Welcome to the Matt Damon Column,
a forum for sharing news among Matt fans.

• Quick update - another pic of Matt and Puffy at the VF party
• From the Las Vegas Review Journal:
  Tidal wave of Oscars hits 'Ocean's Eleven' cast
  It was Oscar night at the Bellagio, with the dancing fountains playing second fiddle to a galaxy of stars.
  Cast and crew of "Ocean's Eleven" gathered Thursday night in the Bellagio's Fontana Room to honor its trio of Oscar winners.
  Amid oversized ice and chocolate Oscars and tuxedo-clad servers, Julia Roberts, Steven Soderbergh and Stephen Mirrione took turns at the microphone, thanking and toasting their colleagues for Sunday's golden harvest at the Academy Awards.
  Roberts won best actress honors for "Erin Brockovich," Soderbergh for directing "Traffic" and Mirrione for editing "Traffic." All three are involved in "Ocean's Eleven." Soderbergh missed the Hollywood Oscar soirees because he had to be back on the set in Las Vegas on Monday morning.
  During the party, producer Jerry Weintraub credited Matt Damon with the best line of the night when he noted that "Ocean's Eleven" went from having one Oscar winner -- Damon, who shared the best screenwriting award in 1998 with Ben Affleck for "Good Will Hunting" -- to four overnight.
  Roberts wore a long-sleeved jersey featuring Soderbergh's face on the front. On the back, in rhinestone letters, was the word "melange," the definition of which is "a mixture of incongruous elements."
  About 150 VIPs, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Elliott Gould and Damon, attended the Bellagio-catered feast of caviar, Peking duck, lamb, sushi and champagne. The bash raged into the early morning, thanks to the fact that the cast and crew didn't have to report to work until 4:30 p.m. Friday. Greeting the revelers as they arrived was Olympic no-hit pitcher Lori Harrigan, decked out in a tux, a switch from her usual Bellagio security uniform.
• Also in the column - sightings:
  Julia Roberts and Matt Damon, working out at Gold's Gym at Eastern and Serene last week...
• A photo link too good to pass up: Matt and Winona at the Vanity Fair party, from People Online. It does look like there's another person in the group, but they didn't show who. But both do look happy. http://people.aol.com/people/spc/oscars2001/party/photo10.html
  (Pic shown above)
• The new Us Weekly magazine is meant to have eight pages of photos from the Vanity Fair bash (none on the site).
• One report from Vegas today: George, Julia, Matt and Andy Garcia on the top of one building supposedly watching the implosion of a casino (to be added in by CGI later). What's interesting is that Matt wasn't supposed to have any scenes with Julia - maybe he's been added in.
• And if you need some reminders of Bourne Identity, the official site has put up a fairly simple screensaver. www.bourneidentity.com

• There's footage of arrivals at the VF party on www.popcorn.co.uk, and a tiny snippet of Matt.
• EW is running the Matt as Will Hunting story on their website today.
  From Liz Smith's column:
  WORLDS COLLIDED when Winona Ryder and Penelope Cruz ran into one another. �I would love to talk to you,� said Winona. �I would love to talk to you, too!� said Penelope. Matt Damon looked on. He once dated Ryder and has been romantically linked to Cruz, though both in� sisted they were �just friends.�
  Apparently, Matt is still pals with these women, who would be nuts not to stay friendly with such a genuine soul . . .
• From the SF Chronicle's column by Leah Garchik:
  Ben Affleck chatted up Lucy Liu; Matt Damon made nice to Anthony Hopkins.
• People online:
  Elsewhere at the bash, Penelope Cruz caught up with her "All the Pretty Horses" costar Matt Damon and the two whispered together for several minutes amid the boisterous crowd. She then took photos with "Almost Famous" screenplay winner Cameron Crowe and later stood waiting for her limo outside the restaurant with her pal Ben Affleck.
• A different version of the same quote from Julia Stiles (note changed emphasis on the first word, and his involvement in re-writes):
  You've just worked with Matt Damon on 'The Bourne Identity'? How was that? He was wonderful. I did 'The Bourne Identity' for a week and I got to go to Prague which was an interesting experience, and Matt Damon is so nice and really intelligent. I was sort of blown away by the way he looks at scripts and characters. He was very nice to me, too. I think he was under a lot of pressure because this is really his movie and they were in the process of rewriting the ending, and he was very much a part of that. He was really focused on his work. I was really impressed with the way he handles himself. But it was really fun for me, because I just got to go in and be a CIA operative and have a fight scene. I get killed. Oh, wait...
• From the Las Vegas Review Journal: Clooney, Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia and Matt Damon drew big crowds during "Ocean's Eleven" scenes at the Bellagio on Tuesday. ...
• Also in the column:
  Soderbergh has scant time to savor Oscar conquest
  It might have been the shortest Oscar celebration ever.
  
  Steven Soderbergh, awarded the Best Director Academy Award on Sunday night, was back on the set of "Ocean's Eleven" on Monday.
  A belated party was held at the Las Vegas Country Club after wrapping Monday's shooting. Soderbergh, who won for "Traffic" and saw Julia Roberts win Best Actress for "Erin Brockovich," another film directed by Soderbergh, got a rousing ovation from George Clooney, Carl Reiner and Elliott Gould and crew when presented a cake that read "Steven Soderbergh Best Director 2001."
  The scene at the country club involved Clooney, Reiner and Gould in a haberdashery. Roberts arrives Thursday for a scene involving the computer-generated implosion of New York-New York.

• Oscar wrap-up time. Great to see that Matt attended at least one party, even if Oceans Eleven was shooting at 6am the following day. Casey Affleck attended one party over the weekend (with Summer Phoenix), but no other member from the Oceans cast seemed to be in LA pre-Oscars. Before this weekend was Matt the only member of the Oceans star-studded cast and crew with an Oscar?
• This is interesting... From The Times (UK). I really do hope Matt and Winona are still friends:
• There are times � and the sight of Lopez weaving through the party in Chanel couture was one of them � when you wonder whether any of what you read in magazines is true. Do these people really fall in love and break up, or are they all secretly shacked up with their personal trainers, with publicity about intercelebrity relationships just for show? I had that feeling again when I sighted Winona Ryder chatting happily to her former boyfriend Matt Damon. What had happened to all the hard feelings we were told about? They could be married for all we really know.
• Washington Post:
  Last year Matt Damon was here nuzzling -- Who was it? Winona Ryder? -- this year he was collapsed on the shoulder of buddy Ben Affleck, hurtling blindly into the star-studded night.
• A follow-up from last year in the NY Daily News: (Some thought it a testament to Crowe's star power that Limato invited him after an incident at last year's bash, where Crowe was said to have gotten forward with Winona Ryder, riling her then-boyfriend Matt Damon.)
• From the EW site, a scary combination: a photo of Matt and Sean Puffy Combs (very serious look on Matt's face as he shakes Coombs' hand): http://www.ew.com/ew/oscar2001/oscarparties/10.html
• Ben in a Jam Showbiz story:
  "I'm not drinking. I probably will head home early," Ben Affleck said on his way in to Morton's. "I'm getting too old for these shenanigans." Affleck was dateless. Even his mom stayed home.
• A link to an article on Yahoo's business briefing which strongly promotes the Runner: http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/010326/rxd_y2mevtaochehh5sw.html
• Were there any sightings of Matt on the entertainment shows (wraps of the party?) I didn't see him on ET. News reports here focused on Crowe, so there are virtually no reports of anyone else.
• On the boxing sightings - it was mentioned that all three were spotted in the crowd, but did not mention if they were together. I wouldn't think Matt would be anywhere near Wahlberg, but perhaps it is the 'George' influence.
• More gossip from the NY Daily News:
  Nic Cage and sometime squeeze Penelope Cruz were in separate orbits at the Vanity Fair party, as were Winona Ryder and ex-beau Matt Damon.
  Cruz and Damon, rumored to have saddled up together during the making of "All the Pretty Horses," talked. But Damon seemed more interested in nuzzling a dark-haired beauty named Odessa. Damon's bud Ben Affleck was seen snuggling up with another brunette in a backless dress....
  ***
  Two papers, two different reports on Matt and Winona...
• And from the Boston Globe: the People's History project is back
  Matt, Ben, and Howard?
  The unlikely cinema triumvirate of producers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and historian Howard Zinn has signed a deal to produce a series based on Zinn's unconventional book ''A People's History of the United States.'' HBO is underwriting the screenplays for three episodes, and they've lined up top-drawer writers: John Sayles, Howard Fast, and screenwriter Paul Laverty. ''We had offers from CBS, TNT, and HBO,'' said Zinn, who also puts in a knowledgeable appearance in Bestor Cram and Mike Majoros 's ''Unfinished Symphony.'' ''We decided to go with HBO because they seemed bolder and offered the most freedom.''
  ***
  Good to see that project finally has a home. Matt has previously stated how much he admires John Sayles.

Matt Damon and Sean ''Puffy'' Combs at the Vanity Fair party

received via email
In regard to your review of the film, All the Pretty Horses ["Them Horses Sure is Pretty," The Reader, Issue 8.02]. Did we see the same movie? I realize through a generational difference I may be viewing this Western through eyes that are merely longing for any good Western; but I think this is truly a good film. I got the impression your reviewer (and don�t feel alone � the Weird Harold gave it an almost identical review) said as he bought his popcorn, "Oh God, not a Cowboy movie." Billy Bob Thornton treated this film with a respect that hearkened back to an earlier generation of filmmakers. If you�ve read the book you know he toned the graphic details way down. The reviewer referred to Mexican stereotypes. This was 1949. I think the people I saw represented in this film may have been fairly typical of that time. Perhaps the fact that the movie was set in an era that is not so widely discussed and examined, the post-war Truman years, threw the reviewer off. The reviewer stated that it was unclear what Mr. Thornton was trying to say with this film. I found it very clear. Tell the story, let the audience decide for themselves what has occurred. Do we need actors to project and tell us what and how to feel these days? It is a time-honored tradition in film and literature to allow the customer a chance to make decisions for themselves. The reviewer stated the scenes of the two cowboys staring up at the stars, and the endless vistas of the Mexican countryside were slow indeed; not for those of us who enjoy these things. I wanted to be at that Mexican dance with the Mavericks (you did catch that, didn�t you)? Oh, that�s right, the overwrought � it was overwrought, I think you said � score by Marty Stuart; well, it was different from the normal film score of today. And maybe that�s where the trouble lies. There were no computer-generated effects, no plot mechanisms to push you along at a frenzied rate, no pulsating Dolby-enhanced modern soundtrack. Good. There are enough films like that. The scene near the end where a worn but caring Bruce Dern says to Matt Damon�s character, "You strike me as the kind of man who tends to be a bit hard on himself," [is] worth the price of admission. Make some more like this. Thank you.
Joseph Watson
Omaha

More Matt TV this weekend:

Wed 28	9:00 PM	The Good Old Boys	76	TNN-W
Thu 29	4:00 PM	The Good Old Boys	76	TNN-W
Thu 29	8:00 PM	The Talented Mr. Ripley	15	SHOWAL
Fri 30	8:00 PM	Geronimo: An American Legend	42	TNT-W
Fri 30	10:30 PM	Geronimo: An American Legend	42	TNT-W
Wed 4	11:00 AM	Rising Son	42	TNT-W

TNT is again promoting "Geronimo" as, "Geronimo, starring Matt Damon and Gene Hackman."

A Bourne photo

• The cable channel FX is promoting the broadcast premiere of "Rounders" on April 22. Just last month, ABC aired "Good Will Hunting". This month, Showtime aired "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and Starz! aired "Dogma." Nice to see Matt's films on TV for more of the world to enjoy.
• From Entertainment Weekly:
  'Strike' Zone
  Kevin Smith can keep a secret. Sort of. Pressed confirm that Matt Damon will reprise his breakthrough role as Boston braniacWill Hunting in Smith's upcoming Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the geek auteur of Clerks is coy. "If Matt ever deigned to be in another one of our lousy pictures," hints Smith (who directed Damon in Dogma), "I'm sure he would've had a great time revisiting one of his most memorable performances--particularly if Ben Affleck were involved as well, and they were both speaking in weird, South Boston accents. But what are the chances of that?" Very good, since Affleck is confirmed to be in the August release. But as for a rumored cameo by a onetime Jedi Knight, Star Wars fan Smith is back to mind games. "If Mark Hamill was indeed in this picture, he would be playing a character called C--k-Knocker." Guess it won't be a family film.

  Of course, we know that Matt, Ben and Mark Hamill have already shot their scenes.

