The Odyssey star Matt Damon says the middle-aged cast were all left with back pain while filming Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic.
The 55-year-old actor – who plays returning warrior Odysseus in the action fantasy film – appeared on Radio Andy, where he told host Andy Cohen that the gruelling action scenes made the stars acutely aware of their age.
"A lot of us are middle-aged people and what we got was back pain because, oh my God, running through Troy, it’s all stone," Damon said.
He said the actors’ feet were "all scuffed up" from wearing sandals during the action sequences.
"But more than the little scratches and cuts on your feet, it was the back pain for us. It was a heavy Advil movie in those weeks when we were doing that action stuff."
And there was no relief for aching feet between takes after Nolan forbade his cast from wearing Uggs on set.
"I want to stay in the moment. We want actors to stay in the moment,” Nolan today told CBS Mornings. "For me, the Ugg boots are a signifier of modernity."
Damon told People he put on 76kg of muscle to play the warrior and king, which required a strict diet and training regimen.
"I stopped eating gluten, among other things," he said.
"You have to just be very, very intentional about everything you put in your body."
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