Matt Damon Says He Hates Awards Season—but May Be Back Campaigning Soon

Matt Damon may be one of Hollywood’s most respected actors, but there’s one part of the movie business he truly dislikes: awards season.

While appearing on Netflix’s Skip Intro podcast to promote the crime thriller The Rip, Damon was asked by host Krista Smith what he enjoys missing out on in Hollywood. His answer was immediate.

“Awards season. One hundred percent,” Damon said.

He explained that the idea of campaigning for awards feels strange to him. “It seems completely backwards to me and odd,” he said, adding that while awards chatter might help keep movies in the public conversation, it’s not something he enjoys personally.

Damon is no stranger to the Oscars. He has earned three acting nominations and won a screenplay Oscar for Good Will Hunting. Most recently, he was part of the awards push for Oppenheimer, which won Best Picture in 2024.

Despite his feelings, Damon may soon find himself back on the campaign trail. He stars in The Odyssey, directed by longtime collaborator Christopher Nolan. The film is expected to be a major contender during the 2025–2026 awards season.

Damon said the experience of making The Odyssey had a deep personal impact on him. He described it as a rare opportunity to make a classic-style epic. “It felt like my one chance in my life to make a David Lean movie,” he said, calling it the last large-scale film he expects to shoot on traditional film.

The production was demanding, but Damon said the timing was right. He believes he would have struggled with the role earlier in his career, but now appreciated every challenge. “You were uncomfortable every day,” he said, “but I really enjoyed every minute of it.”

Part of that experience came from the film’s groundbreaking technical approach. The Odyssey is the first Hollywood movie shot entirely using IMAX film cameras. These cameras are famously loud, making dialogue scenes difficult to record.

To solve the problem, Nolan’s team developed a new IMAX camera casing, known as a “blimp,” to reduce noise. The innovation allows actors to whisper on camera while still capturing clean sound.

Nolan later described the blimp system as a “game-changer,” saying it made intimate performances possible on IMAX film for the first time.

Even if awards season awaits him again, Damon’s comments make one thing clear: for him, the joy is in making the movie—not campaigning for trophies.