• A yahoo article: Damon, Affleck back ABC reality TV show, CBS, Fox follow
• A Reuters Photo that we have already seen - from the Greenlight party. You may enjoy seeing it again.
  

  unkind gossip

• The ever so GOSSIPY Ted Casablanca printed this Matt sighting and hints at the sexuality question, again.(Picture, right.)
  ( A Big Matt Fan commented on this sordid piece: Sadly, too many people won't realize that in British slang, fags are cigarettes.)

Monday, March 19, 2001
Copyright � Las Vegas Review-Journal
COLUMN: Shooting Stars
MGM Mirage keen to work with 'Ocean's Eleven' team
The MGM Mirage properties spotlighted in the currently filming "Ocean's Eleven" weren't even a glimmer of glitter when the original 1960 Rat Pack romp hit Las Vegas.
Instead, a much more recent made-in-Vegas opus led "Ocean's Eleven" to such MGM Mirage properties as Bellagio and The Mirage: 1997's "Vegas Vacation."
The fourth comedy featuring the misadventures of the hapless Griswold clan (introduced in "National Lampoon's Vacation") filmed at The Mirage in 1996 -- and marked the first time Jerry Weintraub, who's producing "Ocean's Eleven" with star George Clooney, worked on location at The Mirage.
That experience, in part, convinced MGM Mirage officials that "Ocean's Eleven" would be a natural for their casinos, according to Alan Feldman, vice president of public affairs.
"All of us enjoyed it -- they're good people to work with," Feldman says of the "Vegas Vacation" experience.
Besides, "we were thinking of making a training film on how to rob a casino," Feldman jokes, describing "Ocean's Eleven's" plot -- which involves a daring casino robbery at Bellagio, The Mirage and Treasure Island during a title fight.
But seriously, folks, the "Ocean's Eleven" experience holds great appeal for the casinos, Feldman adds.
Rather than provide a mere backdrop, the remake offered an opportunity "to become an integral part of the story," he explains.
Add the caliber of the cast -- headed by Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle and Julia Roberts -- and double Oscar-nominee Steven Soderbergh as director and "almost immediately it became a question of how can we" become involved "as opposed to why (should we)," Feldman notes.
Not that it has been -- or will be -- easy, he acknowledges.
"This is substantially more ambitious than anything we've ever done," Feldman reports. "It's scheduling, it's logistics. ..."
It's things like "shutting down the hotel entrance for a couple of days," creating "a satellite check-in and valet" to accommodate real-life guests, he says.
Another MGM Mirage property, New York-New York, will receive even rougher treatment -- onscreen, anyway -- when it becomes the Strip's latest implosion victim thanks to the magic of special effects, according to Feldman.
"There was always going to be a scene where they were imploding a casino," he explains, but which casino hadn't been determined -- until New York-New York "just appeared in a script revision."
As for this week's "Ocean's Eleven" schedule, production will center on Bellagio, with scenes ranging from the casino floor to the parking garage.
The production also is scheduled to shoot a brief drive-away scene at McCarran International Airport's taxi area, according to Lt. Curt Williams of the Metropolitan Police Department's Special Events detail.
Upcoming "Ocean's Eleven" scenes include the pivotal boxing match, to be filmed at the MGM Grand Garden.
And an open casting call has been set for Thursday to find crowds to fill the arena stands.
The production is looking for extras 18 and older. The call will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Silver Star Studios, 5375 S. Procyon Ave. (That's just west of Mandalay Bay.) If you're interested, bring a pen or pencil -- and a small, 3-by-5-inch photo of yourself. For more information, call the extras casting hot line at 392-4999.
Shifting from the big to the small screen, an NBC comedy series set to debut in May has begun about four weeks of production at various locations around town. More than 40 actors have been cast in the show by Las Vegas-based Ray Favero, who also cast several local performers in "Ocean's Eleven" roles.
London-based Pacific, meanwhile, has begun principal production on a documentary for Britain's Sky One subscription satellite service.
Tentatively titled "Viva New Vegas," the six hourlong shows will focus on Las Vegas' transformation from "a holiday destination for older people" to hip young club-hoppers, according to executive producer Fiona Cotter Craig.
The documentary will be on location here through Memorial Day weekend, to take advantage of desert raves that bloom with the warmer weather.
In addition, "We're hoping to shoot at all the major hotels," she says, describing the show's budget as "slightly smaller than `Ocean's Eleven' -- and with fewer special effects."

March 20, 2001 at 8:15:44 PST
Columnist Kate Maddox: For Rudner, life is a Cabaret
Kate Maddox's column appears Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 259-2309 or [email protected].
...
Was it the Corona or Matt Damon egging Ben Affleck on at the blackjack tables on Friday night? (Or was it that little, "Problem? What problem? I don't have no stinkin' problem."?)
According to one witness, a drunkenesque Affleck tossed out $10,000 bets left and right, dumbfounding most of his Bellagio tablemates. In one flurry of hands, the Mexican beer-swilling Affleck managed to lose $50,000. An observer said the cheerful star was betting big money even when the cards were obviously not in his favor. I smell an intervention.

And from an old email on the Affleck board, written by friend Derek. Ben was asked the following question, and Derek replied on his behalf:

Ben , do you know the Montgolfier-baloon game? You are on a Mont-baloon with Matt, Derek, HolyToads,Casey and Gwyneth, and to survive you have to throw down other passengers.
In which order do you cast down them?
(Derek's response): Can I play?
First: Holytoads. I don't know him that well, but he seems like he might bounce.
Second: Affleck. He's the heaviest. Plus, he's led a full life. He will be missed.
Third: Matt. He's the oldest, and goshdarnit, he's such a nice guy, he'd want to save us.
Fourth: Casey. I love him like a brother, but he eats too many legumes.
Finally: Me. "Don't leave me alone with HER!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I'm kidding. I love Gwyneth. Sheesh.

There have been numerous reports of Ben at the Vegas blackjack tables over the last week. The latest has him noticably drunk, and 'cheerfully' losing large amounts of money. It's been twice mentioned (in gossip columns!) that Ben may have a problem with gambling and/or alcohol. One report has Matt by his side at the blackjack table. Matt - control him!

I also found photos of the party for Rounders at the Venice Film Festival in 1998. Some good pics here.

If anyone can speak Swedish, or can find a translator, here's a long interview with Matt titled Mr Perfect? Click here.

'Finding Forrester' opens here soon, and I saw a preview yesterday. Matt and Ben could potentially sue for breach of copyright, it's so similar to GWH. And yes, when Matt came on screen, the whole audience responded.

• From the Las Vegas Sun:
  Columnist Kate Maddox: 'Ocean's' cast makes a splash
  The super-private, super-luxe Bellagio villas are seeing some action these days. The boys from "Ocean's 11," (minus a couple who are reportedly bunking very VIP at the Mirage) have turned the fourth floor of the Strip swankitorium into party central.
  Since the cast, which includes George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and (current luckiest girl in the world) sole female Julia Roberts are all reportedly good friends, I'm hearing there have been some late, late nights. Most of the actors have worked together before -- Cheadle and Clooney in "Out of Sight," with "Ocean's" director Steven Soderbergh; Pitt and Roberts in "The Mexican," and castmates Casey Affleck and Damon are pals through their Bostonian brotherhood.
  One Bellagio employee says the Villas "resemble a college dorm. Everybody's dropping by to visit everyone else." Another insider acknowledges, "It's one big party. They're all tight."
  Smooth sailing is expected for the rest of the shoot. Right now the late nights are attributed to filming hours, which begin when the sun goes down. Want to know where to get the best stake-out spot? Look for action at the Bellagio's porte cochere and the front desk area in the next couple of weeks.

  The Oceans 11 Crew at ShoWest - US Weekly

• And the US Weekly ShoWest photo is up at : a George Clooney site. It's virtually the same pic as the one The Big Matt Fan passed on, but a better view of Matt and Casey next to him. (See right.)

• I found an article with Bourne director Doug Liman, taken from a student newspaper. It's about his online project, directed at young film-makers, and I think was published earlier this year. Here's just a sample (and the line of Matt relevance - the first from Liman). For the full article see: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/dt/V142/N01/04-hollywood.01d.html Not easily disappointed about Hollywood, Liman is determined to not be affected by his successes. "Matt Damon is great. He is also determined to not be affected," said Liman.
  "My father was a lawyer and my mother was a painter. My brother is a federal prosecutor and my sister is a neurobiology professor at Harvard."
  A graduate of Brown University, Liman recently launched Nibblebox.com with college friend David Bartis, former head of NBC Studios and senior vice president of prime time series, and Elizabeth Hamburg who play an important role in the 1980s when she helped to introduce Nintendo-game software to millions of bright-eyed kids. Now the trio have introduced the opportunity to create episodic programs on the Internet as well as 24-hour college radio programming aimed at millions of bright-eyed college kids.

• And from an old article about one day of filming, from the perspective of extras on ATPH, in the Alberqueque Tribune. Full article at: http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/diversions/062599_movie.shtml
  In character, Damon limps out of the courtroom. As he passes only feet away, a razor-thin scar applied across his left cheekbone triggers a double take: What a minute, does Matt Damon have a scar?
  As film rolls, Damon, hunched and humble, cranks up his character's story. You can barely hear him or anyone else: Movie actors, it seems, work small. "Can I ask you a personal question, son," the judge asks Damon's character, John Grady. Damon nods.
  "Do you have clean shorts on?"
  "Yessir."
  "Then since there ain't no ladies present in the court today, would you drop your pants so I can see those bullet wounds?" Damon undoes his belt, unzips his pants and they drop to the floor. Although there's quite an audience, no one stands to glimpse the Oscar-winning actor's derriere. Apparently, they've already done Scene 181 a number of times now. "Cut," an invisible somebody yells.
  Thornton strolls in, lean and confident in turquoise cowboy boots, low-slung black pants and an iridescent short-sleeve shirt that is rolled up to reveal three tattoos. With long graying hair curling around a black baseball cap and wild salt-and-pepper stubble, he looks gas-station chic.
  Just then, Matt Damon strolls in, head down slightly, like a rangy country boy star not entirely comfortable with the way the crowd parts in his presence. Damon stands with his back to the seated extras, grazing at the snack table. A few extras shuffle forward as if suddenly nudged by a craving for crumbled potato chips. Tentatively, they talk to him. Damon nods and smiles, eyes wide like a man trying to stay awake at the wheel. A pony-tailed girl, the granddaughter of the building's custodian, hovers behind Damon. She looks back to her grandfather anxiously. "Go ahead and ask him," he says. "Don't be afraid." Crystal Quintana, 12, hesitates, then taps Damon on the shoulder blade. He bends down to her and she whispers something to which Damon replies, "Sure, no problem," and turns back to his conversation. Her grandfather fiddles with the disposable camera he bought especially for the occasion. Ready. As if on cue, Damon turns around, and laces his arm through hers and around her waist. When the flash explodes, she looks like a deer in the headlights, and he looks like he's done it before. About a million times. After she thanks him, Damon retreats to his conversation and she to her grandfather.
  . They tell you not to talk to them . . ."
  Doherty means the stars, whoever they are.
  ". . . but that's b.s.," he says, pardoning himself to the only woman in the room. "I'm standing in line with him . . ." He means Matt Damon.
  ". . . and I said, 'Hey, I liked your performance.' He was fine about it." As an extra, there are a lot of rules.
  ***
  Just another story of what the actors have to go through each day on the set.

Column Norm, March 14
Big twins among locals with roles in 'Ocean's Eleven'
Twin brothers and a father-son act are among almost 20 locals who hope to make waves with speaking parts in "Ocean's Eleven."
For many of them, it's the biggest break of their careers, even if names such as "Plainclothes Goon No. 1" and "Plainclothes Goon No. 2" don't smack of breakthrough roles.
That's how Dave and Larry Power, known as the "world famous Power twins" in pro wrestling circles, are described in the script. They have a good idea why they caught the eye of casting: They're big -- 6-foot-2, 300 pounds -- and mean-looking. In real life, Larry is a bouncer at Spearmint Rhino strip club, and Dave drives a limo.
In the film, they are henchmen for Andy Garcia's character, a ruthless casino owner who has his bruisers bird-dog Danny Ocean, played by George Clooney.
Bill Allison and son Frankie J. Allison play pit bosses. Fans of "Casino," released in 1995, will recognize Bill Allison. He had a principal role opposite Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci.
Barry Brandt is cast as a resort technician who gets a table dance from Crazy Girls dancer Kelly Adkins, who plays a stripper recruited to help Ocean's cohorts pull off a heist during a heavyweight title fight.
Veteran actor Michael Delano, who played Johnny Ventura on "Rhoda," gets plenty of face time as a casino manager.
Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Scott Beringer, formerly known as Scott Flabi, public information officer for the patrol, plays head goon for Garcia's character.
Bill Johnson, show director of Caesars Magical Empire and one of the wizards, is a security technician.
Sue Manteris, KVBC-TV, Channel 3 morning and noon anchor, offers realism as a TV reporter.
Charlie Halford, Gregory Stenson and Rusty Meyers play security guards with speaking roles, and Frank Patton is a tourist.
Joe Ladue plays a Cal Worthington-type car salesman, and Nate Bynum has a cameo as a concierge.
Ray Favero is the local principal casting director.

