Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan is known for many things in his filmmaking: working with the same actors, using IMAX 70mm film, and creating mind-bending plot twists. For many actors, signing onto a Nolan film is the role of a lifetime, no matter how big or small. It turns out, the Inception director doesn’t see it the same way, and had a funny warning for Matt Damon before he signed on for Interstellar.
Interstellar is widely regarded as one of Nolan’s best films. The sci-fi adventure about the race through space to save humankind has an A-list cast including Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Nolan’s frequent collaborator Michael Caine. Nolan had sent the Good Will Hunting actor the script, wondering if he would sign on to the project. Damon recently took GQ’s Friendship Quiz with longtime bestie Ben Affleck and told his fellow Boston native that before he could accept the part in Interstellar, the Dunkirk director called him with a hilarious, yet direct warning about his potential role:
When we did Interstellar together, because that’s a small part in Interstellar. He called me and he goes — and I read the script. I thought it was absolutely great, and I loved it. And we got on the phone, and he goes, ‘You know how there’s that saying, there are no small parts, only small actors?’ And I said, Yeah.’ And he goes, ‘This is a small part.’
Christopher Nolan’s humor is as twisted as his movies, because it’s a small part that holds tremendous weight. Damon’s role in Interstellar is, of course, the infamous Mann, leader of Professor Brand’s proposed expedition into space, whose crew Cooper and Co. are tasked with finding when their signal and data go dark. While Mann is revered throughout the whole first half of the film, Damon’s onscreen time is only a few minutes long. But to say it is a small part is an understatement.
SPOILER AHEAD (even though the film is over a decade old).
Damon’s appearance comes at a pivotal point in the film, where the truth is revealed, and everything unfolds. His role was actually kept a secret from audiences to make the twist all the more impactful. It’s a surprise to see an A-lister have such a small part, and because the audience knows and loves this actor, his betrayal hits hard.
According to Affleck, it was always a dream of Damon’s to play the lead in a Nolan film. It might have taken over a decade, but The Prestige director rewards those who wait. It’s no secret Nolan likes to work with the same actors, with the likes of Christian Bale and Cillian Murphy having major roles in multiple Nolan films. After moving on up to play a supporting role in Oppenheimer as General Leslie Groves, the Jason Bourne actor is finally getting his moment.
Damon will appear in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey, set to be a big summer blockbuster on the 2026 movie schedule. It’s another all-star cast, including Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway, and Elliot Page, but this time Damon is the leading man, Odysseus. The 55-year-old actor’s incredible transformation into the hero of Greek myth can be seen in the trailer below:
While filming conditions for The Odyssey might have been even worse than Interstellar, there’s no doubt in my mind that Damon was thrilled to be there. I couldn’t be more excited to see him in this role after recently watching him in The Departed and Interstellar, characters that show he can tap into the moral complexity required to play a hero like Odysseus.
I have to wonder if potentially his buddy Ben Affleck could have a cameo in this upcoming Nolan project, similar to Damon’s “small part” in Interstellar. Cause if there’s one thing I know for certain, those two are never far apart.
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