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

• From ebay (of course), a hazy picture of the TIOY flyer.
  Photo at here
  Item at here.
  The program is available here: here.
• From ign.filmforce.com, a little more about The Informant:
  Soderbergh Turns Informant
  Best Director tackling fact-based tale of corporate corruption.
  February 07, 2002 - Variety reports that Warner Brothers has sealed "a high-six-figure deal" for the screen rights to New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald's book The Informant: A True Story. In addition, Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh will develop the project under his Section Eight banner "with an eye to direct." The screenplay adaptation will be penned by Scott Burns (the short-lived TV series Wonderland). The project had originally been set up at Jaffe/Braunstein Films as a telepic until Burns took it to Section Eight.
  Variety says the book recounts the case of "Mark Whitacre, a high-level mole at the self-declared 'supermarket to the world' Archer Daniels Midland. Whitacre wore an FBI wire for more than two years to uncover a major price-fixing scam with ADM's Japanese competitors that gave the company millions of dollars in profits. ADM pled guilty in 1996 and paid a $100 million fine, but, unlike the happy ending of Soderbergh's Erin Brockovich the whistle-blower in The Informant winds up doing more time than the corrupt leaders he helped nab." I've read a good deal of the book and can't wait to see how Soderbergh interprets it onscreen. Obviously, The Informant seems all the more timely now given the Enron fiasco.
  One site suggested Soderbergh would start on this project after Solaris (which just started filming with Clooney).
• A Rolling Stone report on Bryan Adams lists the live performance for Spirit at Cannes on May 18, a Saturday. With two theatre performances on that day I really can't see how Matt can attend. Let's hope they don't cancel those play dates as well.
• An article from the Orange County Register on the aftermath of the Trade Center attacks, and celebrity visitors to Ground Zero: here.
  Gandolfini's reaction was, he says, typical.
  "He just kept saying 'Son of a bitch' under his breath, over and over.
  "Now, Matt Damon didn't say anything when he was here. He just stared."
  Rivera makes a staring face, mouth open.
  "Ben Affleck talked to people and stuff. He seemed like a nice guy.
  "But all these celebrity guys, you know, they're moved like anybody else would be," Rivera adds.
  "It's hard not to be. It's beyond horror."
• A new LivePlanet project? From ABCNews.com
  Viewers at Bat in HBO Baseball Reality Series
  By Josef Adalian
  HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - HBO is developing a reality franchise that would allow viewers to track the progress of a minor league baseball team -- and then control its destiny via the Internet.
  Tentatively dubbed "General Manager," the project would combine elements of "Bull Durham," "The Real World" and fantasy baseball. It is on deck for a summer 2003 start.
  "It's fantasy baseball with flesh and blood," said Sean Bailey, who will executive produce with his Live Planet partners Chris Moore, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. "The creative aspiration of the show is to put (viewers) in the general manager body of a real team."
  Live Planet and HBO previously teamed on "Project Greenlight," which followed a rookie filmmaker's attempts to make his feature debut.
  Unlike most reality shows -- which shoot footage weeks or months in advance of air -- "General Manager" would unfold in close to real time. Cameras would follow team members both on and off the field, tracking their daily dramas -- from who's in a slump to who's hitting the bottle or sleeping around.
  On the Net, viewers will be able to keep track of the team's on-field performance and then vote each week on key matters, including the starting lineup and which players should be cut or traded.
  Should HBO give the final OK to the series, now in the early stages of development, Live Planet would likely produce 13 half-hour episodes. Production could be altered by the team's performance; a playoff berth, for example, could result in the addition of an extra episode.
  Live Planet is already in talks with several indie minor league baseball teams about coming on board as the focus of "General Manager"; it hopes to narrow the field to one team within the next few months. Considering the giant publicity push a team would get from the show, it hasn't been hard finding willing participants.
  For the most part, the TV and Internet portions of "General Manager" will remain separate -- though what Netizens decide to do will obviously impact what viewers see on HBO.
  The Net component will come into play on-air at the end of each episode, when viewers will be told of several choices they can make regarding the team and will be directed to a Web site to cast their votes. They'll then see how those choices play out in the following week's episode.
  "The TV show is the life stories and drama of the players," Bailey said. "The Net will be about game choices and stats."
  "General Manager" starts off with a huge potential viewer base. In addition to the legion of baseball fans, an estimated 20 million-25 million people participate in online fantasy baseball leagues -- including Bailey.
  While it is the first series to give viewers control of a baseball team, other shows have taken a verite approach to the sport. In 1996, for example, the St. Louis Saints were the subject of an ESPN series called "Baseball, Minnesota."
  As for Live Planet, the company's TV division is humming, with the drama/reality hybrid "Push, Nevada" in contention for fall at ABC and a possible second edition of "Project Greenlight" being mulled by HBO.
• An old People Weekly story on the top 30 stars under 30 - from 1995. Also included in the list were everyone from Minnie Driver, Matthew McConnaughey, Claire Danes, Edward Norton, and Gwyneth (at that time with Brad Pitt).
  MATT DAMON
  No one ever accused Matt Damon, 25, of taking things easy. To play a soldier turned junkie in last summer's Courage Under Fire, Damon lost 40 pounds in 100 days, eating only chicken, egg whites, steamed broccoli and plain baked potatoes--then running 12 miles a day. "By the end of it, if I stood up, I didn't have any energy," he recalls. "I'm still taking medication to right my body." Even when he's playing, Damon, who completed three years at Harvard, goes full-throttle, taking on marathon basketball matches with his brother Kyle in Boston, their hometown. "We're about to die by the time it's over, but neither of us will give up," says Damon. Lately the boyish-looking actor, who dates Elite model Kara Sands, has been able to parlay his intensity into leading-man status. He is now shooting his first starring role, crusading lawyer Rudy Baylor in John Grisham's The Rainmaker, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Then he'll film Good Will Hunting, which he cowrote with pal actor Ben Affleck, who says, "Matt isn't the kind of person you can count on with dirty dishes, but when it comes to acting, he's the most focused, disciplined person I know

• The comments by the director on preparing actors for the stage were pretty interesting, as I would have thought all would have enough experience to know what he was telling them already. It must be a fascinating transition going from film to live performance, and then trying to transpose the best qualities into either medium.
  The play opened today on previews, but there probably won't be any reports as it doesn't officially commence for a couple of weeks. Quite rightly, there is some antagonism towards its producers and Matt for the uncertain play dates - they've been changed twice, and it has annoyed quite a few people (also very unsettling for ticket sales).
  Spirit at Cannes should be fun, but the movie is likely to be a commercial bust, despite its good intentions and wholesome plot.
• From ananova on the change of dates: Damon has requested time off to fulfil publicity commitments for his latest film, The Bourne Identity, opening in June.
• It looks like the episode of Will & Grace with Matt is being repeated on 9 May.
• An article on film stars guesting on TV from USA Today, with again Matt mentioned as one of the successes: http://www.usatoday.com/life/enter/tv/2002/2002-04-25-film-tv.htm

• From whatsonstage.com
  Understudy Fills in for Damon on Final Youth Dates
  In the final week of Kenneth Lonergan's This is our Youth at the Garrick Theatre, Good Will Hunting film star Matt Damon - who makes his West End debut in the part on 7 May 2002 (previews from today 25 April) - will not be performing due to publicity commitments for his upcoming film The Bourne Identity.
  From 10 to 15 June, Damon will be replaced by Briton Adam Rayner. The recent LAMDA graduate has been understudying the role of Dennis, a small-time, college-aged drug dealer in early 1980s Manhattan, since the play opened in the West End on 11 March with its original trio of Hollywood stars - Hayden Christensen, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Paquin. Damon's co-stars, Casey (brother of Ben) Affleck and Summer (sister of River and Joaquin) Phoenix, will remain for the final week.
  A spokeswoman for This is our Youth explained that Damon was never confirmed for these dates as, from the beginning, it was uncertain that his film schedule would permit it. Theatregoers who have booked for the final performances in the hope of seeing Damon are being offered exchanges for an earlier date.
• An article with the director of 'This is our youth', Laurence Boswell, from the Daily Telegraph:
  The second cast - Matt Damon, Summer Phoenix and Casey Affleck - sister of River and brother of Ben - has an advantage over the first, as Boswell points out. "They are slightly older and they are already friends, but their theatrical experience is similar to the other lot." Almost nil, in other words. So what is the Boswell transformation process?
  "All my work is based on trying to free up actors' creativity, to release their story. I'm not interested in imposing a singular vision," he says, a claim that Lonergan fully supports. In this case, however, Boswell has had to go beyond "freeing up" to become more of a teacher.
  "We had to work on the rhetoric, why the full stops and commas are there, the different lengths of lines. All the information you need for emotional interpretation is in the punctuation. I'd use silly film metaphors - a long line was a long shot, a short one a close-up. Their relationship had been mainly with the camera - and they did start by looking at the floor and mumbling - so they had to learn about the intimacy of theatre, about sustained interaction, eye contact, that the audience is a fourth character - and not the same every night."
  The first cast, aged 19 to 21, soon responded like old pros, gauging the character of a house on a given evening by the way they laughed at a particular joke. And they understood, with delight, that, as Boswell puts it, "in theatre the writer (and therefore the actor) is the dominant creative force. In film it's the director. When they are out there onstage they are in charge."
  It has been, of course, a risk but it has paid off. "I still can't quite believe I've done it," he says now, rather touchingly in view of his next highly public challenge.
• It's been announced today that Matt will go to Cannes (May 15-26) for Spirit - from Reuters:
  Among the dozens of films shown out of competition is the animated "Spirit" by Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG, the makers of last year's hit "Shrek," which will feature live accompaniment by Damon and Canadian rocker Bryan Adams.
• From peoplenews.com
  Three cheers for Matt Damon! Damon has shown some class and demanded that his love scenes with Franka Potente in the upcoming thriller, The Bourne Identity, based on Robert Ludlum's novel, be toned down. This reportedly went against Universal Studios' wishes � they wanted Damon's character to be a one-dimensional tough-guy, but he objected and insisted on a more sophisticated depiction. Thankfully, Damon and director Doug Liman (Swingers, Go) got their way. You can't imagine Hugh Grant, (who last week said that he always gets a 'stirring' during love scenes) doing the same.
• A happy story on the winner of PGL's Sam Adams competition, including this bit: During his 10 days in New York, Guerrero met actor Matt Damon and Gene Cook, owner of Sam Adams beer. "Matt Damon is funny. He actually wanted to play the part of the dancer in the commercial," Guerrero said. here.

• From EW's summer movie preview of Bourne Identity online:
  What's the big deal? Does the talented Mr. Damon have the muscle to carry an action thriller by a formerly indie director? Robert Ludlum's 1980 best-seller -- the first in a trilogy -- has been adapted before, as a 1988 TV movie starring Richard Chamberlain. Now it's ''Bourne'' again with a big cast and a bigger budget ($60 million). Damon takes on his first action role as an amnesiac on the run -- ''a guy,'' he says, ''basically trying to figure out who he is.'' And ''Run Lola Run'''s Potente, still speeding along, is his troubled cohort.
  The film's most intriguing mystery may be why we've had to wait so long for it. Filming in Prague, Italy, and France was completed more than a year ago, and the movie was originally intended as a fall release. But last summer Universal asked director Liman (''Go,'' ''Swingers'') for ''one more action set piece,'' the filmmaker says, which was to be done in New York. The new shoot didn't seem too tricky -- at first. A scene had been written, but it was never shot due to budgetary reasons. Then Liman found himself hobbled by the events of Sept. 11 and unable to film in Manhattan until November. Plus, he says, ''we had shot some other things. So it wasn't as simple as just putting [a scene] back in.''
• ET today had quick shots in their summer movie preview of Matt in the studio for Spirit, and behind the scenes on Bourne (with a one line interview).
• The Ocean's 11 male cast has been nominated for Best On-Screen Team in the MTV Movie Awards.
• Lead story in the NY Post - the Boston Herald took some of these quotes weeks ago:
  'BOURNE' WITHOUT SEX APPEAL
  By JARED PAUL STERN
  with Paula Froelich and Chris Wilson
  FORGET about seeing steamy sex scenes between Matt Damon and Franka Potente in their upcoming thriller "The Bourne Identity." Director Doug Liman tells us that a battle over the level of lovemaking between Damon and the "Run Lola Run" sexpot almost ruined the $75 million movie.
  In the flick, based on the Robert Ludlum novel, Damon plays an amnesiac on the run from assassins. Along the way he discovers he's adept at killing, and has sex with Potente, whom he kidnaps.
  But Liman says he had to fight the studio tooth and nail in order to keep them from trying to make Damon into a one-dimensional macho stud, which he obviously isn't.
  "The problem is that Universal has poured so much money into the movie that they want to see Matt having this big romance with Franka," Liman told Webster Hall curator Baird Jones last month, when he'd just started editing the movie.
  "They want Matt as a mature lead with sex scenes and star chemistry with Franka, and those sex scenes just aren't working. Matt's unhappy about it also."
  Liman, who directed independently produced fare like "Swingers" and "Go," said that "with the kind of huge budget Universal has given me, my job now has to be to try and edit around their expectations, and it's very, very tough."
  Having just finished editing the picture, opening in June, Liman now claims to have pulled it off.
  "I was allowed to cut the sex scene the way I want it," he tells PAGE SIX. "It's amazing. It's truly unique to the movie and to Matt . . . Matt and I worked extremely hard and the studio was surprisingly cooperative."
  Liman says that part of what makes Damon and Potente's relationship so special is that since he's an amnesiac, "She's really the only person he knows. I wanted that included in the sex, and to track it all the way through.
  "She's beautiful and he's handsome and they have sex, but there's a whole other side to him that can't ever be forgotten . . . I was worried for a while whether I was gonna get pushed by the studio . . . Unless you're Steven Spielberg you don't get final cut. But they let me do it my way."
  Meanwhile, Damon is in London starring in a Kenneth Lonergan play, "This Is Our Youth," with Casey Affleck and Summer Phoenix. Some observers wondered whether Damon took the part in order to have an excuse not to do publicity for "The Bourne Identity."
  But his rep insists, "Matt is fully supporting the movie and is thrilled with it. He's doing the press and he's very excited." As for the sex scenes, the rep adds, "Everything in it works."
• Also from the NY Post and Liz Smith's column. It's the exact quote which appeared in a separate gossip column earlier this week, by Cathy Griffin:
  WE HEAR actor Matt Damon is mighty miffed because his director from "The Talented Mr. Ripley," Anthony Minghella, chose Matt's "Ripley" co-star, Jude Law, over him to replace Tom Cruise in the coming big movie "Cold Mountain." (That's the Civil War-Kentucky mountain drama.)
  **
  My questions: I would have thought Liz Smith knew better than to run that story without checking any sources - expect some denials, but who knows if it's true. Is it any wonder Matt no longer gives anything away in interviews with this level of journalism and desire for conflict dominating the press? How did the movie get from $60 million to $75 million in two reports (why also did it get more money after 9/11)?