RESOLUTION LIST FOR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
OF MONDAY, MAY 15, 2000
Extend gratitude and appreciation to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for lending their support at the Harvard Living Wage Campaign on May 6th.
Mayor Galluccio

• Under "the look - Young Hollywood's Senior Citizens": both Matt and Ben made the list, featuring a Matt photo that unfortunately has him wearing a Hawaiian shirt over white T, which gave him a geezer look - but great tan and great smile.
• Under "hype": a nice little article on Franka Potente, Matt's co-star in "Bourne Identity" (whose author, Robert Ludlum, just passed away - may he rest in peace.) Like Penelope Cruz, she too has co-starred with both Johnny Depp and Matt, and so in the article she raved about both. On Matt, this is what Franka supposedly said:
  ... she was quickly cast as the female lead who helps Matt Damon figure out who he really is in director Doug Liman's big-budget European amnesia thriller The Bourne Identity. "Matt is just the perfec partner," Potente gushes. "He's very intelligent, he has a clear view and he cares a lot. Sometimes you're shotting nights, it starts to rain, whatever, and I get nervous or bitchy, but he never does."
• Under top 10 Things: A flashback pic of Matt and Ben at the Oscars back in the good old days of GWH, a nice photot of the two buddies all dressed up in tux, with Ben's arm around Matt's shoulders. The pic accompanies a blurb "Top 10 Lines Young Hollywood Actors Feed Their Managers", the third of those lines read: "I'm tight with Matt and Ben."

• From Cindy Adams' column in the NY Post:
  AN UNSINKABLE CAST FOR 'OCEAN'S ELEVEN' REDO
  A CENTURY ago, Sinatra and his Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis, Dean Martin Rat Pack filmed the fun caper "Ocean's Eleven." As you know, it's now being remade with George Clooney as the ex-con who recruits 10 cronies - Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Casey Affleck, Don Cheadle, Elliot Gould with Julia Roberts. It's also heavy off screen. Director Steven Soderbergh has two Oscar nominations and the 18kt producer Jerry Weintraub, a.k.a. President George W. Bush's Best Best Friend, only leaves long enough to fly to the White House and back.
  Having wrapped shooting in Palm Springs, the crew's heading for Vegas to film its central scene, the casino heist. "We're there seven weeks," said Jerry. "Shooting the Bellagio, Mirage and MGM Grand, the three hotels these guys are supposedly robbing. April 6 and 7 we're staging a Lennox-Lewis 'heavyweight championship' fight scene.
  "With Pitt, Damon and Clooney, it's magical stuff. Great chemistry on screen. Even off screen. We all hang out. Our suites are on one floor right in a row. We eat in one trailer. Nobody acts like a big star. Everybody's close-knit.
  "It's 'Ocean's Eleven' but different. Everyone involved has seen the film but the script's different, characters different. George has Frank's role, but Pitt and Damon play completely different kinds of characters. And there's lots of jokes. Ours is a popcorn movie. Hard not to enjoy.
  "It's a sting ... but very elegant. No cars get blown up."
  
• From the Desert Sun:
  Waves of stars hit valley
  Behind-the-scenes view of �Ocean�s Eleven� reveals the Steven Soderbergh stamp
  March 11,2001 The Desert Sun
  The Ocean�s Eleven remake that was shot this week in Palm Springs is not a Rat Pack movie. Not a single cherry bomb was set off during the filming I saw Sunday night. No one ran around in bathrobes and not a single actor smoked or drank Jack Daniels. Don Cheadle, who played Sammy Davis Jr. in the TV movie, The Rat Pack, was playing chess, for crying out loud. Matt Damon and Carl Reiner were engaged in a serious game of backgammon. I was invited to watch the filming of Ocean�s Eleven on location at a house at Via Lola and Patencio in the Las Palmas district by the producer, Jerry Weintraub, who lives in Rancho Mirage. It provided a unique opportunity to observe the inner workings of perhaps the most star-studded film of the big-budget motion picture era.
  This was Steven Soderbergh�s movie and the director, who is up for two Oscars March 25, was all business. Wearing a black T-shirt and black baseball cap, he�d line up a shot through a lens, put on his glasses and walk around the room, apparently absorbed in thought. George Clooney kept things loose on the set. He talked with crew about the worst songs ever recorded and even sang one of them to prove his point.
  Brad Pitt quietly oozed charisma -- conveying warmth and cordiality with a sparkle in his eyes and a killer movie-star smile. Weintraub, on this night, was the perfect host. He chatted amiably with Clooney and gave a few instructions to his staff, and also explained to his guests what was happening on the set.
  I had written a story about Weintraub two years ago that explored his work as a concert promoter associated with people like Col. Tom Parker, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, and as the producer of such films as Nashville and Oh, God. He apparently liked it because, when I called him at his house about Ocean�s Eleven, he not only volunteered to sneak me onto the set, he suggested a story idea. He couldn�t allow me to talk to the actors, he said. Soderbergh needed quiet to be able to do this film his way, especially with the deadline for a Screen Actors Guild�s strike looming on July 1. But Weintraub suggested I bring my kids and write about how they reacted to seeing these stars in action.
  In addition to Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Reiner and Cheadle, the film features Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia, Elliott Gould, Bernie Mac from The Original King of Comedy, Scott Caan from Gone in 60 Seconds, and Ben Affleck�s brother, Casey. All except Roberts and Garcia were gathering in Palm Springs for a scene that was supposed to be the Las Vegas home of a man who was financing the robbery of three Vegas casinos.
  Weintraub has been working on this film for five years, but he credited Clooney and Soderbergh for attracting the all-star cast. They all wanted to work for Soderbergh, Weintraub said, and Internet reports said Clooney went to various stars, including Bill Murray, Don Rickles and Mark Wahlberg, and solicited them to do an updated version of the 1960 film titled, Ocean�s 11.
  The stars obviously took cuts in their usual salaries because a Weintraub assistant said the budget for the film, due to be released in December, is $91 million.
  The original Ocean�s 11 featured an all-star cast for its time including Rat Pack members Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. It was about a World War II airborne unit that decides to simultaneously rob the Sahara, Riviera, Desert Inn, Sands and Flamingo casinos. Gannett News Service film critic Jack Garner called it his favorite Frank Sinatra film.
  Internet reports say this Ocean�s Eleven is about a group of Gulf War veterans who decide to simultaneously rob the Bellagio, the Mirage and Treasure Island in present-day Las Vegas. But while the heist in the 1960 film was for $11 million on New Year�s Eve, this robbery takes place during a boxing match in which $150 million is available for the taking.
  People close to the film say Soderbergh�s version is not so much a remake as a retelling of the original concept. Clooney plays Sinatra�s old character, Danny Ocean, and Roberts plays Angie Dickinson�s character, Ocean�s wife, Tess. But Roberts� Tess has been expanded to include an extramarital love interest and all of the other characters have different names than their counterparts in Ocean�s 11. Susie Ekins, executive producer with John Hardy, said there is no Sammy Davis Jr. character and Cinescape.com says Cheadle�s character more closely resembles the part Lawford played in the original.
  But arguably the most famous scene in the movie, in which the robbers agree to Danny Ocean�s plan by putting their hands one on top of the other on a pool table in the financier�s Las Vegas home, was restaged Thursday without the pool table by the man who created the original scene, Sid Avery. The house at Via Lola and Patencio was selected, said Weintraub, because they wanted a place that resembled a Las Vegas home that had been lived in since the �60s. Jack Liberman, who works for the owners of the house, private art dealers Gordon Locksley and George T. Shea, said the location scouts found it in the book of unique local architecture, Palm Springs Modern. Liberman said the 7,000-square-foot home was built on 1.1 acres of land in 1957 by Quincy Jones.
  The estate is surrounded by oleander bushes with dozens of palm trees towering over them. The driveway inside a black iron gate leads to a post-modern overhang with rectangular holes, or perhaps portals, to see the sky. Trees and plant life adorn both sides of the stone walkway to the house. Weintraub said his crew completely redecorated the interior and pool area to get the look Soderbergh wanted. Paintings of naked women were hung on the stone walls of the compartmentalized living area, and statues were placed around the pool. The scene shot Friday night was the one in which Ocean was explaining the caper to his cohorts at the Las Vegas home of the financier, Reuben Tishkoff, played by Gould.
  It was a scene that had to be reshot dozens of times, no matter how good the performances, so Soderbergh could get his master shot and then relight the scene each time for the individual shots of all 11 robbers.
  In between shots, stand-ins were placed where the stars were going to be filmed and Soderbergh arranged each shot to his liking. The man who helped launched the American independent filmmaking movement with his sex, lies and videotape in 1989 also is the director of photography of Ocean�s Eleven. He operates the A camera so meticulously, he uses a tape measure to ensure the distance between his camera and subject will get the proper amount of light.
  The actors find various activities to pass the time between shots. My kids and their friend, 13-year-old Danielle Diner, ask Damon if they can watch him and Reiner play backgammon. Sure, replies Damon, wearing an olive jacket, khaki pants and a horizontally striped shirt. Watch me beat him. �He beat me two out of three, says Reiner, looking scruffy in what looked like a beige fishing hat. It�s a great game. Get a book and learn it. It�s addictive. My kids were initially intimidated by Damon, whom they had last seen in The Talented Mr. Ripley, but Danielle persuaded them to wander in his direction.
  �At first I was kind of scared because �The Talented Mr. Ripley�? Psycho guy? said my 10-year-old son, Parker. But it turns out he was Talented Mr. Nice Guy.
  ***
  Long story, but it gives lots of background to the movie, and the environment in which they're working (I cut the rest or the story). Interesting that he's linked with Carl Reiner already, as he's probably the oldest in the cast and the one with the most experience (or they're the only two who like backgammon).
  The Vegas scenes, starting this week, are expected to be much more high profile. The second story is taken from a George Clooney fansite - he attracts really good, professional website owners and fanatical fans. One of the best is 'Daily Dose of George Clooney', at http://itallea317.tripod.com/
  There were some quick shots of Matt and the whole crew at the Vegas press briefing at Showest on Friday's ET. Matt was next to Casey - great to see them in another film together.

Can you spot Matt in this photo?

• Felicity wrote:
  And onto the hair debate: I prefer the longer 'look', but I don't think Oceans can be any different from Bourne - the filming was only a couple of days apart (but there's been no proof yet).

• Kathryn wrote from Edinburgh:
  I bought (long overdue) the March issue of Empire. I will send the review of ATPH and send it to you later (also the soundtrack review) - but in a nutshell, according to them, Matt's performance wasn't good enough (it got three stars) - but the soundtrack received the prestigious five star rating.
  I can't remember if you've mentioned this or not, or even if you knew - but Matt apparently has a cameo in Finding Forrester, at the end. There is a "question-and-answer" section in the magazine, I was glancing through it and someone asked about cameos from famous stars (they gave the example of Salma Hayek in Traffic). I didn't know that, and it will now give me an extra incentive to see that.

• By chance another reader wrote:
  I was pleasently surprised and delighted to see Matt make a cameo appearance at the end of Finding Forrester and suprised that I hadn't seen anything about it in either the Column or any of the entertainment shows/new stories. While Finding Forrester was a great movie on its own, the Matt appearance was an added bonus. My sister, who saw the movie with me, said it was almost like he was put in the role just for my benefit!

  The Forrester cameo was mentined quite a few times, but it was buried in all the stuff about ATPH. Glad so many Matt fans enjoyed the treat.

