Matt Damon is unrecognizable as he shoots epic fantasy action film

Matt Damon joined John Krasinski and Sarah Snook backstage on Broadway – and looked remarkably different to his usual clean cut look.

Matt and John visited the cast of The Picture of Dorian Gray starring Sarah, and Matt was rocking a large grey bushy beard that appeared unkempt. The actor wore a black shirt loosely buttoned and a black baseball cap for the Friday evening performance on May 9.

The adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s most popular book features one actor playing 26 characters, with video screens used to simulate interactions between characters. Sarah originated the role in the West End and won two Olivier Awards before transferring to Broadway in March 2025.

Matt has rocked the beard for a few months now, first debuting it in March at the South by SouthWest festival.  

He was there with best friend Ben Affleck to premiere their new movie The Accountant 2, which Matt helped to produce. 

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Matt and Ben — who have been best friends since they were children, and won their first Oscar together for Good Will Hunting in 1998 — founded their company in Artists Equity in 2022, and their inaugural film, Air, starring both of them and directed by Ben, premiered the following year.

In March Matt returned to the big screen as he began filming the adaptation of the epic Homer poem The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan.

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The project’s star-studded cast includes the likes of Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Mia Goth, and several others, with Odysseus himself played by none other than Matt.

And it’s not just his facial hair that is new, as the 54-year-old has also been hitting the gym with pictures from the set revealing a new ripped physique.

The Odyssey is slated for a July 17, 2026 release, and is the third Nolan film Matt has starred in: he also appeared in Interstellar and Oppenheimer.

The Odyssey is one of two major epic poems of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer, and is one of the oldest surviving works of literature.

It follows Odysseus’ homecoming journey to Ithaca after the 10-year long Trojan War. However the journey from Troy to Ithaca ends up taking another 10 years in which time his crew encounter trouble and turmoil, leaving his family believing him presumed dead.