Matt Damon has voiced strong reservations about the Oscar campaigning process, labeling it 'completely backwards' and 'odd' during a promotional interview for his new Netflix film The Rip. The actor, who has a history of Academy Award success, acknowledged potential benefits for films but prefers to avoid the promotional grind. Despite this, Damon is likely to engage in campaigning again for his role in Christopher Nolan's upcoming epic The Odyssey.
Matt Damon, speaking on Netflix's Skip Intro podcast while promoting his crime thriller The Rip, was candid about his aversion to awards season. 'Awards season. 100%,' he replied when asked what he likes missing out on in Hollywood. He elaborated, 'What I don’t like is this idea of campaigning. It seems completely backwards to me. It’s just odd.' Damon suggested that the process might still serve a purpose: 'And maybe it’s good for movies, just having it all out there, and gets the culture thinking and talking about movies. I hope that’s the case.'
Damon's perspective comes from experience. He won an Oscar for his screenplay for Good Will Hunting and has received three acting nominations. In 2024, he campaigned as part of the cast for Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, which secured the Academy Award for Best Picture. Despite his reluctance, Damon is poised to return to the trail for Nolan's The Odyssey, a Greek epic that he described as profoundly impactful.
Reflecting on the production, Damon said he is 'still kind of unpacking' the experience, which had a 'profound effect' on him. 'Doing The Odyssey this last year, it felt like my one chance in my life to make a David Lean movie, you know? That I was making the last big movie on film that I was ever going to get to make.' He noted the challenges: 'You were uncomfortable every day. But I really enjoyed, like, deeply enjoyed every minute of it.' Damon also highlighted the technical innovations, as The Odyssey is the first Hollywood feature entirely shot with IMAX film cameras. To manage the cameras' noise during dialogue scenes, a new 'blimp' system was developed. Nolan praised it as a 'game-changer,' enabling intimate performances on the format.
Damon's comments underscore a tension in the industry: the necessity of promotion amid 'so much noise' versus the authenticity of filmmaking itself.