• I thank Elise for writing, as follows:
  First of all, the link for absolutepictures.com didn't work when I clicked on it, at the bottom of your page, maybe there's just a temporary problem with the server. Also, I don't know if Steve's site URL is different, or if it still exists, or what, but the links you have to his site or to pictures from his site (like in your fave pics section) bring me to a 'member page not found' page; thought I'd let you know.
  Which brings me to my point, sort of, which is that I have a Matt Damon picture gallery (which happens to be the name of my site...) with what I consider to be quite a bit of pictures, organized in several sections, with lots of my own scans. So if you're interested in linking to my site as a 'pictures of Matt here' thing, it would be appreciated.
  It's great that your site has a lot of interesting info, there aren't too many like that out there! I try to offer what I can to the online world of Matt Damon by providing pics and lots of 'em, but I don't quite have the energy to write, search for news and update often, like you do for your site.
  Anyways, if you're interested my site is http://come.to/mattdamon and it's called, the Matt Damon Picture Gallery. (I have your site in my links section.)

• From the Big Matt Fan:
  Maybe I can scan the Showest photo on Monday. It's really more a Clooney/Pitt photo, but Matt is definitely recognizable in the background. He looked pretty cute, and pretty happy (as though he were laughing), although much of him is covered by Brad.
  It's intriguing that Julia Roberts is not mentioned in the variety article, nor on the official web site. Perhaps she's had to drop out? Or perhaps her role is no more than a cameo? It has been described as "brief."
  Matt's billing with Clooney and Pitt, however, does lead me to suspect that perhaps his role is a little bigger than some of the others. Of course, maybe he's just more billable than Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia and those in the second listing.

  BTW, "The Entertainers with Byron Allen" aired last night at 2:10 am. This is basically a show comprised entirely of press junket interviews, and this one included one of Matt in connection with "The Legend of Bagger Vance." Much of it is typical stuff, but Byron does seem to have fun with Matt. Matt was wearing a black, short sleeved shirt and tan slacks, and looked devastatingly handsome.

  BYRON: Matt, it's good to see you.  How ya' doin'?
  
  MATT (shaking his hand with a smile):  You, too.  You, too.
  
  BYRON:  You know, I checked out this film.  You have some golf game.  Are you this good?
  
  MATT (with a laugh):  No, not yet.  It's easy when the director controls where the golf ball lands
  
  BYRON:  But you had the swing down.
  
  MATT:  Well, I had never played, so that was the big consideration going into it. I only had about thirty days, and so I sat down with Redford and said, "Look, it's an honor of a life to be able to work with you, but in all candor, I don't play golf, so I don't want to look like a moron out there."  But he was kind of confident that I could pull it off, so he sent me down there with a golf pro for about a month, all day, every day, and this golf pro named Tim Moss down in South Carolina taught me how to play.
  
  BYRON (grinning):  There you go.  Now you're going on tour.
  
  MATT:  Well...
  
  BYRON:  That's what I heard.
  
  MATT:  Yeah, Tiger and I are going to play in the Ryder Cup.
  
  BYRON (laughing):  You're just going to wipe them out.
  
  MATT (laughing):  Yeah, right.
  
  BYRON:  It's going to be, "Tiger who?"
  
  MATT:  Yeah, it'll be, "Tiger who?" because we'd be so far behind with me, like, putting every shot in the woods."  
  
  They then show the trailer.
  
  BYRON:  What compelled you to do this material?
  
  MATT:  It was really a chance to work with Robert Redford.  It was great to work with Will and Charlize, and I think all three of us feel similarly, like, it was all great for us work together but I think what drew all of us into individually was the chance to work with Robert Redford, someone all of us admire, his body of work, and really, outside his acting and directing, Sundance and everything he's done for independent movies, all the things he does socially.  You know, he's really an amazing guy.
  
  BYRON:  Tell us about Junnah.
  
  MATT:  Well, he's a guy who, at the beginning of the movie, we find him somewhat disillusioned, and we hear his back story.  He had everything and lived within a certain set of rules and succeeded and flourished that way, but when he went away to World War I, and into utter chaos, and saw a bunch of his friends die, and he kind of disengages from life.  The movie is very much a story about redemption.  People are trying to get him to play in this golf tournament to save the city of Savannah and he's kind of reluctant to do it, until along comes this very mysterious person named Bagger Vance who calls himself a caddy, who's kind of an eccentric guy, giving him these odd tips along the way, and as we progress along the movie, we realize that he's really talking about a lot more than golf.
  
  BYRON:  Now the last time we chatted, you were moving into a new house and you had no furniture.  What's the deal?  Is the place still empty?
  
  MATT:  It's still empty, but it's almost ready.
  
  BYRON:  Almost ready to receive furniture.
  
  MATT (animatedly):  I'm about to go away to work for three months, so by the time I get back, it'll be real ready and then it'll be furnished.
  
  BYRON:  Do we have a chair in there yet?
  
  MATT:   A mattress.
  
  BYRON:  A mattress!  
  
  MATT:  I got a place to sleep.
  
  BYRON:  You got a place to sleep.  That's good.  Now, how are you going to furnish this place?
  
  MATT (pausing):  Well...
  
  BYRON:  Wicker?  (Matt bursts into laughter.)  Bean bags?
  
  MATT (laughing):  Yeah, wicker and bean bags, I think.  That's probably what it'll end up being.
  
  BYRON:  OK.  That works.  That's back.
  
  MATT:  It's functional.  It's gets the job done.
  
  BYRON:  Now, are you writing?
  
  MATT:  No, we haven't come up with anything, recently, but we've kind of been talking recently about writing something, so the next time we get a free minute, I think we're going to do something.
  
  BYRON:  Now, Ben didn't break the news to you, did he?
  
  MATT:  What's that?
  
  BYRON:  He and I are now writing partners.
  
  MATT (with feigned exasperation):  See that?  He just leaves me for you.  Don't worry.  You weren't in the relationship with him.  It's me.  I don't blame you.
  
  BYRON (grinning):  I'm going to let the two of you guys work that out.  But we're going to send you our script.
  
  MATT (laughing):    Good.  Well, put in on projectgreenlight.com and see if it makes the cut.
  
  BYRON:  You got it.
  
  MATT:  All right.
  
  BYRON (leaning over to shake Matt's hand):   All right, buddy.
  
  MATT:  Thanks, Byron.
  

  Added the Big Matt Fan:
  Note: Byron Allen is always funny, friendly and flattering, and Matt does seem to enjoy these interviews with him. I used the adjective "laughing" with great frequency because Matt really did seem to be laughing through much of it.

• Goodies from Felicity:
  • A denial of that absurd Calista Flockhart rumor, from US Weekly:
    Recently you were given yellow journalism's highest honor to be romantically linked with Matt Damon. At 'The Vagina Monologues, 'did you think, aren't he and Winona dating? Should I say something to her about this?
    I didn't say a word to her about it. I've never even met Matt. In Rumor Land, I'm having a really fun year. But none of it is true.
  • A nice story by Joel Gretsch (who played Bobby Jones in BV, and became a good friend of Matt's), which appeared on the ESPN website: If me or Matt Damon or Will Smith didn't slow down, the ball would have gone flying right into the extras. And let me tell you, I worried about that. But the clubs were fun. I mean, I was putting with a 1913 Calamity Jane putter. I'm sitting there on the green looking down at the putter and not believing all this.
    While I tried to learn the intricacies of Jones, Matt was learning how to swing a club, having never golfed before. I was skeptical that he could do it, but Matt is one of the most focused individuals in the business. When we first met, he was down in Savannah practicing four, five, even six hours a day. He had blisters on every finger and even separated his shoulder trying to prepare for the role.
    Because he started from scratch, though, he didn't have any bad habits. He learned to play the right way. And he's such a good athlete that he picked things up very fast.
    I remember the day he got his first birdie. Bruce McGill (who plays Walter Hagen) and I were walking by this par-3 of about 195 yards. Matt put a 4-iron on the green and had this long, left-to-right putt off the side of this rolling hill. So I said to Bruce, "God I'd love to see him make that." And he did. We were all jumping up and down like little kids.
    With Will, I could tell he was a golf nut the first time I ever saw him. He walked into this reading at the beginning of filming one morning, I think it was about 9 a.m., and he was just covered in grass stains, all over his pants and his shoes from a round he had already finished. He's got the golf bug bad. Unfortunately, he and I didn't get to play at all. We played a lot of hoops on the set instead.
    But Matt and I played a lot. To be a bit childish, it was fun hanging around with him because he could name-drop and get us a tee time just about anywhere. "Oh? Matt Damon's coming? Sure, we can get a foursome for you." We played Ocean Trails, Riviera Country Club, Sherwood Country Club, a couple nice places in Vegas.
    We played in between filming and at first, I had to give him a bunch of strokes to keep things even. But by the end, I told him, "I'm not giving you anything." And besides, he can afford to lose a little more money than I can.
    ***
    Love that name-dropping!
  • And another very late story about the celebrity hitting challenge, from the Eagle-Tribune newspaper (but worth it for some lines in the middle):
    Fenway screen didn't appeal to actor Damon
    By Joe Murphy
    Eagle-Tribune Writer
    FENWAY PARK -- Matt Damon is a better actor than he is a hitter of baseballs.
    Yesterday, he was a Punch-And-Judy hitter. Worse yet, Punch failed to show up.
    But as Jim Rice said, ''We needed every point Matt got.''
    It put one in mind of former L.A. Laker Hot Rod Hundley's quip: ''My biggest thrill in the NBA was the night Elgin Baylor and I combined for 73 points. Elgin got 71.''
    Yesterday in the All-Star Celebrity Hitting Challenge, Rice, the Red Sox hitting coach and former slugger, scored 360 points to lead his Yawkey team comprising Damon and Steve Garvey to the championship.
    You remember Garvey of the Dodgers and Padres. He's the guy who in his playing days seriously challenged George Washington for the title, ''Father of His Country.'' Anyway, he tallied 150 and Damon was good for 70.
    That beat out the Paul Revere team of Doug Flutie, Andre Dawson and Fred Lynn but by just 30 points so Rice was correct in his assessment of Damon . . . sort of.
    By the way, let no man say that Greater Lawrence didn't play a major role in the victory. Rice is of North Andover and Damon's family of Andover origin.
    In fact, there are a flock of Damons still residing there, including Matt's grandmother, Roberta, and his uncle, Glen.
    Yesterday, Matt's dad, Kent, and brother, Kyle, were here to provide support but it's anybody's guess who was more nervous.
    ''I was terrified,'' is the way the engaging young Damon put it. ''I knew I was going to be nervous. I kept saying, 'You're swinging a bat at Fenway Park.' ''
    His best drive was pulled foul and struck the upper facing in leftfield foul territory. Had he straightened it out, it might have been a wall-banger.
    Baseball aside, what struck you about this Academy Award winner is that he is well-bred. There is no posturing or pretense about him. He's more Andover (actually, Cambridge now) than Hollywood.
    Early on in the pre-hitting interview, he borrowed a camera from his dad and kidded the media with, ''I just wanted to get a shot of all you guys because this is as close as a Damon is going to get at being interviewed at a major league ballpark.''
    Later he noted, ''This is an experience every kid dreams of growing up. I heard Dwight Evans, Jim Rice and Carlton Fisk were going to be here. Really it's the '78 team, Bucky Dent and all that. If he can hit one out of the ballpark, maybe I can.''
    While Matt and his dad and brother hit a batting cage on the South Shore in preparation, Flutie did the same.
    It did put me in mind of the time I covered the 1975 World Series and after a game, with all the field lights out and my story done, I walked through the stands and went down to the field and with nobody looking, stepped into the batter's box, took my stance and swung an imaginary bat.
    For somebody, who as a kid loved baseball just as much as Ted Williams did, there was something special about that swing.
    There were five kids in my family, four sisters, and I was allowed to stand at the table while everybody else sat and eat my dinner with my baseball cap on and my first baseman's mitt tucked under one arm because I always had a game to play.
    That's why I understood exactly what Matt and Doug were talking about yesterday.
    Asked about a comparison between hitting at Fenway and winning an Oscar, Matt replied, ''It's a very different feeling. There's no comparison. This is it!
    ''I took my 14 cuts at Fenway,'' he said with satisfaction, ''and I'll take that to my grave.''
    ***
    Just more complimentary stories :- )
  • Have I passed this one on before? From an Affleck interview on Channel 5, London:
    In the event, the tall and classically square-jawed Affleck came over extremely well, speaking openly and enthusiastically about working with veteran director John Frankenheimer and the pros and cons of Hollywood celebrity. Even so, Affleck is the first to admit that, unlike his close friend and collaborator Matt Damon, with whom he co-wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Good Will Hunting, he doesn�t always treat press interviews as seriously as he might: "Matt and I have very different personalities. Matt�s a little more introverted. so he�s a little more self-conscious about how he comes across. I think Matt feels a responsibility to be deliberately prosaic in his interviews, so he doesn�t get in trouble or something. Whereas I�m a little more willing to make a fool out of myself in the press, because I guess I feel more of a responsibility to be interesting or funny."
  • Other news: Ben apparently appeared in a brief cameo on Saturday Night Live today; and it's in People magazine that another script from the Greenlight top three will be made with joint funding from Miramax, Chris Moore and Sean Bailey (Liveplanet founders).
  • Just a few quotes here from Ben, as Bounce opened (in Australia) last week (from magazine NW).
    Ben's also writing another script with Matt Damon... and insists there's been no jealousy between them.
    "Do you remember Leif Garrett?" he says. "You couldn't get out of the way of Leif Garrett when he was the most famous guy inthe world from May 75 to September 75. That kind of pop-idol, teenybop thing I used to tease Matt about, because he was the poster boy out of the two of us. I thought I was going to get more integrity by being pushed into the background, but then I got pushed into the same box myself."
    He insists that fame hasn't affected their friendship. "We're just as close as we ever were. But we don't see each other as much as we used to, 'cause we're not unemployed, sitting around all day playing video games any more. We root for each other's movies, but as far as if we're up for the same role, I won't lie and say that I hope he gets it instead of me. But if I don't get the part, I'd rather Matt do it than anyone else."
  • Just as an aside, I did the marathon of the three Oprah shows featuring Matt last night. Apart from a little less obvious enthusiasm, Matt hasn't changed greatly (in my opinion) during the four years in which they were filmed. He's gone from being a supporting player to the featured lead, but he's always been eloquent, polite and deferential. He's also always looked great on the show (as mentioned before), but he really was in good shape when promoting ATPH during the Bourne filming. Oprah was responsive to Matt even from early on in the first show, and that's just become more pronounced.