• The Matt Damon message board at EFanGuide.com was recently closed, so I'm going to be opening up a new website that will serve solely as a forum for people to discuss Matt Damon and his movies. The website will be called MattDamonForum.com and should be open in about a week.
• Just a quick note to let you know that the MPAA has given Gerry an "R" rating due to language. (Slightly ironic considering there is hardly any dialogue in the film).

From the contributors page, about author Hugo Lindgren:
An editor for the New York Times magazine, Hugo Lindgren had never written a celebrity profile before tracking down Matt Damon for this month's cover story. After several brief interviews around the globe with the toothy actor, he finally got his man. It turns out that hanging with some Oscar winners isn't much different from throwing back a few beers with your buddies. "I found Matt to be incredibly normal," Lindgren says. "From his dress to his lifestyle, he's just a regular kind of guy."
Hollywood has proclaimed him extraordinary. But the secret to his success may be just how frighteningly ordinary he is. Matt Damon, a regular guy who just wants to spend an evening watching ESPN and emptying the hotel mini-bar. By Hugo Lindgren. Photographs by Christian Witkin.
A weekend in Las Vegas. That was the plan. Matt Damon was there shooting 'Ocean's Eleven', though this article would be timed to the release of another film he also had in the works, 'The Bourne Identity'. And therein lay the problem; they kept having to take this movie back into the shop for reshoots and rewrites and reedits and re-everything. Yes, it was looking like it might be a new addition to the Damon dogpound, right in there with Bagger Vance. But it did at least give me more opportunities to hang out with Matt. As The Bourne Identity slipped ever deeper into the future, Matt and I would meet three more times in a chase across the country - and even across the Atlantic.
[THE FIRST DATE, VEGAS]
A trailer can tell you a lot about an actor, and this is what Matt Damon's trailer says about him: He is not the nesting type. Next one over is Andy Garcia's vintage Airstream, which, Matt says, "is done up inside like a lovely little home." Matt, meanwhile, goes with the straight-off-the-lot look, complete with woolly shag carpeting, ersatz-wood-grain cabinetry, upholstery coarser than asphalt. "Nice", I say as we sit in a pair of rickety metal kitchen chairs. "I like what you've done with it."
"Look," he says, "I'm just happy if I can get my apartment halfway furnished. It is beyond my ability to worry about the trailer."
It is beyond Matt's ability to worry about a lot of things, including his clothes. He is wearing what I will come to understand as the All-Purpose Matt Damon Uniform: baseball cap, T-shirt, khakis, cigarette. Wherever he is, whatever he might be doing, this is how you will find him. There are men for whom looking like a regular guy is a carefully considered pursuit. Not Matt. He is a regular guy.
Before I start with my questions, Matt has his own. He is curious to know what kind of piece I'm writing. I say I don't know, really, it all depends on what i can get out of him - like, what will he tell me about Winona?
"Not much, I'm afraid. I hate to disapoint you, but I wonder why anyone would really want to read about me." As if to show me how boring and ordinary he is, he glances at the baseball highlights bring broadcast on a muted television behind him. "Trying to figure out if the Sox won today," he says, dragging on his cigarette. "They were ahead earlier." The score flashes on the ticker - the Sox blew the lead. "It's not that I think it's impossible for someone to write an interesting piece about me. It's just that I've never read one."
I suggest that some startling admissions about his personal life might make for interesting rading, but he will not be brought around to this way of thinking. So we talk shop: Though the shooting for Ocean's Eleven is going well, it's an easy gig for him, as he is certainly not being counted on to carry the picture. The two most recent movies that he was being counted on to carry - All the Pretty Horses and Bagger Vance - flopped miserably at the box office. And instead of taking a nice, safe bet for his next project (he could have, for instance, had the lead in Planet of the Apes), he chose The Bourne Identity, an adaptation of a Robert Ludlum novel that has all the advantages of 1) having being made unsuccessfully once before; 2) being directed by an indie filmmaker whose largest previous budget was $6.5 million, less than Matt's usual fee; and 3) co-starring a German actress who is all but unknown in the States.
Before taking a break to shoot his scenes for Ocean's Eleven, Matt had been in Paris for several months on the Bourne Identity set. Reports were not promising. Director Doug Liman had told friends that he shooting, thus far, had been a "f..king nightmare."
Matt displays no sense of alarm. "No, it has not been easy," he says. "But I didn't pick it because I thought it would be. I picked it because I liked Doug and I liked his work, and even though we've had some rough patches, I still like him, and I think he's going to sort it out and make a good movie. Somehow." We talk for a few more minutes, but then Matt has to change into his SWAT costume. As he's being hustled off to the set, he asks me what I'll need from him to make a decent story. "Besides stuff about Winona, you mean?" I ask.
"Yeah, besides that."
"Oh, I don't know, something we could do together besides sit in a room. You know, like hang gliding." "Shit, my hang glider's in the shop. Look, I'm going to be in Los Angeles in a couple of weeks. Come out there, we'll figure out something to do."

[THE COURTSHIP, LOS ANGELES]
"Something" turns into drinks and dinner at the Chateau Marmont. But before that, I've scheduled an interview with Liman, at a mutual friend's house in the Hollywood Hills. Liman, 35, is best known for directing the widely admired indie movies Swingers and Go. The Bourne Identity put him in another league. "I found myself facing a lot of people who worked for me but whose job, it seemed, was telling me what we couldn't do," he says.
The essential problem was the script. Liman's intention was to create a spy story with an actual human character at the core of it - this is what sold Damon on the movie - but when the final revision came in on the eve of production, it had morphed into a typical genre piece, with cheesy dialogue and elaborate car chases. Damon was mortified; Liman says he was, too. At a big party that was supposed to welcome Matt to Paris, the director and his star huddled conspiratorially in the corner and didn't talk to anyone else for the entire evening. They agreed on what the script needed, but there was no time. The $60 million budget was set, a crew of hundreds had assembled, locations had been worked out, things had to roll. And so they did, with rewritten scenes faxed in every day from New York, and Liman warring with his producers. "Fortunately, Matt was behind me all the way," says Liman, "and if he hadn't been, I would've been completely screwed."
Liman and Damon did a little warring of their own, about one pivotal scene: Matt's character is loading his handgun, about to shoot it out with the bad guys, and Liman wanted him to imbue a particular line with a little Bruce Willis action-hero mojo. Matt refused. "What was funny was, he actually did it once, off camera, just to show me that he could," says Liman. "And he f..king nailed it, and I was like, 'Yeah, exactly!' And he said, 'I'm not doing that. Those are the parts I turn down.'"
When we finish our conversation, Liman drives me over to the Chateau Marmont, where Matt is sitting on the patio smoking a cigarette and drinking an Amstel. He has accessorized the Damon Uniform with a canvas work jacket that has someone else's name stitched on the front. It's a pleasantly star-studded evening at the Marmont. Sandra Bullock is running around. Famke Janssen, fetchingly attired in heels and low-slung jeans, saunters around with her rat-on-a-string dog. She and Matt, who were in Rounders together, reflect each other's glow for a few seconds, and then Matt turns to me. I ask him how he spent his Saturday. "Golf," he says. "Why didn't you invite me? It's not hang gliding, but it's more than you and me and the tape recorder." "You think I want a writer to see me play golf? I'm terrible."
We discuss his mini-clash with Liman. I'm curious to know when he became such a serious thesp that he wouldn't indulge a beleaguered director with one Bruce Willis knockoff. After all, Matt is a regular guy who dropped out of college at 22 to move to Hollywood with his buddy Ben. Ben would've done Bruce. Ben has done Bruce. "I should've done it," says Matt. "But you have to draw the line somewhere. I could be saying lines like that all the time, and doing plenty well with it. I picked this movie because I didn't want that."
There is still more shooting to be done on The Bourne Identity, but Matt's been in LA, finishing up Ocean's Eleven. He stays at Ben's house, and when his mom came to visit the week before, she stayed there too. "I took her to my friend's hockey game. He plays for the Colorado Avalanche. He's the only guy in the NHL who can't skate backward." Matt loves the idea of a hockey player who can't skate backward, because it means relying on tenacity rather than skill, and this is how Matt sees himself as an actor. It's why he lost 40 pounds, coming dangerously close to shrinking his heart, for one of his first big Hollywood parts, in 1996's Courage Under Fire. It's why he spent months learning how to play a single piece on the piano for one brief scene in The Talented Mr Ripley. "I do all this because if I didn't do it, and I sucked, I'd wonder if there wasn't something I could've done that would have made a difference."
After about three Amstels, Matt is all talked out, and we sit down at a table on the patio for dinner with Liman and some of his friends. Damon orders spaghetti and meatballs, solid regular-guy fare. As our plates are being cleared away, Matt gets an e-mail on his BlackBerry from Casey Affleck, who is at a wedding and is sitting next to an empty chair intended for Matt. "I'd better get over there," Matt says, rising to leave. "Come to Paris and see us finish the movie. It'll be fun."

[THE ROMANTIC GETAWAY, PARIS]
I am supposed to have Saturday afternoon with Matt, but Liman needs him on the set. So we reschedule for the evening, and I go shopping in the Marais district with Matt's assistant, a pretty, six-one giantess named Trinette, and his co-star, the German actress Franka Potente, who is known to American audiences, to the extent she is known at all, as the fleet-footed redhead from Run Lola Run. I have told them we have serious business; they must help me come up with an idea for what to do with Matt on Saturday night in Paris. Trinette says we ought to go to Mark Wahlberg's 30th-birthday party, which just happens to be in Paris.
"He is not going to go," says Franka. "He's going to be tired after work, and maybe he'll get a beer with you somewhere." I explain that I've already had the beers-with-Matt encounter. "Look, she says, "for weeks we were supposed to have a date of some kind, just to get to know each other. Finally, I got him to ride on that big Ferris wheel right by the Tuilieries and that was that. I never had such problems with a boy."
After shopping, Trinette and I head out to the set, which is in a remote industrial quarter, the New Jersey of Paris. Unable to bear the torpor of watching the same 30-second scene get shot twenty times, we escape to the cafeteria, where we eat what has to be the worst food ever served in France. Matt joins us at last. I tell him about Marky Mark's party. He frowns: "I don't know, man, I'm beat, and I've got to get up to rehearse tomorrow morning. How about we just grab a beer somewhere?"
For our big night in Paris, we empty the mini-bar back at his suite at the Ritz. I tell him that maybe he can help me out by relating some great tale of Parisien debauchery. "It hasn't really been like that," he replies. "I haven't even seen all that much of the city. When my brother and dad were here, we went out for a run and passed Notre Dama, and we ducked in for a second, and it was like, 'Great, at least I got that one off the list.'"
So Mr. I Don't Do Bruce Willis is not exactly Mr High Culture either. And speaking of culture, what happened to his writing career? It's been five years since he and Ben won the best original screenplay Oscar for Good Will Hunting. "I wish I were the kind of guy who could sit down and pound something out," he says. "But Good Will Hunting took forever, and we don't have that kind of time anymore." At this point, Matt is into his third or fourth Amstel, and though the interview is going fine, it is just another interview. So I spring an idea on him: "What do you say we go try and find Anna Kournikova?" "What?" he says.
"Anna Kournikova. The French Open is happening right now, and where else would she be staying but the Ritz? Let's see if we can find her". "And what would we do if we did find her? She's probably got like 50 huge Russian guys following her everywhere she goes." "I'm sure she does. But that would only make it more interesting in terms of my story. I mean, you'd have to figure out a way to get past them." "Pretty f..ked-up idea, but nice try," Matt says, walking over to the mini-bar. "I'm having another beer. You want one?"

