Matt Damon’s ship from ‘The Odyssey’ needs your help

The lifesize wooden ship that took a beating during Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is slated for some much-deserved TLC, and its owners are looking for volunteers to help. The 50-oar Draken Harald Hårfagre is scheduled for routine maintenance in the spring, and everyone is encouraged to apply online to enlist in the four-week endeavor—provided they can get to Norway by April 2027.

“A project like Draken depends not only on a professional crew and sailing deckhands, but also on dedicated volunteers who help support the life of the ship,” reads its official website. “Volunteering offers a hands-on way to contribute while learning more about the vessel, the work behind it, and the wider community that keeps the project moving forward.”

Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of The Odyssey is a massive movie in every sense of the word, and a large part of the epic’s scale comes from its practical effects. Instead of falling back on computer-generated imagery, the award-winning director relied heavily on full-sized setpieces like an actual Trojan Horse. However, one of the film’s most prominent examples wasn’t actually built for the movie. For the role of Odysseus’ galley ship, Nolan enlisted the Draken.

The Draken technically isn’t period-accurate for The Odyssey’s Late Bronze Age setting. Then again, neither is the movie’s contemporary English dialogue, or choice of Matt Damon as the beleaguered king of Ithaca. The wooden ship is at least somewhat accurate by its own metrics. Commissioned in 2010 by Norwegian oil and gas magnate Sigurd Aase, the Draken is built with overlapping oak planks based in part on ship descriptions in historical Viking skaldic poems. At 114 feet long and 26 feet wide with a single, 79-foot-tall mast, the ship is ostensibly a scaled-up version of the famous Gokstad ship built around 890 CE.

The Draken’s maiden voyage took place in 2012, and a crew of 100 rowers successfully recreated the Vikings’ transatlantic crossing from Norway to Newfoundland only four years later. Today, it routinely sails to various ports around the world for exhibitions and educational tours—when it’s not guest starring in Hollywood blockbusters.

Regularly scheduled maintenance on the Draken will begin on April 10, 2027 and run through May 15. Jobs will include clinking the hull (replacing any weakened wooden planks) and scraping the exterior of ocean grime, as well as re-tarring, painting, and other general needs. Volunteers can sign up for any of the five, one-week windows,although the truly dedicated can elect to pitch in for the entire duration. Pretty much anyone over 18 years old is encouraged to apply, as long as they can get to Norway by next spring. Meals and accommodations are included, but preference will be given to volunteers with at least some knowledge of wooden ship maintenance. Once repairs are finished, the Draken will once again be ready for whatever next starring role comes its way.