• A Big Matt Fan:
  According to Army Archerd's column, "Ocean's Eleven's" star-studded cast is locationing at Merv Griffin's plush Palm Springs Resort and Givenchy Spa before its Vegas film sites (though they did put an appearance at ShoWest Thursday)."
  Another article in Variety confirms that the entire cast of "Ocean's Eleven" attended the Warner Brother's presentation in Las Vegas Thursday. There's a photo featuring Clooney and Pitt--with a smiling Matt in the background between them.
• Val:
  Noticed that Penelope has another cover all to herself this month in V O G U E. There is a relatively long article on her. I only had a chance to skim it but it does mention her turn as Matt's love interest in ATPH (and a conjecture as to why the flick wasn't box office successful). If any one can scan it, that would be a great read.
• J. wrote:
  I have it on good authority-- from some ten or so people who were at the party that Matty did hug her hello and commented that she was in the new Jay & Bob film. He left the party incredibly early and alone, he told several people that he was dating no one but work (hahahahahah) and Eliza stayed and talked to Ben and Casey in the VIP room for most of the evening.
  Just another twisted tale told by Ted.

• How do you like that hair?

  Kathryn of Edinburgh wrote:
  I just got my scanner fixed up at home and thought I'd scan whatever pics I could find of Matt and send them to you (if you'd like). I have enclosed a photo (it's the one of the Bagger Vance article I told you about a while back). About the hair - I must admit I didn't like the GWH hair at all - far too floppy and wavy, whereas his hair as Dickie in TTMR, CUF, and in the new pictures, totally appeals to me and I think he looks a lot better like that. Just IMHO.
  Thank you, Kathryn! I am sure we would appreciate seeing photos from overseas. The photo you enclosed is shown to the left, and I love it. Matt takes very nice black-and-white photos.

  ---

  Is this Matt's agent?

• Silke sent in the photo to the right, and asked:
  Is this Matt and Ben's agent?
  

  And we have a response from the ultimate authority: Feclity.
  (T)he photo is of Ed Burns from the SPR group on the "the View" show. He's still with agent Patrick Whitesell, but split from Dana Giacchetto (former money manager).

• And Felicity said:
  The official Warners (Oceans 11) site is very particular in how it lists the cast (and no Julia Roberts mentioned):
  Oceans Eleven is starring in alphabetical order: George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt.
  Oceans Eleven is also starring, in alphabetical order: Casey Affleck, Alan Arkin, Scott Caan, Don Cheadle, Edward Jemison and Bernie Mac.
  (Star wars!)

• Felicity:
  Kevin Smith wrote on the viewaskew boards that ET will do a segment on Jay and Silent Bob probably this week.
  This is the latest from Ted Casablanca:
  Good Thrill Hunting
  Speaking of dynamic duos (in more ways than one), you don't believe there's tension between Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, do you?
  Well, if you examine the ac-shuns of these adorables at the recent Project Greenlight blowout, it seems both boys have found femmes to help them decompress, de-stress and diffuse any crankiness that might exist. The Knitting Factory blast was boisterous and broiling. Ben's baby bro, Casey, partied alongside everyone's fave fake-white-fur-wearing magician, David Blaine, and Dave's model g-f, Josie Marin. Oh yeah, before I forget, the bash included some benevolence. Ten scriptwriters had been selected by Matt, Ben and Miramax execs to compete for funding for their flicks. At the event, little-known (at least for now) writer-director Pete Jones took home the primo prize: 1 million bucks to make a film Ben 'n' Matt will executive produce and Miramax will distribute. But who cares about such biz things when there's couplings to discuss?
  Matt-babe floated off to thrill throngs of fans by schmoozing with them at the festivities, while Ben promptly vanished to a private place with a scrumptious sweetie who has certainly been making the H-town rounds. Can you guess who? Okay, I'm too tired to play today, so I'll just tell you: Charlize Theron. Slurpy (as always) in dark jeans, sweatshirt and leath-uh jacket, Ben cozied up to his Reindeer Games costar. And oh how Charlize reciprocated, tempting the King of Flirting in clingy jeans and a hardly buttoned button-down shirt.
  Chain-smoking, nuzzling and other dalliances were performed during the twosome's self-imposed exile from the event. Don't get too excited, though. Considering the track records of these stunners, that kind of display probably means just another blah night in celeb-land. Meanwhile, Matt had slid his solo self around the room when a gorgeous gal arrived--Eliza Dushku (one of our sensaysh Sizzlin' Sixteen, by the by), who appears in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back with the boyish Oscar owners. As soon as the raven-haired honey showed her mug, Matt doled out a hungry hug and smooches galore. M.D. & E.D. passed the rest of the soiree enveloped in intimate discourse, pausing only to pose for photos. Wondering whether to bet your copies of Ripley that you'll be seeing more of these two? Consider this: If there's anything we know about Matt, it's that he adores brunettes--and his costars.
  ***
  Quick rebuttal: Eliza Dushku is from Boston, and is a friend of Casey Affleck's. She did attend their millennium bash in Boston, but that was the first time she had met Matt and Ben (or claimed as such in an interview from earlier this year). She's also very young!
  (Reader Bukky also sent this item - thanks!)

• Stacey wrote:
  Referring to the comments about Matt's hair - I don't think it looks bad short. In fact, I like it! His GWH hair was great too, but I like this one as well. Of course, he looks good with whatever he does to his hair :-) (especially in GWH and BV).
  (My response: Amen! But see today's feature photo.)

• A Big Matt fan wrote: Aint-it-cool has a report on Matt & Ben's appearance on the set of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Of interest: 1) Looks like Matt only did a single day of shooting on it, with OCEANS 11 filming the day before and the day after, 2) Matt wasn't shy about being a fan of Mark Hamill who also appears in the film, and 3) Matt and Ben again say they're planning to work on a script this summer.

  BTW, with Matt reportedly shooting in several locations for OCEANS 11, does it not appear that the role isn't as tiny as we'd feared? It isn't just 2 days in Chicago and the rest in Las Vegas in April. Seems like he's been shooting scenes for a while, now. Remember, this was the role Clooney had earmarked for his pal, Wahlberg, so it may be a pretty good one.
  (ET briefly mentioned Oceans tonight, and Matt was mentioned as one of the big stars (after Cloonley and Pitt). I hope you are right, but they might just need him to be part of the pack. But if he's enjoying it, then it's a good thing. I hope his hair is a little longer in this film.)

• Felicity wrote:
  As usual, Ben got most of the attention in the AICN posting. But I thought Matt and Ben were already working on the script, so it should be reasonably well developed by now? I'm hoping that Ben was just being deliberately misleading.
  Did you see this notice about Matt attending an AIDS benefit in Santa Monica? From USA Today (I'll just copy the most interesting bits):
  Damon lends 'goodwill' to pediatric AIDS fight
  By Mike Falcon, Spotlight Health
  With medical adviser Stephen A. Shoop, M.D.
  
  Matt Damon played the title character rescued in Saving Private Ryan. Now the 30-year-old Oscar-winner has joined a goodwill mission himself to help save children facing the scourge of pediatric AIDS.
  "When you hear that a child is stricken with anything it breaks your heart," says Damon. "AIDS in children goes right to your core because they're so helpless. If there's some way in which you might be able to help, you simply try and do it."
  Last Friday, Damon joined the 30-hour Northwestern University Dance Marathon at Santa Monica's chic Lounge 217, one of five satellite locations for the annual charitable event. The marathon waltzed away with over $526,000 for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, a leader in fundraising and research in the fight against the dreaded disease.
  Actress Kimberly Williams, who starred in Father of the Bride when she was still a sophomore at Northwestern, literally "shook her money-maker," dancing non-stop for hours. As she boogied the night away with fellow celebrities, over 500 other marathoners danced continually for 30 hours at her alma mater.
  "I saw the disease up close when my dance instructor died from AIDS," said Williams, "so to me it seems fitting in some that we help raise money and awareness through this medium."
  "Getting pediatric AIDS down to zero would really be a dream come true," says Damon. "And I think it's also important to remember that nobody 'deserves' a disease like this, whether they're infants or adults. But one thing's for sure - we still need a lot more funding for research to develop treatments that everyone can afford and use."
  While thousands of sore feet may still be soaking, Damon and his platoon of goodwill dancers can take heart in having won another victory in the war against pediatric AIDS.
  ***
  Matt's schedule must be horrendous at the moment - attending a charity event in California when he should be in Florida?
  This is the only other bit I've found:
  From the Northwestern Uni site a press release promoting the event - Matt wasn't scheduled to attend, but was donating merchandise.
  A website for the event is at www.nudm.org, but I can't find any relevant info re Matt.

• From Val:
  A couple of items. This week's PEOPLE has a photo from the GREENLIGHT party. Ben really has to get a new jacket--I think he's been sporting that Black leather one since GWH days. And I agree, Matt's hair is just way too short. His hair style really does affect his look. I long for for the messy GWH hair ....

• I thank the reader who sent in this thoughtful note:
  In regards to the comment about Ben overshadowing Matt "even more" with the inevitable success of Pearl Harbor... Even though I enjoy watching Ben and I think he's a great actor, he, in no way, overshadows Matt. When I think of the so-called "A" list actors, just a few names come to mind, Matt being one of them. Secondary to this list is a huge pool of other well known actors and Ben just happens to be a very visible name for the moment. I can't help but think about the sheer volume of other names of similar standing that have cycled through the system over the past 5 years even, only to hear almost nothing about them today. In short, I think there are a lot more Bens than there are Matts and I think that Ben makes himself a lot more accessible to public view just for that reason.
  (My response: Well said. Echoes my thoughts exactly. )

• Kerry wrote:
  Hi, a new review for ATPH from the News of the World from Kerry
  4 stars/ out of 5
  As Shebah knows, at least as well as me, size matters, length is important and staying power counts. So it's an absolute knockdown drag-out disgrace if, as Hollywood scuttlebutt suggests, studio bosses hacked over an hour from All the Pretty Horses.
  At 116 minutes it's a dignified and moving masterpiece that soaks your senses with stunning landscape. It captures the slow-motion sensual beauty of wild stallions- and Penelope Cruz in her nightie-and goes some way to explain the attraction Of the rugged, lonely life of a cowboy.
  But I worship westerns you can wallow in bladder-bursting horse operas like dances with wolves- and this films a tad too rushed to join their monumental company.
  Director Billy Bob Thornton lost the shoot out with the studio and it's our loss too. Even so, I loved it. Matt Damon is a marvel as a contented cowboy trying to recapture his western heritage after it is snatched away from him by his citified mother. He's a man born a generation too late the arrival of pick-up trucks and freeways prepare to put an end to the cowboy lifestyle.
  Matt and best mate Henry Thomas hook up on their epic ride with a disturbed teenager, played by Lucas Black, who practically steals the film as a James Dean- style delinquent on horseback- work for a Mexican millionaire, and ends up in jail. There are knife fights, gunplay, cattle round-ups and rumpy-pumpy between Damon and Penelope Cruz. This romance, beautifully and sexily evolved, is at the heart of the movie.
  Writer Ted Tally gave us Silence of the lambs and gives great Western dialogue too. I want the director's cut on DVD soon!!

