At a Glance
- Ben Affleck took Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 13, to visit Matt Damon on Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey set.
- The trio brushed off invitations to Affleck’s own shoots, citing school or disinterest.
- Christopher Nolan allowed only one visitor-Affleck-in six months of filming.
- Why it matters: It’s a rare peek into how Hollywood’s most secretive director balances family curiosity with blockbuster pressure.
Affleck’s kids finally found a film set worth skipping class for, and it wasn’t one of his. During a Tuesday-night chat on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Air star revealed that Damon’s new epic drew the family like no project of his ever could.
A Dad’s Victory Lap
Affleck, 53, told Fallon that invitations to his own productions usually meet a chorus of “I’ve got school.” The exception arrived when The Odyssey rolled cameras. “My middle child’s really interested in actually reading the Iliad and The Odyssey,” he said. “We went there, and it was really great.”
The actor called the visit a proud moment, showing his children the “incredible” way “Hollywood made movies” in the “great, epic, in-camera, David Lean” tradition. He thanked Nolan for bending his no-visitors rule, noting the director “believes the set’s a place to work” rather than to “schmooze.”
One Guest Only
Damon, also on the couch to promote the duo’s Netflix thriller The Rip, backed up the story. Affleck “was the only guest” allowed on The Odyssey set in half a year of shooting. Fallon pressed for confirmation; Damon doubled down. “It was such an ambitious project that the amount of work that needed to be done, there was just no time for anything else,” he said, calling it the most all-consuming shoot he’s joined.
Off-Set Dad Duties
Affleck-who shares the three teens with ex-wife Jennifer Garner-adds parenting points in other ways. Last week he recalled son Samuel hitting him up for $100 in sports-betting money. The eighth-grader framed it as a lesson in discipline: if he and his friends lost the cash, that was the end of it. Affleck mimicked the imagined follow-up plea: “I know that Green Bay is going to cover the over in the second half.”
Coming Next
The actor-producer duo’s latest collaboration, The Rip, lands on Netflix January 16. The Miami crime thriller tracks a group of cops who uncover millions in dirty cash, sparking distrust as outsiders circle the seizure.
Key Takeaways
- Nolan’s The Odyssey runs a tighter set than most tech start-ups-one outsider in six months.
- Affleck’s kids prefer ancient epic homework to watching Dad act.
- Damon remains the best friend who can both land a cameo and vouch for a family field trip.
