Matt Damon: Ben Affleck raved about Robert Pattinson's 'Odyssey' role

Matt Damon says Ben Affleck could barely contain himself after seeing Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey - and most of the praise wasn't for his oldest friend. "Ben Affleck probably talked to me for 20 minutes about just Rob after he saw the movie," Damon told a crowd at the Academy Museum on Saturday night, referring to Robert Pattinson's performance.

Damon joined Tom Holland, John Leguizamo, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Himesh Patel and Elliot Page for a 40-minute Q&A about the film, which is now deep in its awards-season push. Pattinson wasn't in the room, but he still stole the conversation.

"Watching a guy run into an avalanche"

Damon recalled Affleck's exact take on why Pattinson's work felt riskier than his own. "When they talk about a brave performance - Ben goes, 'You had the benefit of all of the might and power of Christopher Nolan storytelling at your back,' and I went, 'Yeah,' and he goes, 'Rob had all of the weight and heft and power of Christopher Nolan's storytelling coming down on him. And the way he did it, it was like watching a guy run into an avalanche.'"

Damon went on, quoting Affleck: "Any moment that he could be more cowardly, more hateable, you could see his wheels turning. 'How could I make this even worse for myself?' And it was so fun to watch because he's such a dynamic actor and so interesting."

The admiration ran both ways. Patel recalled a tough day of shooting brutal sea sequences when the cast was flagging. "Matt turned around to us and he said, 'I know this is hard, but how many actors are in SAG? Every single one of them would die to be where you are right now.'" Patel added that even during the most draining moments, Damon stayed "smiling, happy, just loving it."

Holland singled out the scene between Damon and Anne Hathaway when Odysseus returns to Ithaca but stays in hiding, admitting he showed up on set that day just to watch. "Watching you guys go the distance in that scene just really set the tone for us of the level that we should all aspire to be at," Holland said. "I couldn't do that yet. I need a few more years."