Matt Damon’s trailer screams on The Odyssey set left Robert Pattinson rattled

Matt Damon spent weeks screaming alone in his trailer while filming Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, a vocal prep routine that left co-star Robert Pattinson convinced something had gone badly wrong on set.

TL;DR

• Pattinson told MTV U.K. that repeated screaming from Damon’s neighboring trailer briefly made him think Damon was “a complete psycho.”
• Damon confirmed the story on Late Night with Seth Meyers, explaining the screaming was meant to roughen his voice for the older Odysseus.
• Tom Holland corroborated the account and called the dedication “amazing.”
• The Odyssey opened in the UK and Ireland this month, with Pearl & Dean pre-release forecasts pointing to an £8 million to £10 million opening weekend.

The Screams Explained

During a joint promotional stop, Robert Pattinson told MTV U.K. that he could hear Damon making strange noises through the wall of his trailer and initially assumed the actor was mid-argument on the phone. Pattinson said he eventually feared his co-star was having “a really bad toilet experience” before learning the truth, according to a Daily Beast report on the MTV U.K. interview.

The noise turned out to be deliberate. Damon was blowing out his voice on purpose, aiming to sound older and battle-worn as Odysseus, the exiled king making his way home from Troy. Pattinson called the method “impressive” while also noting Damon was “taking years off your life” doing it, per the same report.

Damon Confirms It, Holland Backs It Up

Damon addressed the episode himself during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, recounting how his screaming caught Pattinson off guard, according to BroadwayWorld’s writeup of the appearance. He also described the experience of climbing inside a full-scale, practical Trojan horse built for the production.

Co-star Tom Holland, who plays Odysseus’s son Telemachus, told MTV U.K. he heard the screaming too and praised the level of commitment it represented, a detail also captured in the Daily Beast piece linked above.

The Rest of the Transformation

The vocal work was only one piece of Damon’s prep. Speaking earlier this year on the New Heights podcast, Damon said Christopher Nolan wanted Odysseus to read as lean rather than bulky, so Damon cut out gluten and trained down to 167 pounds, well below the 185 to 200 pounds he said he normally carries, according to a Yahoo Entertainment report drawing on the podcast.

UK Box Office Watch

The Odyssey opened across 760 UK and Ireland cinemas this month as part of a wider international rollout of 73 markets, according to Screen Daily’s UK-Ireland box office preview. Ahead of release, cinema advertising firm Pearl & Dean projected an opening weekend of £8 million to £10 million domestically, with a possible total UK theatrical run of £45 million to £55 million, figures reported by Comic Basics.

Stat	Figure
UK/Ireland cinema count	760
Pearl & Dean opening weekend forecast	£8m–£10m
Pearl & Dean projected UK theatrical run	£45m–£55m

Source: Screen Daily, Comic Basics (Pearl & Dean projections)

The film stars Damon as Odysseus alongside Holland, Pattinson, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton and Mia Goth, and is Nolan’s first release since 2023’s Oppenheimer.

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Reported from publicly available interviews and verified press sources. Last reviewed July 19, 2026.