[VALENTINE'S DAY, NEW YORK CITY]
Matt Damon is my Valentine, the reward for almost a full year of hounding him. On February 14, we meet for dinner at Keens Steakhouse, in Manhattan's garment district. "So my girlfriend's in LA," he says, as we take seats at the bar. "What's your excuse?" (Though he scrupulously avoids mentioning her name, it becomes clear that he is referring to Odessa Whitmire - Ben's assistant.)
The last year has not gone exactly as Matt had planned. His intention was to live in his apartment in the Village for a solid stretch of time and start work on a screenplay with Ben and Casey. But he ended up spending just four weeks total in New York, and the screenplay is nowhere. Random stuff intervened. For starters, there was Project Greenlight on HBO, in which Matt, not an empire builder by nature, was clearly content to let his partners Ben and Chris Moore do all the dick-swinging. He also appeared in an episode of Will & Grace, playing a straight guy who pretends he's gay so he can join a gay men's choir. Plus, he had to go back to Europe for more shoots on The Bourne Identity.
"More reshoots, oh my God, is this going to be worse than Bagger Vance?"
"You know, I think it's going to be good."
"But you have to say that."

"Doug is one of those guys who has the ability to sit in a room and work it and work it and work it until he gets what he wants. And after September 11, the studio got more interested in it and gave us the money for reshoots."
"The whole experience must make you wish you'd done something simpler. I mean, why not Planet of the Apes next time?"
"If you decide to do any movie, it becomes your life for four or five or six months. So it's important to me to make decisions that I can live with. Actors feel compelled to work - if you keep turning things down, maybe they'll stop asking you. Maybe they'll think there's a million other guys who'd kill to do this. And they'd be right. There's nobody more replacable than an actor. So I might be crazy, but I'm content not to work these days."
Then he describes what is likely to be his next movie. Steven Soderbergh has just acquired the rights to 'The Informant', a nonfiction book about corporate swindling at Archer Daniels Midland, and he wants Matt to star. "This is why you don't want to have committed to something just because you were worried about working," he says. "I would hate it if Steven came to me and I had to say, 'Sorry, I'd love to, but I'm getting $25 million to play Gilligan.'"
Sitting at the bar, we are constantly interrupted by admirers. Some want autographs, others send over drinks, one guy spends several minutes telling him about his brother who was killed in the World Trade Center. Matt politely, and without condescension, obliges them all. He even agrees to go say hello to a whole table, and then gets ambushed. "Matt F..king Damon," yells a drunk woman. "Like, who the f..k cares about your skinny ass?" Matt is more amused than offended. Usually, no one says anything to him: "I can live a surprisingly normal life. As long as I stay out of malls and SoHo on the weekends. And, I guess, steak houses on Valentine's Day."
My last date with Matt ends much like the others: me, him, and a bunch of Amstel Light empties. As we head out to get cabs, he asks me whether I've got enough to make a decent story. "I hope so," I say. "It would've helped if you'd at least gone searching for Anna Kournikova." "Yeah, sorry about that. But don't worry. You've got my permission to make the whole thing up."

• In most of the pictures from backstage at the (Kids' Choice) awards, Matt's with Jeffrey Katzenberg, so I guessed there had to be a Spirit connection. The Informant project may sound interesting, but Soderbergh has so many others in the works closer to production that I presume this wouldn't start for at least a year.
  From TV Guide online, a larger pic of Matt with Verne Troyer: here
• The Avalanches player mentioned has to be Shjon Podein, who runs the charitable foundation Matt was involved with in 2000. Here's a link to the official site, with pictures of Matt at the charity auction: here. (Cute photo - shown as today's feature pic.)
• The strange bit about the 'not going to Mark Wahlberg's party' story was that Wahlberg's assistant mentioned online that Matt did attend.
  The article essentially repeated a quote from Matt at one of his earliest interviews, for Movieline magazine, written by Martha Frankel. It's a little too naive now.
  Movieline late 1997
  "Really, I still can't believe that people are even remotely interested in what I have to say," he says. "Honey, people want to know everything about you." Damon runs his hands through his thick hair, lets out a little sigh, and then bursts into laughter. He thinks I'm kidding.
  Details (this part 2001)
  "I hate to disappoint you, but I wonder why anyone would really want to read about me."

• ...Strange piece (the Details article). It certainly reinforces that "regular guy" personna, and yet it offers very little insight. I was glad to hear that he has a project in mind.
  My favorite interview is still the Advocate piece (intelligent, sensitive), followed by the Premiere article, and then some of those very, very early introductory ones. I wish more writers were able to capture his complexity. Perhaps Matt, more guarded and wary than before, lets recent interviewers see only one side at a time.
• RE: Kids Choice Awards. Caught the re-run on Sunday. Rosie introduced him as, "The star of 'Spirit,'", which of course, explains why he was at kids award show. Matt came out in a grey sweater. He touched the outstretched hands of the eager kids at foot of the stage before beginning his introduction of Janet Jackson, recipient of the Wannabe Award. He looked cute and seemed to have a good time, though I don't believe he participated in the Celebrity belching contest.
• RE: Bourne Trailer. I don't know if this is a local show or not, but there is a review show called "Hot Ticket" hosted by critics Leonard Maltin and Joyce Kulwick (sp?). Last weekend, they did a preview of the Bourne Trailer and discussed it afterwards. Joyce said something like, "This looks like a really good role for Matt Damon. He's a good actor. I loved him in 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' and 'Good Will Hunting.' It's good to see him in something different." Leonard noted that Matt was at an interesting stage in his career. "He's boyish," he explained, saying that he was getting too old to play college kids but didn't quite look old enough to play someone who's been around the block a few times. "This could be a good transition for him," said Leonard. Joyce then said she thought the choice of Franka was an important part of that transition because, "She looks age appropriate." Joyce added, "I'm pulling for it (The Bourne Identity)." Kind of an odd, but interesting little discussion between critics.
• BTW: Entertainment Weekly has a story on the use of guest stars in sitcoms. It declares that "Will & Grace" is one of the best in utilizing guest appearances, and mentions "Matt Damon's spunky performance."

• Thanks to Felicity, Ziggy, and Julia for sending in links to pics of Matt at the Kids' Choice Award. Read on.
• Ziggy wrote:
  There are lots of pics of Matt at the Kid's Choice awards at Wireimage.com - here
  If that link doesn't work, just go to Wireimage.com and look under Nickleodeon Kids CHoice Awards-Backstage.
• Kristin wrote:
  I got lucky last night and just happened to catch Matt on the Kid's Choice Awards. I almost forgot he was going to be on! He looked very cute as always. He had on a black shirt and jeans and introduced Janet Jackson. All the little girls in the audience went crazy when he came out!
• From Felicity:
  • My Details magazine has arrived. I'll copy bits out later, but here's probably the most interesting thing (the date for this part of the interview was Valentine's Day this year):
    Then he describes what is likely to be his next movie. Steven Soderbergh has just acquired the rights to 'The Informant', a nonfiction book about corporate swindling at Archer Daniels Midand, and he wants Matt to star. "This is why you don't want to have committed to something just because you were worried about working," he says. "I would hate it if Steven came to me and I had to say, 'Sorry, I'd love to, but I'm getting $25 million to play Gilligan."
  • An item in a local magazine:
    Insiders confirm that Matt Damon is miffed that director Anthony Minghella chose Jude Law for the lead role in "Cold Mountain", instead of him...

