MattDamon is leaving fans shocked by his physical transformation in the 2026 box office hit The Odyssey.
The 55-year-old actor dedicated hours and hours of training to portray Odysseus with incredible strength, and it shows. Damon’s long-time trainer Jason Walsh spoke to The Independent about his process.
“I love Matt Damon so much,” Walsh said. “He’s all over the news right now, and rightfully so –The Odyssey is an incredible film by an incredible director. He’s 55 years old and he looks fantastic. But there’s a bigger story here than just [his physique in] The Odyssey.”
He started working with the actor in 2012 after a previous sports injury caused issues with Damon’s shoulder and back.
Damon was retaining weight from his work in The Informant, for which he raised his body fat percentage with a Burger King-heavy diet. His family began calling him “Fatty Matty”.
“At that time, he was disenchanted and upset because he had worked out with a dozen different trainers, but at forty-something years old he was in shambles,” Walsh explained. “These people were trying to impress him. They would promise to get him from nought to 60 faster than anybody else, and they made him do things that his body wasn’t ready for.”
The We Bought a Zoo actor gave the fitness professional a two-week trial period. They’ve been working together ever since.
“We took him from Fatty Matty to incredible shape for Elysium,” he said. “But what I’m most proud of is that I gave him a new lease of life in a way in which he can live pain-free.”
Adding, “He was strong. He looked good. And he had built an amazing foundation of fitness so he could go anywhere he wanted to go. This is the new norm for him. We set him on a path to better fitness for life.”
The duo knew getting into shape for The Odyssey was going to be difficult.
“[Odysseus was] an extremely daunting and physical role to take on,” Walsh shared. “If he didn’t have that base and that evolution of his fitness, he would probably have got hurt.”
This story was originally published by Parade on Jul 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the Health & Wellness section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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