  Also a tiny article on Matt in J17= Matt Damon, when asked where he'd take a girl out on a date. He said " Ever been to fatburger?. Let me tell you, there's nothing like it. Thats my idea of romance.!" Further more to add to his reputation that he hasn't gone too "Hollywood." And still prefers fast food restaurants and is in fact a normal gut :)

• Felicity's finds:
  • (This article failed to show up previously, due to some technical error on my part. It's a good one. Don't miss it. )
    From an Australian newspaper, the Courier Mail, on 20 January 2001:
    A suitable boy
    Christine Jackman
    20jan01
    MATT Damon has a problem � he's booked into a swank, five-star hotel on Park Avenue, New York, and he's due to appear with Robert Redford, Will Smith and Charlize Theron at the world premiere of The Legend of Bagger Vance in a few hours' time. But he doesn't have a suit. He doesn't have a suit partly because he doesn't have a home in which to keep a wardrobe to keep a suit, having lived out of duffle bags and on location for the best part of the past four years.
    "Can you call my brother and see if he has one?" the 30-year-old pinup boy asks a bevy of assistants and minders, who seem concerned that Damon's sibling Kyle may not know what would be appropriate attire for an Oscar winner who now commands several million dollars per movie.
    There is a brief silence as everyone ponders the problem of "the suit". Everyone, that is, except Damon, who seems perfectly comfortable in jeans and a blue polo shirt.
    The bevy disappear � with mobile phones now glued to several ears � and he flashes a self-effacing, schoolboy-ish grin.
    "Boy, I know how to shake up a room, huh?"
    That may be an understatement. Since he and Ben Affleck stole the show at the 1997 Oscars as the gorgeous best friends who won a Best Original Screenplay gong for Good Will Hunting, Damon has been shaking up rooms � as well as teenage hearts � with his mix of fresh-faced good looks and all-American charm.
    Shooting 10 films since 1996, he has also barely had a day off � which explains his current accommodation and wardrobe problems. There just doesn't seem to be a good reason to buy his own place when he's never home anyway.
    The experience of growing up in a "six-family community house" after his parents divorced when he was two, plus several years spent scraping by on bit parts after he dropped out of Harvard, apparently has imbued Damon with a deep-running work ethic.
    You get the impression that here is a young man acutely aware of how lucky he is to have finally got his shot � and he is not going to blow it by dropping into cruise mode just because a few glossy mags want to put his face on the cover.
    "You don't want to feel like you're taking anything for granted, especially when you know how hard it is to get a job in the first place," he says.
    "So it's really this kind of sense of owing it to another actor, owing it to the actor I was five years ago, to do every single thing I can so that even if I don't like it at the end, even if I don't think my performance is any good, that it's not for lack of discipline or lack of attempt."
    Besides, how can he stop working when big name directors keep knocking on his door?
    That was how Damon came to work on The Legend of Bagger Vance, a whimsical film set in the Depression, in which a young golfing prodigy struggles to recover his "authentic swing" after being traumatised during World War I.
    Rannulph Junuh has abandoned both the game and the girl he adores � until he meets a mysterious caddie named Bagger Vance (played by Will Smith) who is more than he seems.
    Damon was not traumatised, just severely exhausted after shooting All the Pretty Horses with Billy Bob Thornton, when he received word that Robert Redford wanted to meet him to discuss the lead role in Bagger Vance, which Redford was directing.
    How does a young actor say no to a screen legend?
    "I would have done pretty much anything to work with him," Damon admits.
    "It was less a decision based on the script, actually, and more a decision based on working with him. And because Bagger Vance was a fable and an old-fashioned movie, I thought it would be a unique experience to watch a director (like Redford) � because that's kind of a tough tone to capture.
    "You're walking a pretty fine line and certainly not befriending any cynics, so I thought to watch and work in that environment was going to be useful eventually for me when I try to direct."
    The physical similarities between Redford, a golden boy from the Baby Boomer generation, and Damon, one of Gen X's most promising leading men, are obvious.
    But beyond those comparisons, they also appear to share a genuine love of the craft of moviemaking and a commitment to social activism.
    Damon has already flagged his intent to use his star power for "greater" causes, speaking out in support of the Democratic Party on several occasions and particularly during outgoing Vice-President Al Gore's doomed presidential campaign.
    Last year, Damon and Affleck also established projectgreenlight.com, an initiative in which would-be filmmakers were invited to submit scripts online, with the winner given $US1 million in funding for their project.
    Not surprising, then, that he would leap at the chance to work with Redford, who is revered within the industry for his founding of the Sundance Institute in 1981, to encourage independent filmmakers, as well as his support for various environmental groups.
    "His is definitely the career that everybody I think emulates. He's really given a lot to the world for somebody who started off as an actor," Damon says.
    "It was nice to be around somebody who has accomplished so much and be given a chance to watch them work."
    Not that it wasn't daunting occasionally � particularly as Redford had originally considered playing the lead role himself (with Morgan Freeman tipped to play Bagger Vance), before deciding that the characters should be cast younger.
    Damon confesses there were moments during shooting when "I needed a lot of help and a lot of direction", particularly when it came to lines which he felt only a leading man of Redford's calibre could carry off.
    "I had a three-hour conversation with him about . . . the line 'I like the way we danced'," he says, grimacing with disarming honesty.
    "I was like: 'I'm not saying it. I'm just not saying it. I can't say it. You can say it. I can't say it . . . I'm afraid that when I say it, I'm going to want to throw up'.
    "And you know, at the very least what came out of it is that he got me to say it. And whatever you think of it, I said it and I'm proud of it and proud of taking the shot."
    In order to take the shots he needed in the film, much of which takes place on the golf course, Damon spent eight hours a day for 30 days studying the game, which he had never played before.
    His hands were reduced to clusters of blisters and he even separated a rib while trying to learn how to swing a club convincingly.
    "It's a pet peeve of mine to see an actor in a movie not be able to do what their character's supposed to do," he says.
    Now, he says he plays regularly, normally shooting between 90 and 95.
    Not bad for a month's study. But you get the impression that few things are beyond Matt Damon's reach, once he turns his mind to them.
    A few hours later, he holds his own, apparently effortlessly, beside Robert Redford as they introduce Bagger Vance to the world. And sure enough, he's wearing a perfectly fitting suit.

    (Commented Felicity: I like some of the stories in that one: he didn't have a suit so his first thought was to his brother, not to borrowing one from a flash store; interesting that he chose BV as a project for its 'directing' possibilities; and that he argued with Redford for three hours on one line! )

  • A young Fox journo at the Bagger Vance junket in New York:
    Next up was Matt Damon, whose 30th birthday was that day. As we were getting ready, wished him a happy birthday, and asked if he was okay with turning 30, because I actually had a hard time turning 29. He said, "Yeah, I�m fine with it. I think it�s more of a stigma in today�s society for women rather than men, don�t you think?" "Sure," I replied, "As we get older, we�re all supposed to turn into Sean Connery, aren�t we?" He laughed, so we were good to go.
    The interview went smoothly, relatively uneventful, until I said, "You know, I apologize, and don�t take this the wrong way, but when I was watching the film last night, and you started working on your shots at night, I couldn�t help but think about Chevy Chase in Caddyshack talking about �night putting.�" He said, "Well, at least you got that going for ya�," in his best Bill Murray accent. I came back with "Gunga Galunga." How cool is this? I�m trading Caddyshack lines with Matt Damon! As soon as he came out with "Cinderella story," I figured it was safe to move on.
    Walking out of the room, I told him that I guess he was happy that the Yankees got pounded 11-1 the night before, since he�s a lifetime Red Sox fan, as we all know from Good Will Hunting. He said, "Well, it�s always nice to see the Yankees lose, but I never really root against the Rocket," since Roger Clemens started that game.
  • And two nice quotes from fellow actors:
    Jeremy Davies interview with Jeff Gremillion (the guy who did the early interview with Matt [Gear story] - this was an attempt to bait Jeremy):
    You've worked with both Matt and Ben Affleck. Did you socialize with them? Some. Not an extreme amount. I'm probably overly obsessed with work and therefore, more self-contained than others. They're really decent, fine, upstanding young men. And perhaps it's a crime to be as talented as the two of them are.

    From an Eonline chat with Neil Patrick Harris:
    Who do you consider to be the best actors of your generation?
    Hmmm. Of my generation? I'm really into Matt Damon right now. He seems smart, funny and kind. It's incredibly impressive that he cowrote Good Will Hunting. Kudos!

• Many have written to ask for the transcript for the Greenlight project AOL chat. Here it is. Thanks to those who wrote to share.
• An Italian Matt fan wrote to let us know about a site for Matt: eFanGuide.com that she hosts.
• Mucho goodies from our ever-reliable Felicity:
  • From eonline's movie column:
    Speaking of Damon: Matt just finished work on The Bourne Identity, save for a few reshoots in Paris. He also completed two days in Chicago for Steven Soderbergh's Rat Pack remake, Ocean's Eleven. "But it won't really feel like we've gotten started until we get to Vegas," says Damon, already preparing himself for some quality party time with costar George Clooney, who plays ringleader Danny Ocean. "It's awesome," Damon says of the work he has already done on the film. "I had the best time on those two days." The actor, who will also film in Palm Springs, Florida and Los Angeles, says the film is a contemporary reimagining of the original heist flick, in which "these 11 dudes would be the bad guys in any town other than Vegas." And Damon tells me director Soderbergh has said he'll apply his usual distinctive filming style to the flick. "Sometimes he'll go Steadicam, sometimes it'll be on a stick, sometimes on his shoulder, sometimes on a dolly--very cool."
  • And the earlier story (other than one on Ben): Greenlight Means Go: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Project Greenlight picked a winner from more than 10,000 entries, and that means Pete Jones gets one million of Miramax's dollars to make an indie movie from his original script about a Jewish boy who schemes to get his best pal, a Catholic, into heaven. The guys spent their Christmas with friends and family perusing tapes sent in by 30 finalists, who were asked to film one scene from their screenplays. "You really got this contagious sense of how exciting it was for these people," says Affleck. "I was a little afraid it was going to be depressing, but it was just the opposite: It made me want to make better movies." Now, the pair will work with director Chris Moore (American Pie II) to exec produce the final product, being as unobtrusive as possible. "We don't see our hand in this as being too overbearing," says Damon. "It should be educational for anyone who wants to make a movie on a shoestring."
  • This was reprinted in the Guardian today, and it seems to be the Premiere interview. Excerpt:
    It's late July on the Cephallonia set of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and Penelope Cruz is sitting in her trailer trying to set fire to a cigarette, with little success. She is wearing a peasant dress, her hair pinned under a matching cream scarf dappled with faded pink flowers. She's talking about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and the nickname they have given her, and she is laughing. "It started because Ben speaks Spanish and so does Matt," she says. "So we were talking Spanish and Ben was correcting me in Spanish. He was saying, "No, no! The word for 'problem', is not problema; it's troubl� .' And I was like, 'Ben, I was born in Madrid. The word troubl� does not exist.' She laughs again. "So now they call me troubl� . But it fits me, also."
  • From the London Telegraph, in an article with Redford:
    Speaking of cynicism, some have found it amusing that Redford - who would hate to be thought of as vain - seems to relish casting younger versions of himself in his films, practically launching Brad Pitt's celluloid career with A River Runs Though It, and now giving Damon the same uxorious, big screen treatment, with lots of lingering camera work highlighting his tow-headed loveliness and lantern-jawed smile. Is it odd? Is it narcissistic? Does it remind you of anyone?
    "This comes up," rumbles Redford. "Yup. I hear that Brad is the young me and that Matt is the young me. On a superficial level there is a general look, an all-American, athletic, heroic look which is usually on the blond side and that is what I wanted for this character. Matt is intelligent and athletic; he seemed the obvious choice. Simple as that. Sure, we all have that look, but I do not see the comparisons beyond that. To be honest with you, you are going to put yourself in your films. You just are."
    And having been a blond film god decades before Pitt and Damon were even born, Redford has plenty of advice and empathy for their plight.
    "I don't know if it is good advice or not, but I tell them to maintain another life besides this one," he drawls. "Don't let your career life be all. Because it will quite probably dry up. I tell them, you will begin to repeat yourself, fall into patterns of repetition. Money will get to be too important. Stardom will become too important, too."
    Wow. Brad and Matt must have skipped merrily home after hearing all that...
• Darek - Matt enthusiast from Poland - wrote:
  Just wanted to let You know that I am still alive and well and wanted to give You the link to french site about Matt - I don't understand french - but there's a lot of pictures of Matt - so it's quite interesting to see. The site is http://www.noboys.pl/noboys.com/place/liens/m_damon.html
• On fame and fortune:
  Felicity wrote:
  I was stunned by the news that Ben has made it to number 44 on the Fortune Celebrity 100 list. He has reported earnings of $18.3 million, 106,000 webhits, 5.653 pressclips, 1 magazine cover and 30 tv/radio hits. The written piece on him states that his earnings will skyrocket if Pearl Harbor succeeds (no payment up front for a share of the profits). Matt doesn't make it into the list.
  Isn't it amazing how far Ben's come in a few years. If Pearl Harbor is 'good enough' in quality, it will make huge bucks, and they're already talking about having their pick of the magazine covers, including Time. The first screening review is up on AICN today, and it's positive. In an eonline story Bay or Bruckheimer raves about Ben, and how huge the movie is going to be.
  While I think the movie looks dreadful, I don't believe it will matter that much. It will be one of the big 'event' movies of the year, and people will see it either for the cast or the supposedly amazing action scenes. Are we prepared for Ben becoming even more famous, and likely overshadowing Matt even more? I don't know how it was presented on Leno, but Ben ended up seemingly taking most of the public credit for Greenlight by announcing the winner on the show.
  I don't think Matt wants the fame Ben will likely receive over the next few months, or the money, but it could change the dynamics of the relationship. Ben's always been in a kind of catch-up to Matt since GWH broke (by taking the supporting role in the film, not being up for an individual Oscar, being in less desirable projects), but this may change.

