Matt Damon’s biceps are getting talked about, but he says at least one set of those arms in The Odyssey belonged to someone else.
During a recent interview, Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz praised Damon for having “the greatest bicep work I’ve seen outside of a Hemsworth film.” Damon replied that in one key scene in Christopher Nolan’s action-fantasy epic, his stunt double was Canadian performer Devyn Dalton from Vancouver, B.C.
“When we did the forced perspective stuff of the Laestrygonians … there were these stunt men who were all seven feet,” Damon said in the now-viral clip, referring to the giant warriors featured in the film. “Then they got stuntmen who were under five feet. And so my double was a woman, a female stunt performer, who had the greatest arms I’ve ever seen.”
Dalton, who is four-foot-six, told CBC News she was stunned when friends sent her the clip.
“My jaw kind of dropped, I just thought it was so awesome,” said Dalton, 34, who also works as an actor, voice-over artist, performance capture artist and dancer.
“I’m definitely not the only stunt woman who is doubling men and I think it’s so cool to shine a light on that,” she said.
Damon, who plays Odysseus, also said he met Dalton in the catering tent during production and thanked her for all the “hard work she put in.”
“So there are those shots in the movie where you see these giants looming over me … it was almost 100 percent my arms in the movie but you gotta give it up where it’s due,” he said.
Dalton appeared to welcome the credit. The stunt performer, whose IMDb credits include Once Upon a Time, The Last of Us, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, commented on the viral clip, writing, “It was my honour to double @matt_damon_official ♥️.”
She also posted a video on Instagram with moments from filming The Odyssey in the Scottish Highlands, praising the “incredible @matt_damon_official” and saying she was grateful to be part of the “adventure.”
Dalton told CBC News the attention matters in an industry where women remain underrepresented and body image pressures are common.
“I think celebrating being a strong female and just embracing my athletic body type and all that goes into that, I think is so important,” she said.
Since the clip went viral, Dalton said she has received a “massive” outpouring of support, especially from young women and girls.
“It makes me emotional because if I can somehow be an inspiration or help them continue their dream, that’s what it’s all about really,” she said.
Damon also told People he returned to his high school weight of 167 pounds for the role.
“I didn’t change in an unhealthy way,” he said in a recent cover story for the magazine. “It was more about just getting really, really physically fit, which just really involves changing your diet, just a whole lifestyle change.”
The Odyssey is based on an ancient Greek epic poem about Odysseus and his 10-year struggle to return to Ithaca after the Trojan War. The film also stars Anne Hathaway as Odysseus’ wife, Penolope, and Tom Holland as his son, Telemachus, alongside Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Travis Scott, Elliot Page, Mia Goth, Corey Hawkins, Jon Bernthal, Samantha Morton and Benny Safdie.
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