• We have seen this item before, but our thanks to Margaret for reminding us of Matt's generosity:
  "For Christmas, Matt Damon bought girlfriend Odessa Whitmire a $45,000 BMW X5 (she, in turn, bought him a movie theater-sized popcorn popper for his New York triplex apartment)."
• p.w. sent this in:
  Pink To 'Get The Party Started' At The 'Kids' Choice Awards'
  Fri Apr 19,10:57 AM ET (4/19/02, 10 a.m. ET) -- Pink will kick off Nickelodeon's 15th annual Kids' Choice Awards ceremony on Saturday (April 20) with a performance of her recent hit, "Get The Party Started." Rockers Smash Mouth and R&B superstar Usher are also scheduled to perform during the show. The show will take place at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, and will air live on Nickelodeon staring at 8 p.m. ET (tape delay PT).
  Pink, Britney Spears, Smash Mouth, and *NSYNC (news - web sites) lead the music nominees for this year's Kids' Choice Awards with two nods apiece. Presenters scheduled for the telecast include Matt Damon, Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst, Mike Myers, Beyonce Knowles, the Rock, Dana Carvey, Antonio Banderas, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Frankie Muniz, Jessica Alba, Apolo Ohno, Tony Hawk, Melissa Joan Hart, and Lil' Romeo.
  Rosie O'Donnell returns this year as the host of the show. Last year O'Donnell was forced to cancel her gig as master of ceremonies of Nickelodeon's 14th Annual Kids' Choice Awards because of complications stemming from a hand injury. In addition, superstar pro BMX biker Dave Mirra will attempt a potentially record-breaking stunt during the live broadcast by trying to complete a double back flip on a BMX bike and then land in a 4,000-gallon tank of Nickelodeon's signature green slime.
  Nickelodeon's 15th Annual Kids' Choice Awards will be seen in more than 120 million households worldwide. The Kids' Choice Awards allow for kids to vote for their favorites in movies, television, music, and sports.
• Christine wrote:
  Ben Affleck is on the cover of this month's Details. In it he gives more info on "Lay Down Easy," the new script he is writing with Matt and his brother Casey. It takes place in working-class Revere, Massachusetts and sounds like it will be more shades of "Good Will Hunting"...
• Handful of news from Felicity:
  • From from the Evening Standard:
    Matt Damon, the latest Hollywood actor to hit London, is moving into a rented West End apartment close to such distractions as Chinawhite, the Met Bar and the Ivy. It will happen after the premiere of This Is Our Youth at the Garrick next Monday. "Matt is staying at a hotel during rehearsals as it's less bother for him," explains coproducer Phil Cameron. "But then we'll rent a flat for him near the theatre." Two-bedroom flats around Soho, St James's and Mayfair can cost �1,000 a week upwards.
  • From The Times:
    Also next week, just as the West End was getting used to the starry presence of visiting film names Jake Gyllenhaal, Hayden Christensen and Anna Paquin in This is Our Youth, the Kenneth Lonergan play is getting three new Hollywood actors to light up the Garrick Theatre marquee: Casey Affleck (brother of Ben), Summer Phoenix (sister of Joaquin) and Matt Damon, star of The Talented Mr Ripley and Good Will Hunting.
    �It should be different,� Lonergan says of his play with the new cast. �There�s no point in trying to squash the new actors into the old actors� performances; it�s a waste of an actor to try to be someone else.�
    Lonergan advises against the sort of replication that may have been expected from Goodman. He is letting his new trio of stars approach This Is Our Youth in their own way. �I wouldn�t have advised any of them to see (the play) if they hadn�t already seen it. I would advise them to do their own version and not try to do what�s being done now. They are different types and slightly different ages.�
  • From an interview on indiewire with ThinkFilm head Mark Urman:
    The exec will undoubtedly have his hands full later this year when he unveils Gus Van Sant's "Gerry." A movie that few buyers cheered about at Sundance (although indieWIRE touted it as "spellbinding"), will no doubt rattle a few cages. Urman calls it a movie that "can be launched on the basis of legitimate controversy." It is by all accounts an aesthetically challenging movie, shot on video, featuring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in roles where they barely speak.
    Few industry colleagues would respond with their thoughts on the film back at Sundance, recalled Urman. "It is a film that literally had me vibrating with what it could do for us and I could do for it," he offered. When polling biz folks, Urman was met with the same response that followed the film in many circles at Sundance: "it isn't commercial." Urman would counter, "But I asked if you liked it."
    Recalling the reactions earlier this week, he explained that once ThinkFilm announced the acquisition of the picture, many people admitted that they did appreciate the film. "Too bad," Urman explained, "I got it." [Eugene Hernandez]
  4/18/02
  • Thanks again to CDG for sending in more pics from the Details Magazine article, one of which is shown as today's feature pic. With more to come.
  • Joanna wrote:
    Thank you guys for all the latest on Matt in London. Keep it coming! I will be there in mid-May and have tickets to the play that he is in. Don't hate me!
  • J.M. wrote:
    Did anyone else catch Andy Richter last night? I swear there was a joke about Matt?
  • From Felicity:
    Already covered by the NY Post:
    NO ENTRY
    MATT Damon can still throw his weight around in Hollywood, but Londoners tell him to stuff it. When Damon showed up at the Ivy restaurant in the West End recently with B-listers Casey Affleck, Summer Phoenix and a six-pack of pals, managers told the gang of nine to bugger off. "He tried to sweet-talk his way in," a rep for the restaurant - which boasts a six-month waiting list - told the London Evening Standard. "It didn't carry any weight."
  4/17/02
  • Our thanks to C.D. for sending in this big-smile picture.
  • Our thanks to Kathryn, who sent in this item:
    Here is the transcript of an article published in Real (UK), 9-22 April edition.
    Mom Knows Best
    Pity Minnie, Winona and any other woman Matt Damon dates. They have a lot to live up to, says Gabrielle Donnelly
    It�s just another star-studded Sunday afternoon at the luxurious Century Plaza hotel in Century City, Los Angeles. Down one corridor sweeps veteran actor Robert Redford, all craggy features and golden hair, earnestly discussing the future of the environment in the current politcal climate. From around a corner appears George Clooney, dark-eyed and dashing, guffawing with a group of buddies about his latest practical joke. All heads turn as Kate Winslet, looking radiantly beautiful, wafts past. For a moment, the combined voltage of all this megastar power seems enough to cause a blackout. And then, at the same time, they all move on in different directions, leaving behind a rather lost-looking young man, medium in height and slight in build, casually dressed in jeans and a plain T-shirt, with mousy hair slicked back in a style that - not to put too fine a point on it - shrieks geek.
    Matt Damon is ready for his interview.
    Yes, this is the same Matt Damon - actor, screenwriter, Oscar-winner and (when he decides to smarten himself up) heart-throb - who could, if he chose, enter the room with as much fanfare as any star in Hollywood. What sets Matt apart from the rest is that he doesn�t choose to. He�s 31 and has been a member of the elite A-list for the last five years. Like any young star, he�s been fawned over, flattered, and endlessly written about. But unlike too many of his peers, he has managed to keep a steady head on his shoulders. At work, he is recruited for his talent and praised for his professionalism. Off-screen, he lives in an apartment in New York and spends much of his spare time seeing his parents, his elder brother, and a close group of friends he has known since childhood.
    Ask Matt how he has stayed so sane and he proudly announces it�s all down to his mother - Nancy Carlsson-Paige. �She�s really good at helping me keep things in perspective,� he explains. �My mother is a professor and very socially conscious. She worries about me - not about my career so much as my soul. When I say that, I mean she doesn�t care about the external success of any movie I decide to make, so much as what the message of the movie is - whether it�s good or bad, responsible or not. My mother is a great sounding board for any decision I make, and a huge and important influence on me. When I�m filming, she always ends up visiting me on the set.�
    Hmm... sounds like he�d have to shape up a bit when Mom hits town? Rather reassuringly, he laughs. �No, she just enjoys being on the set. She always wished she could have been an actress, but her father wouldn�t let her, so she went to college to be a professor instead. She comes to visit me and gets all excited, seeing who the director is and talking to some of the crew and the actors, and just hanging out for a few days. It�s become a kind of ritual.�
    Matt�s mother and his father, Kent Damon, a retired stockbroker and real estate agent, divorced when Matt was only three. Although he�s close to both his parents, he admits he can�t even imagine them having ever been a couple. �They are SO different. The fact that they could ever have been married is just amazing to me and my brother. We sit there and say: �How could you guys ever have looked at each other and decided to spend the rest of your lives together? We can�t even imagine you spending an hour with each other.� But the fact is that they married quickly and they married young. They got together and then both changed. One thing they have both said to me separately is: �Make sure you really get to know someone before you marry them.�
    It�s advice that their son has taken to heart. Once linked to a string to glamorous young actresses - William Shakespeare�s Romeo and Juliet star Claire Danes, followed by Minnie Driver, followed by Winona Ryder - Matt is now, or at least claims to be, resolutely unattached. �I�m single,� he says firmly. �I�m honestly single. You�re looking at me like you�re thinking: �Yeah, right.� But it�s true... Well, all right, if you must know, I do make time to spend with the opposite sex, but that�s as far as I�m prepared to go right now.� Which is not to say that he hasn�t thought about marriage and parenthood. His elder brother, artist Kyle Damon, is happily married and a father to two small boys. Matt admits that that kind of life looks awfully attractive - but only when he�s ready for it. �It�s nice to go visit my brother in Boston and hang out with my nephews and do things like get up at 6am because my one nephew won�t leave the room until I�m out of bed. I like kids... but a friend of mine once said that you get two families in your life. You get the one you don�t choose, that you were born into, and you get the one you do choose - the one you start when you have a family of your own. Now, a lot of people choose to start a family in order to try to overcome the mistakes that were made in their family of origin. But for me, when it does happen, I�m just going to have to try to live up to the really incredible family I was born into, and that�s daunting for me to think about. So let�s just say my biological clock isn�t ticking just yet.�
