Matt Damon called the Oscar race "unnatural."

The star of *Odyssey* shared his insights on the current awards season frenzy and Hollywood's campaign culture. While promoting the Netflix crime thriller *The Tender Cut*, Matt Damon offered his candid thoughts on the Oscar competition. Appearing on the *Skip Intro* podcast, the actor—a three-time Oscar nominee and recipient of an Academy Award for co-writing *Good Will Hunting*—expressed his skepticism about the modern film promotion practices during awards season. **Damon’s Critique of Awards Season** When asked about aspects of Hollywood he’d prefer to avoid, Damon responded: “Awards season. Without a doubt.” He explained that he finds the concept of campaigning to be “completely unnatural and strange.” He added, “Maybe it benefits movies—by bringing everything into the public eye and encouraging cultural conversations about films. I hope that’s the purpose…” **Reflections on Working on *Odyssey*** Despite his critical view of awards campaigning, Damon is gearing up for such a campaign next year with Christopher Nolan’s epic *Odyssey*. The actor shared that working on this large-scale project was profoundly impactful: “Last year, working on *Odyssey* felt like my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of a David Lean-style film. I felt like I was involved in the final major film shot on traditional film stock.” **Success of *The Tender Cut* on Netflix** *The Tender Cut*, which premiered on Netflix on January 16, 2026, achieved remarkable success with **41.6 million views** within its first three days. This made it the most-watched streaming film since *Happy Gilmore 2* in July 2025, which attracted 46.7 million viewers. The action-packed film, directed by Joe Carnahan, topped Netflix’s most-watched films chart from January 12 to 19, 2026.