'The Odyssey' actor Matt Damon says Hollywood’s uncertainty made it hard to stay present with family

After spending decades as one of Hollywood's most recognisable stars, Matt Damon has spoken candidly about the personal cost of a demanding film career, revealing how the industry's "ruthless" nature often took him away from fatherhood more than he wanted.

As per Page Six, in a recent interview, Damon reflected on balancing his professional life with raising his four daughters while navigating the uncertainty of the entertainment business.

The actor, who stars as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan's upcoming film 'The Odyssey', said he has become increasingly focused on being present as his children grow older.

"There's less of that kind of young person's engine of needing to prove something and more about, like, accepting work and doing it on your terms and doing it as precisely and as well as you can. I think about it a lot, especially as my kids are getting older: really trying to be here now," Damon said, adding, "And it's hard for me to do that," as quoted by Page Six.

The actor, who shares daughters Isabella, Gia and Stella with wife Luciana, and is also a father figure to Alexia from Luciana's previous marriage, acknowledged that both his personality and the demands of the film industry have made staying in the moment challenging.

"I think maybe that has to do with my own nature," he said, adding, "It also has to do with this career where you're always trying to figure out what's ahead, because it's such an uncertain business and a pretty ruthless one. Those kinds of things have conspired to, I think, maybe take me out of where I am, more than I'd like."

Damon's comments come after a career spanning nearly four decades. He began acting at 18 with a one-line role in the 1980s film Mystic Pizza before achieving his breakthrough as Will Hunting in Good Will Hunting alongside Ben Affleck in 1997.

Looking back on the years following the success of Good Will Hunting, Damon described a relentless work schedule driven by both passion and insecurity.

"I don't think either of us stopped for years," he told in the interview about himself and Affleck, adding, "I mean, I think I worked five straight years, literally out of these two duffel bags that I had. And I traveled everywhere and just literally would go from set to set. And I loved it. It was great. I loved what I was doing. I didn't want to stop. There's that insecurity of actors of like, the phone's going to stop ringing," as quoted by Page Six.

He also spoke about the pressure actors face in maintaining their place within the industry.

"There's that list that you hear about, and you never know," Damon said, adding, "I mean, you know if you're on it if your phone's ringing a lot, but you don't.... There's no official list, but there is, sometimes you can get a movie greenlit at a studio, but not at another studio, and you're really aware of that. I've always been really aware of that," as quoted by Page Six.

Despite the challenges, Damon has previously credited fatherhood with helping him as an actor. Speaking to Fatherly in 2021, he said parenting made it easier to access the emotions required for performances.

"I feel like fatherhood has made my job a lot easier in a lot of ways," Damon said, adding, "All those emotions that I used to have to reach for are just readily accessible. I don't have to twist myself into knots to find something, it's just sitting right there all the time."

Over the past decade, the Oscar winner said he has intentionally slowed down professionally, prioritising time at home and focusing on Artists Equity, the production company he co-founded with Affleck.

"My youngest is a freshman, and I've been through this a few times, and I know how quickly these years go," he told as per Page Six.

Still, Damon said the chance to star in The Odyssey was an opportunity he could not pass up.

Reflecting on the experience, he described the project as a reminder of an earlier era of filmmaking.

"It's a little bewildering," he said, adding, "Because of where the movie business is going, it was a really weird movie for me personally, in the sense that I had almost a nostalgic feeling the entire time I was making it, because it felt like movies were when I started working. And I know that that's going away. I knew that this was the last chance I was ever going to have to do something like this," as quoted by Page Six.

Beyond his reflections on work and family, Damon also shared simple parenting advice during an appearance on Travis and Jason Kelce's New Heights podcast.

"Your kids show up, like that spirit that soul is there, and it's going to do what it's going to do," he said, adding, "The nurture part is very important; you're going to be helping with that, but they really are who they are right away."

His advice to parents was brief but heartfelt: "Don't blink."