    Meanwhile, Matt�s career is going very nicely, thank you. Ocean�s Eleven, having been largely overlooked on the awards circuit, is quietly making a name for itself as one of the smartest, funniest and most sophisticated films to come out of Hollywood in a long time. Coming up soon is The Bourne Identity, a thriller based on the bestselling novel by the late Robert Ludlum, to be followed by Gerry, in which Matt and his buddy Casey Affleck (brother of Ben) star as two guys lost in the desert. It�s an offbeat film which was shot on a low budget, meaning, Matt says gleefully, that �nobody was breathing down our neck and telling us what we had to do.� Next on the agenda, says the famously hard-working actor with audible longing, is some much-needed relaxation. �For so long, it was impossible for me to say no to work. Don�t get me wrong - I�m happy I�ve done every movie I�ve done. But now my perspective has changed a little bit, and I think that in the future I�m going to be a bit more selfish with my schedule and take some time off to recharge my batteries.'
    Matt, it seems, has taken his mother�s advice - and has no intention of losing his soul to Hollywood.
    (these quotes, many of which we've seen before, are also included)
    Matt On...
    His early fame: �My picture was in one of those teen magazines. My friends put it up on the wall and everyone would throw darts at it. I�d pull it down and another one would go up.�
    Winning an Academy Award for GWH: �I remember reading an article comparing the effect winning an Oscar had on Jack Nicholson and me. He�d won before and everyone knew him. It was a wonderful thing, but it didn�t really change his life that much. But for me and Ben to come out of total obscurity - it turned our lives upside down.�
    His success: �There are actors far more disciplined and just as gifted who have never got the chance to do what I�ve done.�
    Landing a part in SPR: �It reminded me of my first day at Harvard. You feel like they made a mistake in letting you in and they�re going to tell you to leave once they realise it.�
    On why he dumped girlfriend Minnie Driver on national TV: �I was raised in an open household where we talked about our feelings and our problems. In the end, I�ve become more guarded.�
    Others On Matt
    His mother, Professor Nancy Carlsson-Paige: �Matt�s become a commodity. He�s a product and people use him. I worry how it will affect him. It�s not healthy. He has become an object which people can pick up and judge.�
    Ben Affleck, friend and co-star in GWH: �Matt and I grew up together and we share a common frame of reference. It�s pretty easy to work with someone like that. Familiarity allows you a certain shorthand. And we also share a common sense of humour.�
    Minnie Driver: �I�m happy to see them (Matt and Ben) skyrocket into their egoistic oblivion. I wish them the very best in whatever they do.�
    Anthony Minghella, director of TTMR: �There is something so apple pie about Matt. You just know he was the best-looking kid in his school, won all the awards at track and field and dated the most popular girl.�
    George Clooney: �We worked together on Ocean�s Eleven. Matt�s so talented and a real gentleman. If I was his age and had had his kind of success, I don�t know what I�d have been like - probably something ridiculous like hanging from a tree dressed as an ape.
  • And more from Kathryn:
    These two reports on Matt being turned away from prestigious London restaurant, The Ivy, come from Ananova and This is London respectively.
    From Ananova:
    Matt Damon turned away from The Ivy
    Matt Damon has been turned away from one of London's most famous restaurants.
    He turned up at The Ivy with co-stars from his play This Is Our Youth to celebrate their first day off rehearsals. But he was told by managers at the restaurant he could only get a table for four. The group of nine, which included the late River Phoenix's sister Summer and Ben Affleck's brother Casey, decided to dine at Sheekey's fish restaurant in Covent Garden instead.
    A spokesman for The Ivy told the London Evening Standard: "There is a six-month waiting list for a table here - though we do keep three tables for regulars to book at short notice, and for when celebrities are in town and book very late. In this instance, Damon was turned away with his friends and tried to sweet-talk his way in. It didn't carry any weight since we only have one table which can take nine and that was booked. We're certainly not in the business of rearranging people in the restaurant just to accommodate a Hollywood star."

    From This Is London:
    Hollywood actor Matt Damon was dealt an embarrassing blow at the weekend when he was turned away from one of the capital's most celebrated restaurants.
    The Ivy, which reportedly banned Liza Minnelli recently for ranting at staff, took a call from Damon on Friday wanting to treat a party of eight of his theatre co-stars to a meal on Saturday night.
    He was told that he could only get a table for himself and three friends. But banking on talking round staff with his celebrity status he turned up with eight friends anyway.
    To the Talented Mr Ripley star's shame, he was turned away at the door with the suggestion that he might like to try another restaurant a short walk away. With that, Damon, 31, and friends Summer Phoenix, 23, the sister of the Gladiator star Joaquin and the late River, and Casey Affleck, 26, the brother of Ben Affleck and five others, walked to Sheekey's fish restaurant in Covent Garden.
    The blow was doubly hard for Damon as he had planned the meal to celebrate their first day off rehearsals. Damon, Affleck and Phoenix have been told by the producers of This Is Our Youth at the Garrick Theatre on Charing Cross Road that they must refrain from late-night drinking if they are to make the West End show work when it debuts in less than two weeks. Their decision to dine at The Ivy was to be the one extravagance of their stay.
    [Insert The Ivy spokesperson quote here about Matt trying to "sweet-talk" his way in]
    The trio, who have been in London a week, had been working 12-hour days and turning-in early every night at their suites at the Covent Garden Hotel in Monmouth Street. On their 18-day stay, they are paying a special luxury room rate of �220-a-night - or �11,880 for their entire stay. After that, the theatre is putting them up in chic London apartments. (My note: Possibly the only time I've ever wanted to live in London)
    They have been told that there is no time for partying in the capital. A source on the show said: "They are being told in no uncertain terms to get some sleep rather than go out when they finish rehearsals each day.
    "Matt, Summer and Casey take over from Hayden (Christensen), Anna (Paquin) and Jake (Gyllenhaal) in two weeks and there's still a lot of ground to cover. There's no suggestion that they won't be up to scratch by the time the curtain raises, but we are all aware there is a lot to do."
    Ironically, their regime couldn't be further from the plot of the play they are rehearsing which culminates in a hedonistic drug and drink-fuelled spending spree.

  4/17/02
  • All's quiet, but a big thanks to Sea-Era, who wrote:
    Matt is featured.......�in the Spotlight� section of the May 2002 issue of BIOGRAPHY magazine
    Article:
    Claim to Fame:
    Young leading man cited for �earnest boyishness, � with an all-American aura. The relative unknown broke away from the pack by co-writing and starring in the hit film Good Will Hunting (1997), as a genius janitor wrestling with his feelings and future. Damon, the film, and his co-stars garnished nine Oscar nominations. Won for Best Original Screenplay with Ben Affleck
    Soon To Be Seen In:
    the action-thriller The Bourne Identity, based on Robert Ludlum�s espionage trilogy. The film finds super agent Jason Bourne afflicted with amnesia and pursued by assassins while he traverses Europe in search of who he is.
    Recent Roles:
    A pickpocket in the multi-million dollar Vegas casino heist film Ocean�s Eleven (2001); a war-ravaged, Depression-era golfer coached by a cosmic caddie in The Legend of Bagger Vance; an ingratiating nobody who takes the life -- and assumes the identity --of a rich playboy in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
    Beginnings:
    Born October 8, 1970, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Boston, the younger of two sons of a businessman father and a college professor mother. After they split when he was a toddler, his politically active mom moved the family to a commune where creativity was encouraged. Active in children�s theater, Matt was later introduced to an agent by friend and neighbor ---Affleck. Attended Harvard as an English major. Left college a few credits shy of a degree. His first major role was an impressive but unnoticed performance as a junkie Gulf War vet in Courage Under Fire (1996)
    Next Project:
    Gerry, with Casey Affleck; they mostly improvised the script with director Gus Van Sant. The comedy follows two guys, both named Gerry, who are stranded in the desert.
    Giving Back:
    With Ben Affleck (of course), started Project Greenlight to mentor aspiring filmmakers. Their contest gave $1 million and a chance to direct to the best screenplay submitted. (The first winner, the metaphysical drama Stolen Summer, was released in March.)
    There is a picture with the article, but unfortunately I was unable to scan it.
  • From Felicity:
    • From the NY Post 'We Hear' section a few days ago:
      THAT Sarah Jessica Parker, Matt Damon and newly married Debi Mazar are designing Lacoste shirts to be auctioned off at Barneys May 9 to benefit UNICEF . .
    • There's an interview with Casey Affleck in the May issue of the UK Cosmopolitan magazine.
    • No press yet from London except this item from an article on the thisislondon.co.uk website:
      Gone are the days when your Larry Hagmans could be half-cut during filming, and now even mildly high living is seen as a potential threat to the final product. Matt Damon, Summer Phoenix and Casey Affleck have been on a strict party ban since they arrived in London last week to rehearse for their new West End show, This is Our Youth. There's no suggestion that they need to be protected from themselves, just that business and that kind of pleasure no longer mix.
    • Matt's still scheduled to attend the Kids Choice Awards this weekend.
  4/13/02
  • From Felicity:
    • Here's the cover of the Details magazine (could have been a lot better) - from an ebay item: Picture at here. ( - also shown as today's feature pic.) Item at here.
      The title is: Matt Damon Just another average white guy
    • There's a mixed/positive Bourne review at: http://www.tnmc.org/dp/0411021.shtml.
  • From a Big Matt Fan:
    FYI: Army Archerd reports this in Variety:
    Meanwhile, Jerry Weintraub is heading overseas to seek new financing for a hefty group of pix in preparation at WB. It helps when he shows 'em "Ocean's Eleven's" international box office: $435,923,886.
    ...Another cooking is "Conflict of Interest," set in Boston, with a cop and his attorney-father. He'd like one of his "Ocean's"' alums, Boston native Matt Damon, for this one.
  4/11/02
  From Felicity:
  Val told us a little while back about Anita Talbert's radio interview with Odessa. I've just found an old magazine clipping which is probably the complete text:
  Matt's galpal denies it
  "It's not true" says Matt Damon's pretty young gal pal Odessa Whitmire in a flat out denial (to yours truly) about those widespread reports and tabloid stories that she and Damon are engaged.
  Although seeing them together at a recent charity event it is obvious that they are in love. Whitmire tells me she fell for Damon four months ago while she was working for Damon's pal Ben Affleck as his personal assistant. They may not be engaged but I did notice three beautiful pink and white diamond rings that Whitmire is sporting on her middle finger which she says she bought for herself.
  Sorry dear, we can't buy that one since a little bird tells me those two were recently spotted together at Tiffany's. Being that Matt is a gentleman there was no way he was going to stand by and let her buy those rings herself. Nice try!

