‘The Odyssey’ Star Matt Damon Reacts to Tom Holland Saying He Has Never Watched ‘The Matrix’

‘The Odyssey’ has finally landed in theaters, and the press run leading up to it gave fans one more reason to love the pairing of Matt Damon and Tom Holland. The two stars, who play father and son Odysseus and Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s sprawling adaptation of Homer’s epic, have spent the past several weeks trading stories on red carpets, late-night couches, and digital sit-downs. Their easy chemistry has become one of the more charming side effects of the film’s rollout.

That chemistry was on full display when the pair sat down for Complex’s GOAT Talk, a recurring series where guests rank their all-time favorites across pop culture. Damon and Holland used the segment to crown their picks for the best Nolan movie, the best action movie, and the best superhero, all while ribbing each other about their respective careers.

Somewhere in that conversation, the topic turned to ‘The Matrix‘, and Holland admitted he had never actually watched it. Damon’s response was immediate and unfiltered. Are you kidding me, he asked, adding that he was jealous Holland still gets to experience it for the first time.

Damon went on to wonder aloud whether the film would hit the same way for Holland now, given how much of modern action cinema has been shaped by it since its 1999 release. It is a fair question, since ‘The Matrix’ has spent 2 and a half decades influencing everything from bullet time camera work to the visual language of countless superhero movies, including some Holland himself has starred in.

The same sit down also touched on the physical demands of shooting ‘The Odyssey’, with Holland recalling a stunt he had been warned against attempting during production. He described it as a maneuver called a Dead Man, where he was meant to charge at an on screen threat and snap backward on impact, a moment he insisted on doing himself rather than leaving it to visual effects. The stunt ultimately never made the final cut of the film, though Damon admitted he was impressed his co star had even tried it.

The exchange fits neatly into the larger dynamic Damon and Holland have shown off throughout their press tour. Their back and forth has ranged from playful to genuinely sentimental, including a separate story Damon told about mistaking a wardrobe adjustment from Holland for an emotional on-set moment during filming, and another about the two of them jokingly sulking after Zendaya received rare praise from their notoriously reserved director.

Fans reacting to clips from the interview have largely sided with Damon, expressing their own disbelief that an actor as immersed in blockbuster franchises as Holland has managed to skip one of the genre’s most foundational films. Others have pointed out that Holland was born in 1996, making him just 3 years old when ‘The Matrix’ hit theaters, which may explain the gap.

‘The Odyssey’ opens in theaters on July 17, with preview screenings the night before. The film stars Damon as Odysseus alongside Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Holland as Telemachus, Zendaya as Athena, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, and Lupita Nyong’o, and was shot entirely on IMAX film cameras.

The cast had already made several stops on the promotional circuit before the film’s release, including a London premiere in early July and a star-studded red carpet event at Lincoln Square in New York City on July 14. Both events drew the film’s sprawling ensemble, a reflection of just how many major names Nolan assembled for his first project since ‘Oppenheimer’.

The buzz around the Damon and Holland press run has arguably become as talked about online as the film itself, with fans latching onto their easy rapport in nearly every joint appearance. Between the Matrix admission, the wardrobe mix-up story, and their shared jealousy over Zendaya’s praise from Nolan, the duo has given audiences plenty of material to enjoy well beyond the theater.

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