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Matt Damon‘s daughters were not initially big fans of his beard for The Odyssey.
The 55-year-old actor reflected on the less-than-positive reactions that his beard for The Odyssey elicited from his daughters — Alexia, Isabella, Gia, and Stella — at the July 15 premiere of the highly anticipated epic film. Damon told Entertainment Tonight that his daughters were especially opposed to the beard in its early stages.
“They were okay with it after they saw it [on screen],” Damon said of the beard he grew to step into the role of Odysseus, “but yeah, while we were making it, they didn’t love it.”
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At the London premiere of The Odyssey, Damon told PEOPLE he was “really excited” to finally show his daughters the result of his hard work, as the Christopher Nolan-directed movie often cut into his time with them. Damon shares his daughter with his wife, Luciana.
“It’s great because they had to sacrifice a lot too for this [movie],” the actor told PEOPLE at the premiere. “I went away for a while, they came and visited, but it was a lot. It was a very long movie, very grueling shoot, and I’m really excited for my girls to see it tonight.”
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Damon also told PEOPLE one of the most precious reviews of the film came from one of his daughters.
“She saw The Odyssey, and at the end of it, she actually turned to me, and she said, ‘Dad, I’m proud of you.’ She’s never said anything like that because we joke around a lot, and so at that point, I was like, ‘I’m good,’” Damon said. “It was all worth it.”
The Odyssey is the latest screen adaptation of Homer’s timeless epic poem of the same name and also stars Zendaya as Athena, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Robert Pattinson as Antinous, plus Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Mia Goth and Bennie Safdie.
The Odyssey debuts in theaters on July 17.