  4/10/02
  Felicity wrote:

  • From Ananova:
    Matt Damon's West End debut postponed
    The first few performances of This Is Our Youth starring Matt Damon have been cancelled.
    The performances from April 22 to 24 at the Garrick Theatre will not now take place.
    The new all-star cast of Damon, Casey Affleck and Summer Phoenix are being given more time to prepare.
    They will now take over from the current cast of Hayden Christensen, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Paquin on April 25.
    The run is likely to end on June 8, rather than June 15 as originally scheduled, due to Matt Damon's prior commitments.
    This Is Our Youth, Kenneth Lonergan's first play, depicts the lives of three middle-class teenagers who have to spend a stolen $15,000 in 48 hours.
    **
    This would seem to allow more time for Matt to attend the Kids Choice awards on April 20 and participate in the Bourne publicity. Was it a reaction to the NY Post article??
  • From the Boston Globe:
    Damons at work
    Matt Damon has become the latest in a line of Hollywood luminaries to be lured to the stage. Damon is set to replace Hayden Christensen as the lead in ''This Is Our Youth'' at the Garrick Theatre in London. ... And while we're on the subject of Damons, local artist Kyle Damon will raise money for the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program by taking on the grueling Ironman USA triathlon this summer in Lake Placid, N.Y. He said he and Matt, his younger-actor brother, will work both coasts to bring in funds. ''Hopefully, I can raise $700 and Matt can do the rest,'' the older Damon joked. The Resolving Conflict Creatively Program works on conflict resolution and intergroup relations for schoolchildren. For those wishing to chip in, e-mail Damon at [email protected]. Kyle Damon says he'll run, bike, and swim in memory of friend Jesse McKie, who died in Cambridge in 1990 after he was robbed of a leather jacket and stabbed.
  • This solves an old question: In a November 1997 interview Matt talked about a friend's murder which he relived during a scene in 'The Rainmaker'. I had narrowed the murder down to four possible people in Cambridge, including Jesse McKie. It's a horrible story - he left behind an unborn child, and it was a truly senseless killing. More information about the murder in this 1990 MIT Tech story: here.
    Related information about Jesse and his father: http://www.tiac.net/users/wntl/artdeal/mckie.html
  4/9/02
  • From Rutso:
    On TimeOut.com, if you work your way to London and then to Theatre, you can eventually get to ticket sales, where you'll find this (note the correct name of the play, also the shift from 2 males and 1 female, to an all-male cast):
    This is Our Youth
    Set in 1982, at the dawn of the Reagan era, Kenneth Lonergan's first play depicts forty-eight hours in the lives of Dennis, Warren and Jessica � three rich and bored middle-class teenagers, from New York's Upper West Side. Caught up in the new yuppie culture (for which money, power and success are all) they have stolen $15,000 from their parents without much of an idea of what to do with it. So, without a care of the consequences, they blow it all on a reckless, hedonistic spending spree. This is Our Youth is a tragicomic portrayal of youth on the brink of adulthood and reveals the ache at the heart of the slacker generation.
    Starring Hayden Christensen, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Paquin.
    As of 22 April the cast will be Matt Damon, Casey Affleck and Summer Phoenix.
    Also the BBC at here:
    Playwright Lonergan was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay You Can Count on Me in 2001.
    He is also credited with writing Hollywood movies Analyze This and the yet-to-be-released Gangs of New York.
  • From the Big Matt Fan:
    ... Caught a few minutes of Winona's "True Hollywood Story." All I saw was a bit about how, in 2000, she seemed to have it all including, "a sexy boyfriend, Matt Damon." However, later, it mentions that in spring of 2000, the two broke up, and that hollywood gossips speculated on the cause, from a NY Post report on Matt's interest in Penelope Cruz, to the rumor that Winona had lost $1 million due to "Damon's financial advisor." Ted Casablanca then said that the only people that really know aren't saying anything
  • From Kelly:
    So far the best info I've found is this blurb from theatrenow.com April 4th.
    "Oscar Winner Matt Damon Makes West End Debut in This Is Our Youth"
    Movie star Matt Damon will make his West End stage debut in This Is Our Youth at the Garrick Theatre beginning April 22.
    Damon, one of the hottest young talents in Hollywood, will be joined in the three-character play by Casey Affleck and Summer Phoenix. Affleck is the brother of film actor Ben Affleck, who co-wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for "Good Will Hunting" with Damon, which also starred Damon and both Afflecks. Damon's other film credits include "Ocean's Eleven," "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Saving Private Ryan" and "School Ties."
    This Is Our Youth, which is playing at the Garrick, is a witty study of three rich but bored teenagers living in Manhattan in the early 1980's. Written by Kenneth Lonergan, its current cast features Hayden Christensen, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Paquin.
    Damon's arrival marks the latest in a line of Hollywood stars to tread the London stage. Brendan Fraser recently starred in a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Katheen Turner is currently reprising her London performance in The Graduate for Broadway audiences.
    Lonergan's This Is Our Youth had its world-premiere production at Off-Broadway's Intar Theatre with a cast that included Mark Ruffalo � who later starred opposite Laura Linney in Lonergan's film You Can Count On Me � Josh Hamilton and Missy Yeager.
  4/8/02
  • Natalie wrote:
    hi, i just saw on the news that some guy has a screen play that he wrote 10 years ago and he wants Matt and Ben to read it so he put up a sign on a billboard that says "Matt Damon and Ben Affleck please read my screenplay". I wonder if they would actually read it,haha.
    ;)
  • Felicity wrote:
    • wondered if this was true - from the NY Post and Victoria Gotti's column (note the two errors). If Matt's on eight shows a week over six days, promoting Bourne is going to be very difficult - especially press junkets. Let's expect the denials to start soon.
      VICTORIA'S SECRET: Matt Damon is so upset with the finished product of his flick "The Born Identity," he's fleeing the country in an effort to avoid the usual melee of p.r. junkets. Diehard Damon fans can catch the overachieving star in London, performing in the play "This Is Our Use."
    • A review of the upcoming Ocean's DVD is now available at chud, here.
      Including this review of the commentary track:
      2. Feature length commentary by Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, and Andy Garcia.
      Could they find a more unpretentious group of actors?
      These guys don't spend their whole track gushing about their director and saying what needs to be said to ensure they get hired again (as if they have to worry). They HAVE FUN, and it's contagious.
      Damon (who does some good impressions) and Garcia recorded together and it appears Pitt recorded at a different time because sometimes the info they share overlaps. However, it's almost as if it's edited to make us think it was recorded together. Weird.
      Regardless, there's tons of anecdotes and jabs (Pitt on Clooney especially) and it really helps flesh out the offscreen personas of these guys.
      I expected Garcia to be a little serious and stiff but he and Damon do well together and it's obvious what a blast these people had on the film.
      I defy anyone to not appreciate the film more after hearing these.
    • Or the DVDfile.com review:
      The Pitt, Damon and Garcia is certainly notable, if only because how often do you get three big actors like this all doing a commentary? This one is even more fun, and thankfully all three were in the room together at the same time, so we aren't gypped with a collection of press interviews spliced together as a single track. At the beginning Damon worries that there's "only going to be five people listening" to this commentary, while Pitt guarantees that he's going for "that Mystery Science Theater 3000 thing." And that just about sums it up, because this is often a kick if a bit too ass-kissy. These guys have a hoot making good-natured fun of Clooney, and Pitt is very funny with his sarcastic banter. Unfortunately, there are a few suspicious gaps of silence later in the flick, which led me to believe that they said some good stuff that got cut out?
    • Just clarifying: Lisa wrote about last year's Premiere power list - Matt's not on this year's (2002) list.
    • How Matt became involved in the London play - from The Independent (UK):
      But extensive networking in America and a stroke of luck have combined to secure an even stronger cast to take over on 25 April until mid-June.
      By chance, Casey Affleck caught the very first matinee performance and was so struck by it that he went again that evening. He returned to New York where he raved about it to Damon.
      Clare Lawrence, thought to be the youngest producer in the West End at 26, said: "They're all part of the same group of friends in New York and they decided they wanted to come and do the play together.
      "I don't agree with bringing stars in for anything, but if you've got good people in and they're cast appropriately to do good work, it's fantastic. I do think it creates a buzz."
  4/7/02
  • Angelann wrote :
    I saw the Bourne Identity at the screening. I can't give it away, but let it suffice to say that it was fabulous. I think it might be his best role since Will Hunting. The audience really responded to the film. Everyone laughed and screamed and gasped at the same time. I think it will be a big hit.
  • Aimee also went (big thanks!) and offered a different view:
    So...went to the "Bourne Identity" screening last night at the theaters at Universal CityWalk in Hollywood. It was my first screening so I didn't know that movies shown this early were not the final end product shown in the theaters. The people putting it on told us this... but throughout the film there were only a couple of blips and unedited shot ends. Ok, let me start by saying the best thing about the movie was Matt and his acting. He convinced us thoroughly of his amnesia as well as his abilities as an international spy. This is because there were some great action sequences (including a car chase) that keep you on the edge of you seat. But, in my humble opinion, that ends the list of strengths of this movie. The relationship between Franka Potente's character, Marie and Jason Bourne was unconvincing and a bit predictable. *SPOILER* the ending totally follows a formula and was expected. The dialogue was also trite when dealing with his ex-CIA compatriots who are now trying to kill him. Plug it into any other spy movie and it would work. Sure, there were a few times the audience laughed out loud and the action scenes always got hoots and The car chase even got the whole theater applauding. But other than that the plot was pretty much simplified (I've read the book) and had none of it's complexities with might have given it some respectibility. Julia Stiles' role was pretty minor...she must've had like 10 lines. Truthfully, my friend and I got sick of her scenes and the scenes at Treadstone headquarters because they just showed her and them sitting around looking at computer screens muttering dialogue that was quite less than ingenious. Finally, of Matt's performance I will say again, it was superb. His action scenes were great and he looked great doing them. His character was tricky to play because he's supposed to not remember his own name and yet know how to hack into systems, discreetly disappear, know international spy game rules. He played both parts amazingly and believably. I would give this movie 2 stars (out of five). Sure, support it but for those a bit more impartial...wait until the video.
    Finally, Thanks for making known the opportunity for me to go see it!
  • Kathryn of Edinburgh wrote:
    From this month's Empire:
    First Look: The Bourne Identity
    Release date June 21
    Matt Damon is the amnesiac on the run with Franka Potente, in this Doug Liman-directed thriller which, if the budget ($75m) and plot (too twisted to reveal here) are anything to go by, is going to rock your socks off. Clive Owen, Julia Stiles and Brian Cox are among those rounding out the cast, and joined the stars on location in Prague and Paris in late 2000/early 2001. Potente and Damon had a hand in the rewrites. "Matt did win an Oscar for his screenwriting," explains Liman of his acceptance of the star's dabbling. That'll be that gold doorstop in his house, then...
    I have mislaid my copy, but there's also a quote from Matt in the latest issue of Now (Halle Berry cover) about winning his Oscar. It's part of a section about how various winners felt about stepping up to the podium on the night.
  • Vanessa and many readers (thanks to all!) sent in this news item:
    This comes from people.com. Hope you like it. It is a new aspect of Matt, well I think so. Vanessa........ April 5, 2002
    Matt Damon Takes New Job in London
    STEPHEN M. SILVERMAN
    Matt Damon is joining a long line of American performers who tread the stage boards in London's West End. The screen hunk, 31, will open this month in the Kenneth Lonergan play, "This Is Our Youth," at the Garrick Theater, reports Variety. (Lonergan's credits include the screenplay for the Billy Crystal-Robert De Niro comedy "Analyze This.") The play, set in 1982, is described as a lacerating look at affluent young Manhattanites and depicts two days in the lives of three college-age Upper West Siders who come from wealthy families but are living in drug-ridden squalor. Damon, who is replacing actor Hayden Christensen ("Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones"), 20, is making his stage debut in the play. Other Yankee stars to play the West End have included Macaulay Culkin, Jessica Lange and Kathleen Turner. Turner opened on Broadway in the stage adaptation of the classic 1967 movie "The Graduate" (based on the novel by Charles Webb) Thursday night. The show was a hit in London and advance ticket sales in New York have been pretty strong, but Friday morning's reviews were less than complimentary. The New York Times called it "leering" (Turner, 47, appears nude, though under diplomatic lighting) and "undercooked . . . the most cynical specimen to date of the theater's current vogue for cannibalizing Hollywood classics." The New York Post said, "'The Graduate' Fails." Jason Biggs ("American Pie") and Alicia Silverstone ("Clueless") costar. Critics called him bland and her whiny.
  • The news is echoed in an article sent in by Evi:
    Damon Makes London Stage Debut
    Fri Apr 5, 5:04 AM ET
    By Matt Wolf
    LONDON (Variety) - Screen actor Matt Damon makes his London stage debut this month in "This Is Our Youth," replacing Hayden Christensen ("Attack of the Clones") in the Kenneth Lonergan play at the Garrick Theater.
    Photos
    Reuters Photo
    At the same time, Casey Affleck and Summer Phoenix will step into the roles currently being played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Paquin.
    Lonergan's play opened March 15 in London to mostly excellent reviews, including general raves for a cast of theatrical neophytes, two of whom -- Gyllenhaal and Christensen -- had never done a professional play.
    Paquin, who won an Oscar for her childhood role in "The Piano," had only one previous legit credit, an off-Broadway play by Rebecca Gilman late last year.
    Christensen will be in movie theaters next month as the young Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker in "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones."
    The extension of "This Is Our Youth" with a new cast will take the 1996 play through June 15. Director Laurence Boswell is also directing Madonna (news - web sites) in her West End debut, "Up for Grabs," opening May 23 at Wyndham's.
    The casting of Damon, et al., is the latest in a long line of film names keen to play London, where the potential upside is great (the prestige factor) and the downside not nearly so bad as it might be on Broadway.
    Macaulay Culkin, Jessica Lange, Kathleen Turner, Glenne Headly and Anne Archer are just a few of the American film names to have appeared onstage in London in recent years.
    Damon had been mentioned some years back as a possibility to co-star in an Almeida Theater revival of "Sweet Bird of Youth," but that staging never happened.
    Lonergan, meanwhile, is well represented at the moment in the British capital, where his off-Broadway entry from last year, "Lobby Hero," opens April 10 at the Donmar Warehouse, with a British cast.
  • Felicity wrote:
    • The theatre project is confirmed by a story on the Variety homepage which I can't access.
      Here are some details about the Garrick Theatre. It's in a perfect position right next to the Leicester Square tube station and London's tourist hub. Read the story here
    • Matt seems to be off the Premiere magazine 2002 Power list - Ben's at 77 (85 last year - rehab helped him).
    • There's a horrendous title but mixed reviews for Bourne Identity (and bad reviews for Matt) at aint-it-cool-news.com
    • I don't trust this item at all from beverlyhills213 magazine: Robert Redford directed Matt Damon in The Legend of Bagger Vance, and now Matt wants to return the favor. Matt is considering taking the director's chair and a co-starring role in Strike Three, the story of a coach (Redford) who drives his son (Damon) hard to become a professional baseball player.
  • Not that the power list is that important, but Lisa (thanks!) wrote to let us know that -- gulp -- Matt is still on it:
    Premier magazine listed most powerful hollywood player. this is what they said about matt: (see here.)
    The 2001 Power List
    Who has it, who doesn't, who found it, who blew it.
