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At 55, Matt Damon has proved he’s still capable of a drastic body transformation for his career, losing over 20 pounds for The Odyssey, but there’s one sacrifice he refuses to make for a role again.
While preparing to portray Odysseus, the 5-foot-10 actor dropped to 167 pounds—the same weight he had as a teenager.
Damon shared details of his lifestyle change in a July 15 interview with People, insisting that he achieved his ripped physique in Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the Homer classic through healthy means only.
“I didn’t change it in an unhealthy way,” Damon said, noting that he gave up gluten for the role and worked out in preparation.
He explained, “It was more about just getting really, really physically fit, which just really involves changing your diet, just a whole lifestyle change.”
Adding, “You have to just be very, very intentional about everything you’re putting in your body.”
However, Damon draws the line at increasing his pant size for a role—something he did previously for his role in 2009’s The Informant!
“I think if I had done the opposite and put weight on, that would have been dangerous, and it’s not something I’ll do anymore. I was happy to do it earlier in my life,” he said.
For The Informant!, he portrayed Mark Whitacre, a real-life corporate vice president turned government collaborator.
In contrast to losing over 20 pounds for The Odyssey, Damon gained 30 pounds to portray Whitacre.
While promoting his 2009 film, Damon shared his preparation with the New York Daily News.
“I ate pizzas, In-N-Out burgers, and drank dark beers,” he said. “I felt great for a while. De Niro put on 60 pounds for Raging Bull, and he said that the first 15 pounds were absolute fun. Then it started to become work.”
“With me, the first 20 pounds were fun, and then it started to really wear on me because I couldn’t exercise, so I never got the endorphin rush of breaking a sweat,” he said.
De Niro and Damon are among several leading men who have put their bodies through the wringer for their careers.
Christian Bale, 52, notably dropped 63 pounds for his skeletal character in the sinister 2004 film The Machinist.
Similarly, Matthew McConaughey, 56, lost over 50 lbs for his Oscar-winning role in the 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club.
Both men, too, gained weight for other roles: Bale for his debut as Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, and McConaughey for The Wolf of Wall Street.
