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Ben Affleck’s kids were pumped to visit Matt Damon on the set of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, but Affleck’s own movie sets? Not so much.
Affleck, 53, and Damon, 55, dropped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday, January 13, to promote their new movie The Rip, where Affleck revealed that he took his children to the set of the upcoming fantasy epic.
The Argo director and actor shares three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner: Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 13.
“I’m a huge fan of Chris’,” Affleck said. “It’s one of those things where my kids never want to come to the set when I’m working. ‘Hey, you guys, we’re doing a thing on the set’ and they’re like, ‘No, I got school.’”
He continued, “But they were really psyched to come visit this set. My middle child’s really interested in reading the Iliad and the Odyssey, and we went there, and it was really great.”
Affleck said he was “grateful” that fellow Oscar winner Nolan, 55, allowed him to visit the movie set.
“My kids really liked it,” he shared. “It was kinda cool. It was really, really nice. I was deeply grateful to him.”
Damon then went on to reveal that Affleck and his children got quite the VIP experience because there were no other guests allowed on set. (The Odyssey filmed on location in Morocco, Greece, Italy, Iceland and Scotland between February and August 2025.)
“You were the only guest in six months of shooting,” Damon told his longtime pal.
“It’s just the workload, it was such an ambitious project that the amount of work that needed to be done, there was just no time for anything else,” Damon explained. “I’ve never, ever done a movie that just required every single person to work, to kind of give maximum effort.”
Damon added, “I said to [Affleck] when I got back, every location on that movie would have been the hardest location on any other movie I’ve ever done, and any day of work would have been harder than any other day on any other movie I’ve ever done.”
Despite the intense shooting schedule, Damon said he is incredibly proud of the movie, which is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem.
A Boston boy through and through. Ben Affleck has been a Hollywood A-lister for more than two decades, but he’s never forgotten his New England roots (or his love of Dunkin’ coffee). Born in Berkeley, California, the avid Red Sox fan moved to Massachusetts with his family when he was just 3 years old. He […]
“It was absolutely the pinnacle of my entire career. I loved every minute of it,” he said.
Damon plays Greek king Odysseus in the movie, which also stars Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o and Charlize Theron. The Odyssey is set for release on July 16.
Also on Tuesday, Affleck gushed exclusively to Us Weekly about reuniting with Damon in their new film, The Rip.
“I keep relearning things about Matt that I already knew and I forget them,” Affleck joked to Us at the film’s New Yok City premiere. “Honestly, I am continuously reminded of what a great father he is and what a fabulous actor he is.”
“You’re really lucky if you can do this for a living,” Affleck added of how their careers have intertwined for so many decades. “And you’re exceptionally lucky if you can do it with people you love and care about.”
The Rip premieres on Netflix Friday, January 16.