    Our annual scorecard ranks the 100 most powerful people in Hollywood.
    93 Matt Damon
    A Star Is Bourne
    Rank Last Year: 88.
    Title: A Star Is Bourne.
    Status Report: Furrowed industry brows by failing to open or score Oscar nominations for All The Pretty Horses or The Legend of Bagger Vance. Studies reverently at the feet of prominent directors but needs to secure his leading-man status. Decision to make amnesia thriller The Bourne Identity (for $10 million) could prove a catapult. Will appear in Ocean�s Eleven, followed by his first real hiatus since Good Will Hunting. Yes, It�s True: His weight obsession continues unabated. Offered dieting tips to Bourne costar Franka Potente.
  • Sea-Era wrote:
    Just a note of clarity..Kelly worte after doing some searching she found out that Chris Raab's dad and Matt's dad are brothers. That would make them first cousins -- not uncle and nephew. His nephew's would be his brother Kyle's sons, which I thought were small children. Can anyone clear this up for me?? Thanks
  • Penny wrote on the same subject:
    Hi everyone!! Correct me if I'm wrong, but if Chris Raab is related to Matt, he would be Matt's cousin. If their fathers are brothers, then they would be cousins. The only nephews Matt has are his brother's sons. I think the confusion is on Chris' bio. It says he likes... his uncle, Matt Damon, girls, etc.. Matt is just listed as something he likes. Can't blame him!!
  4/4/02
  • From Felicity:
    • ET showed a teaser at the end of today's show for Matt's "steamy" kiss with Franka Potente from Bourne Identity, to be viewed on Thursday's show.
    • Jules wrote about Chris Raab and his possible connection with Matt: From Chris' personal profile and his list of "likes": my uncle, Matt Damon He also lists GWH and Rounders in his favorite movies list. here.
      He's originally from Glen Hills, Pa and part of a skating group called (and headed by) Bam Magera, and they are currently filming the "Jackass" movie, after appearing in the series. So, he's certainly claiming Matt is his uncle, but it's not definitive.
    • On the subject of Matt and Ben's ownership of The Continental restaurant - there was a story last year that their interest had been sold after it became too popular and they could no longer hang out there quietly with friends. It was also said to be one of the poor investment decisions they made on the advice of now jailed financial adviser Dana Giachetto.
    • The Kids Choice Awards will be broadcast on Nickelodeon 20 April.
    • NY Post sighting:
      MATT Damon, Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix showing up at Sway, and asking that mere mortals not be booted from the VIP room. They packed in with the hoi polloi and partied till closing . . .
    • From an old People story on how the stars celebrate(!):
      For the past two years straight, pals Ben Affleck and Matt Damon also have followed this laid-back, comfy party tradition. Last year, the two bachelors rang in the New Year with a quiet party at Tribeca lounge La Parue, the New York Daily News reported. The group of revelers, which included Joaquin Phoenix and Ben's actor brother Casey, ate fast food and watched the Times Square ball drop on television. Sound familiar? The year before (for 2000), Ben and Matt celebrated together at Sonsie, an eatery on Boston's Newbury Street. Guests including the stars' moms and a bunch of Cambridge friends and family, and 30 cases of champagne flowed, reported The Boston Globe.
  • Kelly sent in this note with subject line "nick n nephs":
    Hello... To answer Jules' question, yes Chris Raab really is Matt Damon's nephew. I was watching the skate video "Camp Kill Yourself" and when Chris Raab came on there was a pop-up that said "Matt Damon's Nephew" on the screen. After doing an internet search it turns out that their fathers are brothers.
    BTW, the Kid's Choice Awards are April 20th at 8PM EST.
  4/3/02
  • Amiee very graciously wrote:
    In today's LA Times' Liz Smith's column:
    Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, [spotted] at a table in L.A's the Continental restaurant, which they own: They're working on their next movie, "Lay Down Easy." It's about two blue-collar brothers in Massachusetts. (Hey! Remember, they won a writing Oscare the last time they got together as writers, on "Good Will Hunting")
    Thanks for the reminder, Mz. Smith =) but it's the first time I've heard of "Lay Down Easy." As a side note, TV guide reports that Ben (who is shooting "Gigli" with Jennifer Lopez) is taking out ads in the trade magazines saying how much he admires JLo. Strange. He'll also be in Hollywood at Paramount Pictures on Melrose this sunday at 6pm for his "Changing Lanes" premiere.
    PS Thanks for the great heads-up on the "Bourne" movie passes!
  • Anne also wrote about the restaurant:
    Maybe this is old news... don't know. Didn't realize that Matt and Ben owned a restaurant in L.A.?! Check it out: here.
    Thought you might like to know.
  • And a big thanks to Kristin, who wrote:
    I heard last night on Entertainment Tonight that Matt is going to be a presenter at the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards. I'm not sure when the show is airing, but it must be pretty soon!
  • Felicity sent in the items above, plus these:
    • Excerpt from a google groups post by author Pat Marcello, who wrote one of those celebrity profile books on Matt:
      I get all of my information from other published sources and the Internet. I got close to Matt Damon when I was doing the book, but the publisher decided they didn't want me to talk to him. I was truly bummed, as I think he's an interesting and very smart young man--not to mention very cute. I'm not sure why they blocked me; however, it probably had to do with being unauthorized. I'm a writer, not a lawyer. I've never slammed a personality, so it doesn't worry me. I'm sure no one I've profiled would be annoyed by what I wrote.
    • This was in Moriarty's article from Aint-it-cool-news of his summary of films this year:
      That's the same reason I hope that Doug Liman's THE BOURNE IDENTITY is a winner. Matt Damon's a good choice for this type of film precisely because it's not what you'd expect. Franke Potente also goes a long way towards convincing me to see a movie... any movie... and the script for this was good, with a lame ending that I hear got reworked extensively before it was shot.
  • Jules wrote:
    My nieces met a young man named Chris Raab, who claims to be Matt's nephew. (Chris is a skater, looks kinda like Matt, and was somehow involved in the MTV show "Jackass.") Does anyone know if this is true, --I thought he might be joshing them?
  4/2/02
  • A Big Matt Fan wrote:
    From USA Today, a bit of info on "Push, Nevada":
    And ABC is considering Push, Nevada, a proposed series from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, the team behind Project Greenlight. Nevada is a traditional drama about a small-town murder mystery, but it adds a twist: Viewers who correctly piece together clues can win the money that the fictional characters are seeking.
  • We thank Molly, who wrote:
    Teen People's May 2002 issue has this to say about Matt in it's Have You Heard? section: "Although Matt Damon's movie Gerry got mixed reviews at the Sundance Film Festival, he easily took the award for most popular. Local's in Park City, Utah, couldn't stop raving about the actor's friendly demeanor. One of his good deeds? Presenting a lucky cabdriver with tickets to the festival's hottest flick, Tadpole. "
  4/1/02
  • Erik wrote:
    Dear Matt Damon fans,
    I was trying to figure out how to fill up a theater for an advance screening of Matt's new thriller THE BOURNE IDENTITY, when it hit me... I should go to the websites and contact the webmasters. So, here we are...
    If you or anyone else that you know or any of your frequent visitors to your sites wish to see his new film this Wednesday the 3rd in Los Angeles, let me know through email. I have many passes and need to fill the place up. That's my job. It will be at 7pm and it is totally free.
    You all have nice sites and show tremendous support for Matt!
    Email me at [email protected]
  • We heard from the Big Matt Fan:
    Yesterday, I saw "Stolen Summer," or, as the marquee read, "The Project Greenlight Movie: Stolen Summer." If the marquee isn't enough to remind one that this film is an ancillary product of the HBO series, the first few minutes of the movie do. After the Miramax previews (The Importance of Being Earnest, About a Boy), a brief summary of Project Greenlight is shown, complete with Matt and Ben interviews and the more explosive moments from the show. This film is being promoted as the product of the series, not as film worthy to stand on its own.
    So how was the movie? Better than one might expect, though at a rather Hallmark tv movie level. Pete Jones was extraordinarily fortunate to acquire the services of Bonnie Hunt, Kevin Pollack and Aiden Quinn. It was their sheer talent, I think, that made up for a lot of the weaknesses in the script. Quite frankly, the strongest and most moving scenes in the film are those that primarily involved the adult characters. In fact, to a surprising extent, their B stories actually seem to overshadow the main plot.
    I hate to say it, but honestly, to me, the two boys and their story were the weakest elements of the film. Both young actors spoke in that pert, declaratory fashion that so many mediocre child actors employ. They were cute, but not entirely convincing. Of course, it didn't help that their dialogue seemed, quite often, painfully artificial. On the series, I vaguely recall Matt arguing that kids don't really talk that way. Pete Jones had insisted that they do. Having seen the film, I have to say, I think Matt was right.
    I have a sneaking suspicion that some of the boys' scenes were cut due to their inadequacy. We know from the series, in fact, that at least two major scenes involving the boys did not make it into the film. As I said before, the film is best when it's adults only, and I wouldn't be surprised if the movie was edited around that fact.
    On the whole, I found "Stolen Summer" to be a generally likeable film, a decent first try. There were some moving moments, some funny lines. I must admit, I did tear up slightly at one point. However, I'm not too surprised the knives are out against it.
    FYI: Entertainment Weekly currently has a piece which follows Pete Jones around LA to various theatres showing his movie. Sadly, none of them were full. However, despite the general promotion (Oprah, Leno, etc.), there really isn't a lot of marketing money spent on this. I didn't even realize the film was already showing in LA until I read an article that said it had only made $65,000 in four cities.
    Anyway, if PGL fails, ah well, it was a noble endeavor. I'd be interested to see if any critics look back at the PGL series AFTER watching "Stolen Summer." I think they'd find that many of their criticisms were initially brought up by Matt, but that he was, unfortunately, outvoted.
    Still, have a Happy Easter all!
  • Desiree wrote to remind us of this item:
    According the updated bio on IMDb, Matt is engaged to Odessa with wedding plans in Winter 2003. Any truth to this?
    This news item has been mentioned in the Matt Damon Column before. We have not yet heard any followup on this.
  • From Felicity:
    • ...It is interesting to know how little publicity Miramax has given the theatrical release of 'Stolen Summer'. Maybe they thought the TV show was enough? And it's pretty sad to know that interviews with Matt/Ben are being used to promote it before the showing. My guess is that they'll do another contest, but on a smaller scale, maybe without some of the online content. There's been too much publicity for it to fade away quietly. Another alternative may be to fast track one of the more riskier Greenlight scripts Miramax optioned, like The Upgrade.
    • There's a really nice signed professional pic of Matt for sale at ebay to benefit a 9/11 scholarship fund, the Families of Freedom. Item is at: here and the Photo is at here. (Photo is shown to the right.)
    • In a message on google groups, someone mentioned that Matt was carded buying cigarettes at a 7-11 following the 1am arrival in Virginia after that horror flight from LA...
    • For information: the Ben push for his new movie continues with an appearance on Jay Leno 11 April.
  3/30/02
  • Thank you, Jen, for writing:
    I think I can answer her question ...
    Kristin wrote:
    I've been wondering this for a while; and when I saw ATPH on HBO for the 10th time, I just had to ask. Does anyone know what the Mexican police captain means when he asks about Blevins' feathers? (It's the part where Matt is being interrogated when he is first brought to the jail) I've never read the book and thought maybe it was mentioned in there. Is he implying that Blevins is an Indian? I know it's a silly question, but I love the movie and every time I see that part I am left wondering. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate some help.
    Well, I don't know if it was just me, but I always thought that the Mexican police had stripped Blevins and were commenting on his pubic hair when they talked about his "feathers." That is why John Grady has this bizzare and almost sick look on his face when he says something like, "I wouldn't know about that." I hope I'm not in the minority here! I'm not a pervert I swear! LoL.
  • From Felicity:
    • From the NY Post Friday:
      FEARFUL FLIGHT
      MATT Damon, Casey Affleck, Summer Phoenix, Samantha Mathis and John Leguizamo almost didn't make it back from the Oscars. The stars took a midday American Airlines flight from LAX to JFK, but as they approached the city Tuesday, a storm kicked up. After a couple of harrowing hours, the plane finally put down in Richmond, Va. Rattled by all the turbulence, Damon, Affleck and Phoenix rented a car and drove to New York, while the other passengers flew out four hours later.
    • Project Greenlight looks to be trouble - there's (mostly unsubstantiated) rumors of the site being shut down in the near future. It's been brought on by the recent stories of money troubles, and web producer Allyn today saying she finishes tomorrow, and that no replacement is being sought.
    • Happy Easter weekend everyone!
  3/27/02
  • From Felicity:
    • Thanks to Kathryn for the update on the Empire magazine - just saw it mentioned somewhere without any details.
    • From the Fox News column Sunday, talking about Miramax' pre-Oscar party. Matt and Ben did not attend this bash, and nor did they attend the Vanity Fair party post-Oscars for the first time since GWH:
      The evening also featured a live acoustic performance by Sting of his Oscar-nominated song "Until," as well as a few short films including an animated feature by the late director Ted Demme in which the Weinstein brothers run a deli instead of a movie company and a very trenchant parody of Project Greenlight in which Martin Scorsese is chosen as the winner of the latest version of the contest and wants to make Gangs of New York for $129 million. The latter film featured Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chris Moore, as well as Scorsese himself.
      (Wouldn't you love to see that video!)
    • From eonline's celeb sightings:
      Matt Damon Rachel (Mar 25, 2002, 02:34 PM)
      Matt's dad is the head coch of our high school(Newton North) basball team.I had heard rumors that Matt came to some of the games. I did not really belive the rumors , but at one of the games I head some ones cell phone ring so I looked beside me and there was MATT. He looked so hot. After he got off the phone I talked to him for a few minutes. He is so nice.
    • A reminder that Winona's True Hollywood Story on E! will be shown from April 7. From the TV Guide summary:
      The hour chronicles Ryder's birth to hippie parents ('60s guru Timothy Leary is her godfather) and life on a California commune before landing roles in such films as �Heathers� and �The Age of Innocence.� Her highly publicized relationships with Johnny Depp, Soul Asylum's David Pirner and Matt Damon are also recounted
  • Kristin wrote:
    I've been wondering this for a while; and when I saw ATPH on HBO for the 10th time, I just had to ask. Does anyone know what the Mexican police captain means when he asks about Blevins' feathers? (It's the part where Matt is being interrogated when he is first brought to the jail) I've never read the book and thought maybe it was mentioned in there. Is he implying that Blevins is an Indian? I know it's a silly question, but I love the movie and every time I see that part I am left wondering. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate some help.
  3/26/02
  • Kathryn wrote:
    Re: Summer reviews
    Quote from the rotten tomatoes site:
    "Miramax further indicted itself as being the ultimate Angel/Satan, as did actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, the latter of whom at least seemed to foresee the blah abyss the movie was leading itself into."
    One thing in particular struck me: many of the reviewers tend to refer to Summer as an "after-school special", the very thing that Matt said it might turn out to be (correct me if I'm wrong). I think it's a little sad that Summer's marketing has, effectively, renamed (or taglined) it "The Project Greenlight Movie". I also tend to believe the reviewers who placed some of the blame for the movie at the feet of the judges who ultimately chose the screenplay (and who should have perhaps chosen another one) were somewhat justified in their criticism. Have any other Columners been, or are going to see it? (I won't be going when/if it's ever released here).
  • About Empire (April - I couldn't remember whether I'd bought it or not, of course I had :); there's nothing about Matt in the Sundance article
  3/25/02
  • Felicity's finds:
    • The current issue of Premiere (Angelina Jolie cover) has its annual section on Sundance, and it usually photos the stars and talks about the films. Has anyone seen the issue yet?
      The April edition of Empire (UK) also has an article on Sundance.
      
