wait, already?’”
Interestingly, Christopher had claimed in a separate interview that Matt and Anne Hathaway, who is also one of his frequent collaborators and a part of The Odyssey, were not specifically in his head when he was writing the script for ‘Odysseus’ and ‘Penelope.’ According to him, he discovered the characters through the process of writing. He was quoted as saying:
“What I’ve found over the years is if you have an actor in mind - and obviously it’s very tempting, particularly when we work with great people before- it’s tempting to cast it as you are thinking about the script - but for me that always limits what the characters can be. Because then you’re writing to what you’ve seen an actor do before.”
Why does Christopher Nolan not use a cell phone?
In an interview, Christopher admitted that he thinks technology and what it can provide us is amazing. However, he believes that a smartphone would not be useful to him. He claimed that he is easily distracted and does not want to have access to the internet whenever he is bored. He said:
“It’s about the level of distraction. If I’m generating my material and writing my own scripts, being on a smartphone all day wouldn’t be very useful for me. I'm easily distractible so I don't really want to have access to the internet every time when I'm bored. I do a lot of my best thinking in those kind of in-between moments that people now fill with online activity, so it benefits me.”
He revealed that even when it came to emails, he did not like contacting people in that manner. And when the time really came for Christopher to communicate with anybody, he would just end up calling them from a landline.
What are your thoughts on Matt Damon's revelations?
Photos Credit: Matt Damon/IG, Christopher Nolan/IG
Also read: 'The Odyssey' Star Matt Damon Shares Secret Behind 20-Yr Marriage To Wife Luciana, 'A Very Sturdy..'
