Matt Damon Had a Beard for a Year and Slimmed Down to His High School Body Weight For Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

Matt Damon took getting in shape for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey seriously — and that included slimming down to his high school weight for the role.

“I had a beard like yours for like a year,” he told Jason and Travis Kelce on a recent episode of their podcast New Heights. “I was in really good shape. I lost a lot of weight. [Nolan] wanted me lean but strong.”

He also noted that a specific change in diet helped him get there. “Just because of this other thing that I did with my doctor, I stopped eating gluten,” Damon explained. “I used to walk around at between 185 and 200, and I did that whole movie at 167. And I haven’t been that light since high school. So it was a lot of training and a really strict diet.”

The Ocean’s Eleven star also told the hosts how training so intensely for the role felt playing a season of professional sports. “I imagine what that feels like for you guys, where you’re preparing,” Damon said to the Kelces. “It’s just part of your day, it’s part of your job, and you get really routinized about it and kinda build your day around all that stuff.”

Damon also revealed that he has yet to reintegrate gluten into his routine post-shooting The Odyssey. “I’m done. I’m gluten-free everything,” the Good Will Hunting actor declared. “I found a gluten-free beer. It’s been so long since I’ve had gluten, I can’t tell if it’s good or not. So that’s a good sign.”

The Odyssey was written and directed by Nolan and stars Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Charlie Theron, and more alongside Damon. It’s the first of Nolan’s movies to be shot on IMAX 70mm film.

The adaptation of Homer’s epic poem from ancient Greece is only a few short months away — the film premieres in theaters on July 17 — so fans will get to see Damon’s slim frame in action very soon. In fact, it’s probably going to be the highlight of the summer if you ask me.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.