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After The Odyssey, Matt Damon can’t wait to get stranded again: ‘I’ve seen those memes’
In a press junket interview for Christopher Nolan's forthcoming film The Odyssey, actor Matt Damon spoke light-heartedly about the running joke that so many of his characters end up stranded and in need of rescue. Damon said he is well aware of the internet memes on the subject — shared with him by friends and his own children — and that far from tiring of the trope, he intends to keep embracing it, quipping, "I'm gonna ride this pony until it runs out." The piece matters chiefly as an entertaining bit of promotion ahead of the film's release, highlighting a recurring pattern across his career.
The article notes several of Damon's roles that fit the theme, including a marooned astronaut in The Martian, a stranded character in Interstellar, the rescued soldier in Saving Private Ryan, and now Odysseus, whose voyage home from the Trojan War leaves him stranded repeatedly. It reports that Hollywood has spent roughly $600 million on his "stranded" films, which have earned almost $2 billion at the box office, while one fan calculated it would have cost $900 billion to rescue his Interstellar character alone. His Odyssey and Interstellar co-star Anne Hathaway also joked about him playing "really smart, stranded men," and The Odyssey is due in cinemas on 17 July.
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Matt Damon has become known for playing stranded characters throughout his career. From the astronaut left alone on Mars in The Martian to the lost soldier in Saving Private Ryan and the marooned traveller in Interstellar, this pattern has become so noticeable that it has spawned numerous internet memes.
In a recent press interview for director Christopher Nolan's upcoming film The Odyssey, Damon responded good-naturedly to these jokes, making clear he is aware of the memes and finds them amusing rather than tiresome. His frequent co-star Anne Hathaway has also joked about his tendency to play "really smart, stranded men," showing that the pattern is recognised throughout the industry.
These films have proved commercially successful, with approximately $600 million invested in Damon's stranded-character roles generating nearly $2 billion at the box office. The financial success shows studios' continued confidence in this particular type of role with Damon.
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