Matt Damon Calls Oscar Campaigning “Completely Backwards” & Why ‘The Odyssey’ Felt Like The “Last Big Movie On Film” He Would Make

Matt Damon is opening up about award season and revealed he is not too keen on campaigning for a film to be recognized.

In a new interview while promoting his Netflix movie The Rip, the Oscar winner was quick say he “100%” doesn’t mind missing out on award season.

“What I don’t like is this idea of campaigning,” Damon said on Netflix’s Skip Intro podcast. “It seems completely backwards to me. It’s just odd.”

He continued, “And maybe it’s good for movies, just having it all out there, and gets the culture thinking and talking about movies. I hope that’s the case…”

Damon noted that, with all the attention films get during the campaign trail amid award season, he understands this could help people stay conscious of a certain movie amid “so much noise.”

The actor has successfully campaigned during award season, winning an Oscar for his screenplay for Good Will Hunting. Damon was nominated three times for acting, and in 2024, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Despite not being keen on award season, Damon will most likely find himself going on the campaign trail again after starring in Nolan’s The Odyssey. When asked about working on the epic, Damon said he was “still kind of unpacking” the experience and noted it had “a profound effect” on him.

“Doing The Odyssey this last year, it felt like my one chance in my life to make a David Lean movie, you know?” he said. “That I was making the last big movie on film that I was ever going to get to make.”