Matt Damon in The Odyssey
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The specific reason Matt Damon had a female stunt double for key The Odyssey scene

This actually makes so much sense

Daisy Phillipson
21st July 2026, 14:24
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A woman stood in for Matt Damon as Odysseus during the fight against the Laestrygonians in The Odyssey, and there’s a very specific reason why. 

Christopher Nolan’s modern epic is based on Homer’s 3,000-year-old epic, and so as expected, it’s packed full of Ancient Greek mythology. 

After blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus (the son of Poseidon, aka the god of the sea), Odysseus and his crew make it through an arduous journey on their boat before reaching the shore of Circe’s home island, Aeaea.

Here, they find a child whose haunting laugh soon turns to screams, which summon the land’s terrifying tribe of man-eating giants (although the man-eating part is left out of Nolan’s adaptation). 

Given Nolan famously prefers to use practical filmmaking over CGI and digital effects, these giants were brought to life with some smart tactics. 

Matt Damon gives credit to female stunt double in Laestrygonians scene

For the Laestrygonians, the giant warriors were played by seven-foot-tall stunt performers. And just to boost the illusion further, Odysseus and his army were replaced by stunt doubles who were under five feet. 

This way, the height difference was even more noticeable on screen. Matt Damon himself was replaced by female stunt double Devyn Dalton, who clocks in at just four feet six inches tall, or 137 cm.

But her athletic physique is what made her perfect for the role. The topic of conversation came up on the latest episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, with host Josh Horowitz praising Damon for his biceps. 

“This is the greatest bicep work I’ve seen outside of a Hemsworth film,” he said, to which Damon thanked him but said he can’t take all the credit. 

“When we did the forced perspective stuff of the Laestrygonians, I don’t know if there’s been a thing about how we did it, but there were these stunt men who were all seven feet. And then they got stunt men who were under five feet. 

“So my double was a woman, a female stunt performer, who had the greatest arms I’ve ever seen. And when she came into the catering tent, it was the first time I met her, I went up and I hugged her and I thanked her for all the work she’d put in.”

Damon went on to say, “There are those shots in the movie where you see these giants looming over me. So it was almost 100% my arms in the movie, but you’ve got to give credit where it’s due.”

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Featured image credit: Universal Pictures