  Thus responded A Big Matt Fan:
  I'm not surprised that Ben made the list, or that Matt (given his recent box office peformance) has not. Actually, I think Ben's been "ahead" in terms of "star power" just because Armaggedon was bigger and because he does have more female fans. Ben seems to take much more pleasure in marketing himself, and as he said in the Actor's Studio, he wants to do "profitable" films.
  However, I still think that Matt has more respect as an actor. That doesn't necessarily translate into "power," but it does seem to mean that respected directors are more eager to work with him. If Matt has any jealousy of Ben's financial success (and I doubt there's much, if any), Ben could resent Matt's critical success. Comparisons of the two tend to portray Matt as the "thespian," Ben as the "movie star."
  (My note: I couldn't have said it better.)

• A reader wrote:
  att was on access hollywood today. Host said how steamy the skinny dipping scene (in ATPH) was, but in reality both matt and penelope tell on camara how it was 45 degrees and they had to have nurses on the set in case of hypothermia
• Kathryn's reactin to the AOL transcript:
  Well, I had a chance to read over the whole thing properly - as always, it seems to be Ben who does all the talking, and whom many of the questions were directed at: such as which movie genres are the most popular and what helped him write GWH with Matt. I find it funny that one of Matt's questions focused on him being a "major all-American hottie" (whatever one of those might be - LOL). Of course he shrugged it off, as I'd expect him to. This just reaffirmed my suspicions that with PGL Ben is the most involved. Even on the site Ben's bio details his larger role in it. I don't know if it really is that way, but it seems like it. It wasn't particularly long, anyway, and I was disappointed in the lack of questions for Matt.

• Alco wrote:
  I was just reading the (site) and it said Ben is on Leno tomorrow night. Well, he was on Wednesday night. A great interview. He announced the winner of project greenlight...Pete Jones. Jones came out and talked for a bit. As always, Ben gave a great interview.
  I'm looking at the project greenlight website and there's a link to a bunch of photos from the party on Monday on the main page. There's pics of Matt and Ben doing the AOL chat. -
• Kathryn wrote from Edinburgh, where "Bagger Vance" is playing:
  Couple of things for you:
  little BBC snippet on the PGL winner @ here.
  Also I happened to change the TV onto a cable entertainment channel today and catch the smallest of interviews with Matt about BV. The consensus of the film was pretty much the same as a lot of the others: good acting, not so sure about the plot. Matt spoke for about 15 seconds about the relationship between Junuh and Charlize (can't remember the character name for the life of me - Savannah?). The funny thing was that he paused in the middle of a sentence for about three or four seconds, staring into space at something off the set - as if he didn't know what to say... considering he's done so many of these interviews, it's not surprising. He talked about how the characters were made for each other, right from the start they were planning to get married and bring up kids there, and then after the war took away/destroyed his soul, they found it hard to get things back to the way they were. It was lovely to hear the Boston drawl again - I haven't heard it for a long time. :) I was also surprised at how different he looks with a bit of stubble - he looks so much older. Not better, just older. ;)
• If you want photos, here's 53 photos from the Greenlight event:
  On the same site, a search on Matt brings up about 60 photos from public events over the last couple of years. He really can take some very good, or very bad, photos.
  Here's another story from the Hollywood Stock Exchange (www.hsx.com), but is slightly biased as Greenlight is advertising on the site and is also promoting a competition there:
  The Green Aisle
  Project Greenlight offers three finalists the chance of a lifetime.
  By Michael O'Rorke, February 28, 2001
  It was an anxious moment Monday night for 10 aspiring filmmakers as Matt Damon (MDAMO) and Ben Affleck (BAFFL) prepared to announce the three finalists of Project Greenlight. Since last fall, over 10,000 people submitted scripts to what had become the largest and most unique screenplay contest ever conducted. And now, after much agony and deliberation, the list was pared down to three.
  Affleck was clearly dreading the cut and what effect it might have on the seven rejected semifinalists. "If you loved our movies before," he quipped, "You won't after tonight!" Greenlight executive-producing partner Damon added, "Thus strengthening the bond between writer and actor."
  The theater crowd laughed, but Affleck and Damon knew it was time to end the suspense. They read the names quickly: "Speakeasy (PGSPK) by Brendan Murphy, Freeing Mr. Jiggs (PGFRE) by Evan Katz and Barron Ebenstein, and Stolen Summer (PGSTL) by Pete Jones."
  Jones' story of a young Catholic child and his friendship with a dying Jewish boy was pegged by the Hollywood Stock Exchange� to be amongst the three finalists. Also trading well was Murphy's film, about a magician who, according to the Greenlight Web site, has "lost the magic in his life."
  However, third finalist Mr. Jiggs was a surprise to HSX traders, and perhaps the filmmakers themselves, who still wore the look of shock as they spoke with the press minutes later.
  Katz, Ebenstein, Murphy, and Jones. . .one (or some) of these names will soon be among the most recognizable first-time independent filmmakers in the world, thanks to the multifaceted Project Greenlight.
  Not only will the winner receive a guaranteed movie deal from Miramax (MIRDX), but the production will be documented every step of the way for an HBO reality-based series. Think of it as The Reel World, with one of these filmmakers as the star (along with the occasional appearance from Matt and Ben, of course).
  Although Project Greenlight waves the flag of independent filmmaking (and rightfully so), there is something extremely "Hollywood" about plucking an unknown talent from obscurity and thrusting them into the hot spotlight of showbiz. A soda fountain story for the digital age.
  The digital age was certainly a strong presence on Monday night. As Affleck, Damon, and the 10 semifinalists cruised down the green carpet to a special screening of scenes shot by the Greenlight contestants, digital cameras were everywhere, documenting everything.
  But the most interesting part of the Greenlight evening was found in the sharp contrast between the contestants and the industry types there to judge their work. Sure, a few of the semifinalists looked and dressed the part of Hollywood slickster, but for the most part, these were regular people, with regular husbands, wives. and friends there to root them on.
  As Billy Campbell, president of Miramax Television, welcomed the crowd to the evening's event, one of the semifinalists' friends, clad in red t-shirt and plaid kilt, hurried back to his seat with hot dog and nachos in hand. The image drew chuckles, but the speaker joked, "With a name like Campbell, I'm not gonna knock a guy for wearing a kilt."
  Later, seeing one of the filmmakers talking with his mother reminded me of Affleck and Damon, who despite becoming huge Hollywood stars, appear to remain well grounded. After all, it was only three years ago when they took their mothers to the Oscars on a night when they won the Academy Award.
  When they announce the Greenlight winner, I expect he (or they) will remain "regular" as well.
  ***
  The winner, as those of you who watched Leno know, was apparently announced live by Ben on the show (Peter Jones, Stolen Summer). The movie's concept is definitely not commercial, but it is an interesting one, and based on a religious theme. It's a popular choice on the site.

