Matt Damon points out body transformation for ‘The Odyssey’

Matt Damon just revealed that he had to grow a real beard for The Odyssey.

The 55-year-old actor plays the lead role of Odysseus in Sir Christopher Nolan's 2026 fantasy movie - an adaption of Homer’s Greek epic - and now it's been revealed the director ordered him to grow some lengthy facial hair because he doesn't like "wigs and fake beards."

Nolan told Empire magazine: "I’m not a big fan of wigs and fake beards. You want the physicality of real hair, so that you can put a firehose on the guy and do all the things we need him to do."

Damon - who is dad to four daughters - added to the publication: "I’d never tried to grow a beard that size. I mean, there are about 100 things to take a beard off my face before it can get that long, starting with my kids. But yeah, he wants it all real."

The Martian star went on to admit working on the movie was the toughest experience of his career in Hollywood and he tried to explain it to his longtime friend and collaborator Ben Affleck.

Damon said: "When I got home, Ben [Affleck] was asking me about it. And I said, ‘Every location on this movie would have been the toughest location on any film I’ve ever done.’”

"And every day of shooting would have been the toughest day of shooting on any other movie I’ve ever done,’” he further recalled to his pal.

He added that one particular sequence, which was shot on a boat - was extremely hard for him and his castmates.

The actor said: "This giant ship we had, the Draken, they had to row this thing. A lot was asked of them; there was a lot of discomfort. And they were just stalwart, you know? They were there for three, maybe four months of it."

"And I’m still on a text chain with all of those guys, and we still text each other every day, checking in on each other. Yeah, it was an experience. Nobody will ever forget this,” Matt Damon concluded.