The Athletic<\/a>, which recounted The Odyssey star Matt Damon\u2019s reaction to seeing Avery\u2019s physical performance on set.<\/p>\n\u201cAvery lined up behind Damon and Gonzales for the next take. When it began, he surged forward, blasting past both. Gonzales recalled Damon\u2019s immediate, impressed response. \u2018That,\u2019 the movie star observed, \u2018is what a professional athlete can do.’\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the piece, Avery \u2014 who was cast as Laodamas, one of Odysseus\u2019 loyal men \u2014 spent around six months filming The Odyssey in Greece, Scotland, Iceland, Morocco and Sicily.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe says \u2018guys were banged up\u2019 from the physical demands of being on Odysseus\u2019 crew: They hiked up a mountain and through trees wearing armor, took rowing courses and spent days filming on boats to execute Nolan\u2019s vision. It was the most extensive production Avery had experienced \u2014 and it only made him hungrier for more work in his new field.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI save Odysseus,\u201d Avery says. \u201cWhat an incredible movie moment for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to his work with Nolan, Avery has also had roles in the Mark Wahlberg-starring movies Patriots Day and Mile 22, the 2020 black comedy horror Spree, David O. Russell\u2019s 2022 film Amsterdam, and Happy Gilmore 2.<\/p>\n
Avery began his NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings in 2001 and spent time with Detroit, the Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, and Dallas Stars. He led the league in penalty minutes twice in his career, during the 2003\u201304 and 2005\u201306 NHL seasons, and was involved in numerous controversial incidents.<\/p>\n
His behavior even made its mark on NHL history thanks to the creation of the \u201cAvery Rule\u201d during the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n
During game three of the 2008 Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the New Jersey Devils, Avery stood directly in front of Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur and waved his arms in front of Brodeur\u2019s face while facing him \u2014 rather than traditionally screening the goaltender while watching the play. Avery eventually scored on the power play.<\/p>\n
The NHL convened an emergency meeting the following day and immediately implemented a new rule stating that an attacking player who positions himself facing the opposing goaltender and makes \u201ca deliberate attempt to make physical contact\u201d or uses \u201cunsportsmanlike conduct\u201d to distract the goaltender would be assessed a two-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The rule colloquially became known as the \u201cAvery rule.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dia Dipasupil\/Getty Images Sean Avery plays Laodamas, one of Odysseus\u2019 loyal men, in ‘The Odyssey’ Former NHL player…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[69073,5,12635,4,6430,69074],"class_list":["post-637384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-christopher-nolan","tag-hockey","tag-movies","tag-nhl","tag-sean-avery","tag-the-odyssey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117042606759294826","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Sean](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Sean-Avery-the-odyssey.jpg\")
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