• From Felicity:
  (T)here's another nice pic of Matt and Ben at the Greenlight bash. It's cute, and looks like Ben is about to take a photo of both of them (thus the closeness).
  Try this thread on Greenlight:
  Access Hollywood promoted a segment on Greenlight at their website - did anyone catch it?
  In a similar vein, has anyone seen Penelope's issue of Premiere yet? The previous issue hasn't even arrived in Australia (we're about eight weeks behind the world sometimes).
  Further reminder: Ben's on Leno tomorrow night to promote Greenlight.
  From the Hollywood Reporter:
  Damon, Affleck pop Weinstein
  Ben Affleck and Matt Damon took playful jabs at Miramax Films on Monday night during a Project Greenlight screening in Hollywood. The LivePlanet founders were at an event for finalists in their online filmmaking contest. "The winner gets to make a movie with Miramax," Damon told the crowd. "The loser gets to make two movies with Miramax." Damon and Affleck kept the audience howling in laughter with their candid running commentary. Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein opened the event with a prerecorded message from Italy, where he claimed to be enjoying the local cuisine. Weinstein closed his clip with a plug for event sponsor Pop Secret popcorn, "the official popcorn of Miramax." "Did you see that guy?" Affleck exclaimed. "Pop Secret popcorn? C'mon!" Project Greenlight finalists are Evan Katz and Barron Ebenstein, Brendan Murphy and Pete Jones. The winner will be announced Thursday.
  ***
  A more negative or sceptical report from inside.com:
  CINEMA BY SWEEPSTAKES: AFTER SIX MONTHS, AFFLECK AND DAMON ALMOST HAVE THEIR 'GREEN MAN'
  Tuesday, February 27 10:50 p.m.
  While its ABC-based reality project The Runner has reportedly hit some logistical snafus in its race to the tube, LivePlanet -- the vaunted TV/film/Internet production play founded by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and producers Sean Bailey and Chris Moore -- put on a brave face Monday night at the Hollywood Galaxy theater as it hosted a screening of selected scenes from the 10 semi-finalists in its Project Greenlight amateur screenplay competition. Later, Damon and Affleck named the three projects chosen as finalists (culled from a purported field of 10,000 plus over-the-Web entries): Freeing Mr. Jiggs, written by Evan Katz and Barron Ebenstein; Speakeasy, written by Brendan Murphy; and Stolen Summer by Pete Jones. One of the finalists will ultimately take the double prize of directing a $1 million Miramax production of his script and starring in 13 episodes of an HBO reality series on the making of said motion picture.
  At the screening's after party at the Knitting Factory, Affleck worked the crowd and posed for photos with finalist family members. Notables included Affleck sib Casey, Sundance honcho Geoff Gilmore, newly installed and utterly gleeful Endeavor partner Patrick Whitesell, American Pie's Tara Reid and Thomas Ian Nicholas, fully-thawed magician David Blaine and actress Charlize Theron. LivePlanet investors Joe Roth and Larry Ellison and co-hosts and Miramax heads Bob and Harvey Weinstein were all no-shows. In the Factory's cozy, supposedly-off-limits-to-press VIP room, an animated Damon held court on the industry impact of his start-up's beginners showcase.
  "I wouldn't be surprised if some of these guys have already made deals," the grinning hyphenate boasted. For now, the film directed by the competition winner is set to be released by Miramax this fall. The winning entry is announced Thursday, and principal photography is supposed to begin two weeks later.
  This was the highest profile LivePlanet has had in a while. After glowing press just before and after its launch last summer, there's been little news from the company. But Fortune Magazine subscribers and/or chronic dental patients may remember the cover story on LivePlanet's plans for new media domination featured in that publication's dubious October 2000 "Future of the Internet" issue. (And who can forget Affleck's lengthy rant to Fortune on "what's exciting about broadband." For you brave souls, check out the Bounce star's visionary musings.) - link provided
  ***
  This was on the cbs website for no good reason:
  Matt Damon Schmoozes About Directors
  Likes Quirky Coen Brothers
  Divulges How Spielberg Gets His Directing Thrills
  Currently Working On 'Oceans Eleven'
  NEW YORK, Feb. 27, 2001
  (CBS) He hasn't been making movies a long time, but Oscar winner Matt Damon has worked with some of the finest film directors in the world. He spoke with CBS News Entertainment Correspondent Mark McEwen about what it was like to work with Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Redford and the Coen brothers.
  Damon says the Coen brothers' Fargo is one of his favorite movies from the 1990s (along with Goodfellas, Sling Blade, The Ice Storm and To Die For.
  "With every one of their movies.they take you to a different place," said Damon. "Fargo is different from anything else."
  He says Fargo's script and direction are "brilliant" and the acting is "fantastic."
  Damon worked with Spielberg on Saving Private Ryan, and says the director is a "genius."
  "He's a prodigy now who has years and years of experience," said Damon. "The thing that always stuck with me about working with him is he didn't storyboard Saving Private Ryan."
  Storyboarding is the process where the director plans a detailed road map for the shooting he'll do that day, drawing shots and scenes similar to a comic strip, but much larger in format.
  "I asked him one day where the storyboards were, and he just looked at me like, and said, 'I don't use storyboards. I'm just doing this off the top of my head.' And the shots, I mean, they go on for minutes at a time. There are tanks, and explosions and people running, this incredible tension in all these shots," recalled Damon. "I said, I mean, 'How are you doing that without storyboards?' And he looked at me and said, 'That's the rush. That's the rush.' I couldn't believe it."
  Damon worked with director Francis Ford Coppola on the film Rainmaker, and said it's Coppola's ability to get his actors to bond with one another that makes his films so special.
  "Francis, he'll run improvisations that go on for two weeks. The first thing he wants you to do is make a fool of yourself. He gets everybody in a group and just kind of starts playing these games where, you know, you're making these weird sounds and stuff and you feel like a total jackass but you see he's doing it too. When you see him doing it, all these walls break down and it creates this kind of freedom, this environment of total freedom," said Damon.
  Last year Damon worked with Robert Redford on The Legend of Bagger Vance.
  "Being an actor, he's really easy to talk to. He gives his direction fairly simple and very helpful. And he's really in tune to what everyone's going through," said Damon. "The atmosphere on the set is very calm, very relaxed. He doesn't raise his voice. He's very quiet. You almost have to lean in to hear him talk. Even if you're sitting this close to him, you're straining to hear him. And that kind of serenity.infuses itself in all of his movies, I think."
  Recently Damon began production on the eagerly anticipated remake Oceans Eleven, along with Julia Roberts, George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Steven Soderbergh, the man behind Erin Brockovich and Traffic, is directing.
• From Val:
  EW reports that PRAGUE is the in-place to film movies of late. The bit mentions BOURNE and Heath Ledger's new movie as big productions which have taken advantage of lower film costs there.
• From Rutso:
  . On upcoming movies.com, a careful reading shows that site's summary of the Bourne plot is completely at odds with the (hopefully outdated) script reviews. It says Potente plays "the woman that Bourne kidnaps, but soon helps him on his run," which is straight out of the book. But the script review just says the two "hook up" and goes on to present a very different sort of female lead. Both can't be true.
  2. The scripts reviews are of a draft by Tony Gilroy, but 2 more screenwriters have been added since then, and (at least on upcoming movies) Gilroy even doesn't get top billing. And I'd expect upcomingmovies.com to get that sort of detail right.
• Alco wrote:
  Just wanted to let you know that Matt & Ben's AOL chat transcript is up on AOL. I partook in the chat and it was okay. The reason why I say it's okay, in my opinion, the chat need another MC, b/c the MC running it would let the same/similar questions be asked over and over again. Also, some of the remarks that ben made about the questions were left out, but it was great to see that they were joking around with one another. Anyway, if you need a copy of the transcript, let me know, I'll send it to ya. I'm really interested to see what Ben has to say about Project Greenlight on Leno tonight.
• From a Big Mat Fan:
  ...As for the entertainment shows, Access Hollywood repeats the previous night's show, so I'm taping that (if the VCR timer is working correctly) at this very moment. E! Also had a fairly sizeable segment on Greenlight, which I'll try to transcribe later.
  Re: Prague as a shooting hotspot. The Hollywood Reporter ran the following bit last week:
  H'wood majors rediscover the pleasures of Prague
  (Patrick Crowle is a producer on "The Bourne Identity")
  By transforming central Prague into Zurich, Switzerland, Crowleys says they easily saved $100,000 per day over the course of the six-week shoot. "Prague can do for Europe what Vancouver and Toronto did for theStates," he says. "The labor is good, cheap and eager." And, after dealing with the bureacracy and traffic in Paris," coming here was a real breath of fresh air," Crowley says. "They're happy as clams," says Crowley of the "Bourne Identity" cast. "Great restaurants and there's stuff to do."
• And thanks to a reader who wrote to share these:
  Television; Section 13
  MOVIES: CRITIC'S CHOICE
  By Anita Gates
  02/25/2001
  The New York Times
  Page 6, Column 1
  c. 2001 New York Times Company
  NEVER mind what Anthony Minghella's script and direction do or don't do right in terms of Patricia Highsmith's homoerotic murder-mystery novel. THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999) is breathtakingly beautiful. If this is what rich, Amerian and expatriated looked like in scenic 1950's Italy, bring back Eisenhower. And the film is faultlessly acted by everyone concerned: Matt Damon as the poor boy who gets a taste of the good life; Jude Law as the rich boy whose privileged life he decides to steal, in several senses; Gwyneth Paltrow as the rich boy's pampered girlfriend; Cate Blanchett as the rich girl who complicates the masquerade; and Philip Seymour Hoffman, stealing scenes left and right, as an equally rich and reckless young man who becomes justifiably suspicious --Saturday at 8 p.m. on Showtime.
  *********************************************************
  FEATURES
  The Buzz NEWS & NONSENSE
  DAVID WALTON
  02/26/2001
  The Courier-Journal Louisville, KY
  Page 01f
  (Copyright 2001)
  Briefly
  Would you believe Matt Damon still asks his mother to buy his underwear? The 30-year-old actor claims he's far too busy and his mom is the only one who knows what he likes.

• A reader wrote:
  Here's Kevin Smith's report the week that Matt and Ben were present during shooting
• Rutso wrote regarding the "Bourne" script:
  The screenplay review says: "The script is all action and no character and we�re left with, basically, a bunch of chaotic scenes," but Doug Liman said he had a "great psychological screenplay" which sounds awfully far from the James Bond re-make the reviewer was hoping for. Wrong genre. Wrong cast.
  So it sounds very much like 2 different scripts. The review also mentions an American female character -- "a careless 'animated' American" --which sure doesn't sound like a role for Franka Potente! More like Michelle Pfeiffer!
  In terms of expectations, I hope you're not looking for Matt as James Bond either. The 3 major people involved in this film -- Matt amd Potente and Liman -- are all very smart and very original. Not the re-make types. I'm hoping psychological thriller, more film noir than James Bond. And think of the politics. You have amnesia, realize you have commando-like skills, and ask yourself the question am I a good guy or a bad guy? So the answer is that you're with the CIA or something similar. The question remains: am I a good guy or a bad guy? (The GWH speech about not working for the National Security Administartion was great, but here the same judgment would be a question of personal identity instead of a punky kid mouthing off.)
  Here's hoping...
  (My response: No, I definitely do not want Matt do a James Bond - if he were that kind of an actor I wouldn't be the fan that I am. Unfortunately I am worried that that's exactly how the studio may try to sell the film, just like the way false expectation was raised for ATPH.
  We can only hope. My confidence in the success of Matt's films has taken a dive lately. :-(
• Stacey wrote:
  Commenting back on the supposed release date of Bourne in early September...Rounders opened around this time in '98, but then again early September '97 is when Titanic was released. Hopefully Bourne will have the same success. :-)
  (My response: Wow - the mark of a true Matt fan! Somebody else who remembered Rounders' opening date. It was deadly. Summer vacation had just ended for most people, and the picture pulled in less than 10M over a weekend when there really was no competition.
  It doesn't sound like a great date for the opening, but, as you said, a great film will have no problem. )
• A Big Matt fan wrote:
  From the NY Daily News:
  'Round and 'Round They Go
  It's musical chairs time again in Hollywood.
  Agent Patrick Whitesell has left the Creative Artists Agency to become a partner at Endeavor. And he's bringing some of his top-name clients with him.
  When I spoke to Whitesell yesterday, he had been on the phone all day talking to clients about the move. He told me that, so far, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Christian Bale, Jerry O'Connell and Hugh Jackman had agreed to move to Endeavor with him.
  Whitesell wouldn't confirm it, but I heard that Academy Award nominee Kate Hudson would soon make the move as well.
  ----
  What does this mean for Matt? There are advantages to being in one of the top 3 agencies (CAA, ICM, or WMA). They have a lot of resources, a lot of clients, and a lot of connections. However, Endeavor seems to be establishing itself, and some say that smaller agencies can pay much more attention to their individual clients. It's a good sign that so many other top clients are also moving with Whitesell.
  ----
  Caught a glimpse of Matt and Ben on the news at the Greenlight press conference. Matt looked OK, but his hair seemed really dark! (Maybe it was the lighting).
• I thank other readers who also sent in the same news item.
• Felicity again:
  The Patrick Whitesell story is interesting - he stuck with Matt and Ben while they were nobodies, helped make them famous, and now he's left CAA because they wouldn't make him a partner until he threatened to leave. How can one agent handle so many top clients though??
  There was a short segment about Greenlight on ET, and there's a couple of photos at yahoo and excite (more are around the net but I can't track the source at present). One of the losing 'top ten' reported that Matt looked really ill at ease and upset when meeting the seven who didn't make it (felt bad that they were losing at this stage).
  Ben (mostly) and Matt did a speech at the event which was apparently great fun - knocked everything from Harvey Weinstein's appearance in a promotional video to the sponsorship of the event. A few photos are starting to appear on the site, with more to come (www.projectgreenlight.com)
  Very funny to note that of the two photos from the event in mass circulation, one has Matt and Ben with agent Whitesell (beautiful timing and reinforces his ties with the pair).
  Only other bits I've worked out so far from the party: Matt left early (he looked tired on the ET clip) and was thought to be leaving for Las Vegas and Oceans shooting today.
• My thanks to Alco, who sent in this yahoo news article with pics from monday night's Greenlight event.
  And also another article: Affleck, Damon offer ``big break'' to movie unknowns

• For better or worse, there's another mixed Bourne Identity script review:
  http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/script_reviews/the_bourne_identity.html
  As the page notes, this may have been re-written. The draft date given is 5/00. Some of the complaints sound similar to those in previous reports, so they may all be reading the same version. However, while it isn't terrible, it doesn't sound terrifically promising either. Then, again, films like MI2 and Charlie's Angels didn't have great scripts, and they managed to do OK. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
• Reader M.J. wrote:
  Hi! I really enjoy your column. Thanks for the great info! To answer a question from Molly: I know that the Planet Hollywood in Orlando has the pants that Matt wore in GWH :-)
• Kelly wrote:
  The PH in Walt Disney World Florida's Pleasure Island has Will Hunting's jacket (black with white stripe) and the shirt and pants from the bar scene where he first meets skylar (grey shirt/pants) its really funny to see them up close. at first you're excited to see the clothes from one of your fav movies, but then you notice that they just look like (no pun intended) Goodwill clothing, all full of holes and dirty..authentic i suppose
• . Take a look at a recent "Tea with Ted" transcript. It's not fact, but just an indication of how the "public" is perceiving Matt.
• And (another?) Kelly wrote:
  I just heard that insidetheweb.com is shutting down their services. A lot of the Matt Damon fan sites (including mattdamon.com) use their bulletin board service. If you know anyone with an insidetheweb bulletin board you might want to have them switch to a different server. All the insidetheweb.com bulletin boards will be deleted on March 5th. I use everyone.net for my bulletin board (http://mattdamonfanpage.community.everyone.net), but there are others too.

Click on a column

USA Weekly November 2000 article, "Ace of Clubs" yy Craigh Barboza.
Local boys making 'Good' a Boston Herald article from the GWH days
The Advocate (12/99) interview by Brendan Lemon.
Some of my personal favorite pictures of Matt
The Talented Mr.Ripley page
The All the Pretty Horses page
The Bagger Vance page
Matt at Fenway Park for the 1999 Major League Baseball All Stars
The Details magazine article, as appeared in the London Telegraph.
Janel Maslin's NY Times Review of GWH , in which she called Matt "very much the supernova".
An article about pre-GWH videos of Matt Damon/
Archive of Past Matt Columns

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