    • The reviews for "Stolen Summer" are pretty bad, with some exceptions (Ebert, NY Post). They're almost unfair in their criticism, and attack the PGL concept, the choice of script, marketing of the film etc.
    • From the NY Post:
      FOUL MOUTHS
      CHILD actor Mike Weinberg exacted fines from the cast and crew of "Project Green Light" every time they uttered a dirty word. The documentary produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon follows the making of "Stolen Summer," which stars Weinberg. So when Damon was posing for pictures at the Chicago premiere of "Summer" last week, Weinberg stormed up to the boyish star, telling him, "You owe me $2 for cursing." Damon gave him an even $10, while exec producer Chris Moore had to pony up $28.
  • A reader wrote:
    From the Lights out entertainment sight from March 3rd: Lights Out Entertainment: Movie News Director Antoine Fuqua will helm The Sigma Protocol based on the late Robert Ludlum's book of the same name for Universal. Universal is already prepping another Ludlum adaptation (The Bourne Identity) for release this summer. Bourne, which stars Matt Damon is hoped to be a running franchise for the studio. Fuqua will start Sigma after completing the Bruce Willis actioner Man of War in Hawaii.
  3/22/02
  • Big thanks to Ziggy, who wrote:
    • I just picked up the April 2002 Issue of Details Magazine. Ben Affleck is on the cover and he does an interview inside. It's mostly about how he's doing since rehab. He mentions that he's working on a script with Matt and Casey right now. Here's the blurb about the script: "Affleck and Damon--along with Affleck's little brother, Casey--have started writing again. This time, it's a story called "Lay Down Easy," set in blue-collar Revere, Massachussettes, and centered around two brothers, one of whom races his dog at the Wonderland Racetrack."
      In the beginning of the magazine, there is a small write-up from the Editor of Details (letter from the editor)...the editor mentions that he's an acquaintance of Ben's and spells out why he hates guys like Ben (good looking, movie star etc...). Anyway, he mentions Matt in his write up and states that Matt is on next month's cover of Details magazine (May 2002). I thought everyone would like to know so they can keep an eye out for it when it hits the newstands next month.
    • From E!Online's "The Awful Truth": here
      Fly's the Limit
      This eyeful is so downright revealing, it deserves its very own showcase. Readers, ready to lower your zippers?
      Just this past weekend, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Project Greenlight premiered its first film, Stolen Summer, in the Windy City. Stars Bonnie Hunt, Aidan Quinn, Kevin Pollak and Eddie Kaye Thomas all trotted down the green carpet. (Less glitzy types like Pete Jones and producer Chris Moore, who found 14 and a half minutes of fame in HBO's behind-the-scenes documentary, followed.)
      However, these famous peeps weren't the only thing premiering this par-tick night. Newly minted movie honcho Damon arrived on the press line to the usual whooping from fans. But those adoring cheers soon turned to gasps and downright merriment when myriad eyes noticed that M.D. needed to, shall we say, XYZ.
      Oblivious to his fully flared fabric faux pas, Matty-babe continued working his way past TV cameras and such, until a female reporter with my eye for headline and crotch grabbin' yelled, "Matt! Your fly is down!"
      With movie-stah grace (or with as much as one can muster in such a wide-open sitch), M.D. sheepishly finished dressing and explained, "And to think this happened on the one night I forgot to wear underwear!"
      An uncutting comeback, I'd say.
  • Ali wrote:
    As usual you have the best news about Matt! Tell Kelly that I taped the Oprah interview; might be able to work a deal after I move and uncover all my stuff again. I too have lots of Matt stuff on tape. Sorry to hear that he was "caught" smoking again; old habits die hard. Probably doesn't help being around others that smoke also; Odessa, Ben, etc. Anyway, thanks for the info and keep it coming.
  • Felicity wrote:
    • From Fox News:
      By the end of the night � after attending the opening of Gucci's new boutique on Rodeo Drive � Late, Late Show talk show host Craig Kilborn was overheard in a heated sports trivia marathon session with Miramax's Harvey Weinstein � who, I am told, knew more than Kilborn. Weinstein offered to do a full Late, Late Night episode if he could bring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with him. Sources say the deal is being worked out now. Anyone who caught this trio on Inside the Actor's Studio knows this should be an amusing and enlightening event.
    • From the Rocky Mountain News:
      Film stars aligned for cosmic convergence this summer
      By News Wire Services
      March 21, 2002
      Best buddies Matt Damon and Ben Affleck -- both of whom could use a hit -- will be locking horns at the box office May 31, when Damon's Bourne Identity and Affleck's Sum of All Fears hit theaters.
      The films are getting solid buzz -- more so in the case of Bourne, an adaptation of the Robert Ludlum thriller about an amnesia victim who doesn't know if he's a good guy or a bad guy.
      "Bourne Identity is more hip than Sum of All Fears," says an insider, referring to the film version of the Tom Clancy thriller involving a terrorist attack at the Super Bowl.
      Damon and Affleck are just a few of many major names who will grace the screen this summer. As Paul Dergarabedian of Exhibitor Relations notes: "Last summer, there were practically no films with big stars. This summer the list seems endless and includes Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Tom Hanks, Will Smith . . . " Cruise's Minority Report, Cage's Wind Talkers, Hanks' Road to Perdition and Smith's Men in Black 2 all are expected to be well-received. In fact, the latter is expected to be a monster hit, as are Spiderman, Austin Powers 3, and Stars Wars: Attack of the Clones. Clones will hit theaters May 16.
      Dergarabedian predicts: "It's going to be an unbelievably big summer, probably the biggest ever." Still, he points out:
      "The competition is going to mean that some movies won't do the business they deserve. They can't all be No. 1. Some will do well their first weekend out, then drop fast. When you've got so much strong product, some will get hurt."
    • According to upcomingmovies.com, "Gerry" is scheduled for a platform limited release in October.
    • Did you see that Jude Law will star with Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger in Minghella's "Cold Mountain"? I was a little stunned... The symmetry's a little too cute - from supporting role to lead in Minghella's latest two films. I wonder if Matt was approached?
    • Variety's website was down Wednesday, so non-subscribers could access all stories. Here's a few examples:
      An old Variety story on Matt in Pretty Horses - January 14 01:
      'All the Pretty Horses'
      By NICOLE PANTER
      An adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's beloved, National Book Award-winning novel "All the Pretty Horses" tells the story of cowboy John Grady Cole, who goes to Mexico in search of a vanishing way of life. Key to bringing the acclaimed book to life was the casting of Cole, who begins his journey as a teenager and ends it as a man. When it came to casting, there was never any doubt in helmer Billy Bob Thornton's mind that Matt Damon was the right choice. Says Thornton, "We never even considered casting anyone else."
      Damon had his work cut out for him, as he would be in nearly every scene in the movie. According to screenwriter Ted Tally, "John Grady Cole is the heart of the entire story. The whole movie had to be built around that performance."
      Not only that, says Tally, the role itself had nuances that weren't apparent right away. "It's a deceptively difficult part. He had to be able to do a Texas accent. He had to be convincingly this rough, west Texas ranch kid. He had to be able to ride, even ride bareback, and rope and do all of those sort of cowboy things. He had to be able to speak Spanish and he had to be convincing in the love scenes."
      And it was an actor with that kind of versatility that Thornton and Tally were seeking to fill Cole's boots. "It's just a huge burden of a role, and I was thrilled when Matt took the part," Tally says. "To me there's no other actor of his generation who would have been as right in this part. He is smart and sensitive, and he's an actor who can sell tickets and do all of the things this role needed."
    • A pic of Matt and Bernie Mac at the O11 premiere: here
    • About the "Smoke Signals" premiere:
      Tales of the Indian
      Gotham museum hosts 'Smoke' preem
      By Monica Roman
      Sherman Alexie, who wrote the screenplay and the book that inspired the film, said "he felt like a 16-year-old girl" when he saw Ryder's date, Matt Damon. "I got all 'Tiger Beat'-y," confessed Alexie. "I wanted to ask him what his favorite color is."
    • There's even news on 'Push, Nevada' casting from the Hollywood Reporter: ...while Derek Cecil (Fox's "Pasadena") and Scarlett Chorvat (UPN's "Freedom") have been cast as leads in the mystery interactive drama "Push, Nevada," a co-production with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's LivePlanet
    • There's interviews with Pete Jones today at hollywood.com, NY Daily News and filmforce.com
  3/21/02
  • From Felicity:
    • As reported on ET, Matt attended the Publicists Guild annual luncheon today with Brad Pitt to present Ocean's 11 producer Jerry Weintraub with an award.
      Lots of photos are at wireimage, including these: here, here, and here.
      Yahoo has one pic: here.
      There are more from the event at gettyimages of Matt smoking and signing autographs for fans outside the venue.
    • From the Chicago Sun-Times:
      Damon data . . .
      Actor Matt Damon, who joined actors Bonnie Hunt and Aidan Quinn at a private party at Gibsons last week for the premiere of "Stolen Summer," was so excited to find out Bulls star Jalen Rose was dining in another corner . . . he hied to Rose's table, took a pix with him . . . and exchanged phone numbers.
    • This item was at the end of Roger Friedman's Fox News column today:
      If you were looking for real star power, though, La Cienega Boulevard going south seemed like the right place. That's where Gotham magazine publisher Jason Binn and I pulled up to a red light side by side with none other than Matt Damon. He was 'Good Will Driving' a snappy looking Jaguar with New Jersey plates, and looking like a Movie Star with a big face-busting smile. Why the foreign plates? "It's a loaner," Damon told us as we idled side by side, then sped off with his girlfriend presumably to some swell dinner. A kid from the wrong side of the tracks in Cambridge, Mass is living in the dream in Tinseltown. Right on, I say!
  • A big thanks to Ziggy, who also sent news in about Matt's appearnce at the award show:
    From Yahoo Entertainment News: here
    Actors Brad Pitt and Matt Damon speak at the 39th annual Publicists Awards in Beverly Hills March 20, 2002. Pitt and Damon prepared to honor producer Jerry Weintraub with the Publicists' 2002 Motion Picture Showmanship Award bestowed by publicists working in the entertainment industry. Pitt and Damon starred in Weintraub's film "Oceans 11." REUTERS/Rose Prouser
    Here's the photo
  • Thanks to Angelann, who wrote:
    Just thought I would let you know that I saw that Matt was at some awards luncheon held in L.A. today to present someone with an award. The clip they showed was of him giving the guy a hug, but because I wasn't really paying attention before I realized it was him, I have no clue who that person was. I know that Warren Beatty and a local entertainment reporter were also honored. I saw it on KABC (Channel 7) in L.A.. Tell the other Matt fans to keep their eyes peeled.
  • And we thank L., who wrote:
    Hi there. I live in the Cleveland, OH area and was listening to an Akron station 96.5 fm on the way into work. Pete Jones was in the studio talking about Stolen Summer. The DJ asked him what it was like to work with Matt and Ben. The same old answer was offered, as in all the interviews surrounding PGL and Stolen Summer, "They are just regular guys who happen to be super stars." The DJ said that they should ask Matt about that and starts dialing a number on the air. You could hear the beeps b/c he dialed live on the air. Anyway, Matt's voicemail picked up and said he wasn't able to take the call and to leave a message and he would call back. It was certainly Matt's voice. The DJ left a silly message about having Pete Jones there and to call back. It was cute. Small news but it was local for me and a bit of a harmless personal glimpse into Matt's voicemail. By the way, for those Clevelanders, the morning show on 96.5 is, I think, aired on a local tv station (PAX TV Channel 23).
  • Stacey wrote:
    The Bourne Identity website has been updated with a flash intro, which leads into a big picture of Matt saying "Matt Damon is Jason Bourne". Some new features added too, like a photo gallery, but only one new photo. It has yet to be rated.
  3/19/02
  • Many thanks to Lisa, who wrote:
    saw 40 days/40 nights this weekend. Bourne Identity preview was shown... looks great. Should be released soon if the trailers are already in the theatres.
  • Kelly @ MattDamonFanPage.com wrote:
    Hello, in reply to Tome, I ordered a copy of the Project Greenlight series off of someone on ebay and it should arrive sometime this week. I am also looking for a copy of the Oprah interview on tape. I have many Matt Damon appearances which I could trade if anyone is interested. I left a post on the Matt Damon Message Board (http://www.efgforum.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=94) if anyone can help.
  • And a big thanks to Amiee, who wrote:
    Hi,
    Just wanted to give your readers a heads up for some "Stolen Summer" related TV spots coming up. Bonnie Hunt will be on Letterman this Wednesday March 20th and on Live with Regis and Kelly on Thursday the 21st Aidan Quinn (one of my favorite actors) will be on Rosie Friday the 22nd and on The View on Wednesday the 27th and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central) on Thursday the 21st Pete Jones, I saw earlier was scheduled to be on Leno on the 26th but since then his name has been removed. If anyone has an info.... All information is courtesy of The Late Night TV Page http://www.interbridge.com/lineups.html
  3/17/02
  • Stacey wrote:
    If anyone ever hears about a repeat of the most recent Oprah, please let me know. Oprah wasn't on Thurs or Fri here due to basketball playoffs. I was so upset I didn't get to see Matt. Great pics and reviews, though.
    While we are at it, don't forget that Tome has requested for tapes of the Project Greenlight series on HBO. If you can help either Tome of Stacey, please write.
  • From Felicity:
    • transcript, soundbites and video clips of Matt's "Will & Grace" episode is now available online at http://www.durfee.net/will/.
      On the home page, go to Episode List, Season 4, #82 'A Chorus Lie'.
    • From the Boston Herald's Inside Track column Sunday:
      Hot role for Damon
      ...And speaking of Ben, expect sparks to fly between his pal, Matt Damon, and co-star Franka Potente of ``Run Lola Run'' fame when ``The Bourne Identity'' hits the big screen this summer.
      Word from the Big Apple is that Universal studios suits want our favorite Cambridge homeboy in some hot, steamy scenes to get audiences revved up for what they hope will be a trilogy of Bourne flicks.
      ``They want Matt as a mature lead with sex scenes and star chemistry,'' director Doug Liman told Manhattan man-about-town Baird Jones at the premiere of ``Kissing Jessica Stein'' the other night. ``With the kind of huge budget they have given me, my job has to be to try to edit around these expectations and it's very, very tough.''
      Well, for some reason Damon, who's adorable, hasn't exactly generated a lot of heat with his female leads. (Think Charlize Theron in ``The Legend of Bagger Vance'' and Gretchen Mol in ``Rounders.'') He had boyish chemistry with then-galpal Minnie Driver in ``Good Will Hunting'' but Universal wants man-sized bedroom action for this flick.
      The studio is planning to let Liman helm two more Bourne movies based on novels by the late Robert Ludlum. Unless, of course, the first flick flops.
      In it, Damon plays a character who has amnesia so he can't figure out why he's being hunted by assassins and CIA operatives, including Julia Stiles. He also discovers his surprising skill at killing people.
      File Under: Identity Crisis?
    • From the Chicago Tribune, talking about the distribution deal for "Gerry":
      Most festival-goers found themselves in a state of butt-scratching crisis, but ThinkFilm distribution head Mark Urman said he figures that reaching the admiring minority would be enough.
  3/16/02
  • A Big Matt Fan wrote:
    (On Oprah,) Matt opened the show to great applause, the audience on its feet. Oprah mentioned how cute he was (and he certainly was), but that they weren't going to talk about that. Matt was, as always, perfectly charming, articulate, and yet appropriately deferential to others when they shared the stage. BTW: When asked if there would be a PGL2, Matt answered that they had lost a lot of money on the first one, but that they were in negotiations with Miramax to at least break even on a second.
    Though it was only on half the show, I thought it was an excellent promotional opportunity for PGL/Stolen Summer, one many studios would kill for. Personally, I suspect they wouldn't have been on Oprah if not for Matt's involvement. Oprah really does seem to have an affection for Matt, and interest in his projects.
  • Kathryn of Edinburgh wrote:
    • I realise we've known about this for a while, but there's an article and some accompanying photos of Matt and Penelope's meeting on Rodeo Drive in the March 14 issue of OK! magazine. Accompanying text is as follows:
      Penelope Cruz and Matt Damon
      The Good Friends are Reunited on Rodeo Drive
      Normally firmly attached to the side of boyfriend Tom Cruise, sultry Spanish actress Penelope Cruz broke the mould when she was spotted out with Matt Damon. She happily chatted to the O11 heart-throb as she got into her car on Rodeo Drive.
      Since working on the Western flick ATPH together, Penelope and Matt have remained good friends and spent nearly half an hour laughing and joking together when they bumped into each other on the upmarket shopping street.
      [paragraph about Pene here]
      ... Meanwhile, Matt is currently riding high on the huge success of O11. He has also just completed filming The Bourne Identity, a thriller based on Robert Ludlum's bestselling novel, due for release this summer.
      The photographs are obviously larger than the ones we've seen previously, although I still can't work out what's written on Matt's tee! :)
    • I was checking out View Askew and found this quite by accident; it's a posting by Kevin Smith about the Academy Awards ( here). Had I known about it earlier, I would have told you (this posting is from Feb 12). On Best Animated Feature:
      "I'm all for "Monsters, Inc." It's the only Oscar screener I've got that I've watched more than twice (second place goes to the "Ocean's 11" oscar screener; f..., that movie just gets better and better everytime I watch it; yes, Clooney, Pitt, and Damon are gods, but Bernie Mac is the unsung hero of that picture for me; his scenes with the car salesman and Matt and Andy Garcia are genius)."
      He also mentions that he'd give the Best Direction Oscar to (among others) Soderbergh for O11.
  • Felicity wrote: The photo of Matt at the premiere is back on yahoo: here (and shown as today's feature pic).
  3/15/02
• Natalie wrote:
  Hi, Matt looked great on Oprah! Theres some caps at oprah.com, I'm not sure if you already have them, but heres a few anyway
  (Many thanks, Natalie - the pics are shown above and to the right.)
• From Kelly:
  Matt's going to be on "Before they were Stars" on Monday the 18th. I'm not sure if it's the same "clip" they showed last time or not.
• Tome wrote:
  ... I'm looking for anyone who would have and be willing to copy the episodes of Project Greenlight. I don't get HBO so I wasn't able to watch the show. I would be willing to pay for a copy if anyone is willing. I wasn't sure if you posted things like this, but if you do, I'd really appreciate it if you could post this for me. Anyone who's interested could email me at [email protected] Thank you so much!!
• From Felicity:
  • Enjoy Oprah today!
  • If you want some pictures before Oprah, there's a slideshow with quotes at the site.
    All available, including a video preview, at here.
  • The reactions on PGL were great, and very warm. Ben was apparently away filming, but he has also chosen to stay low profile of late.
  • From the NY Post, which could put an end to rumors of Matt's involvement with the project. Does this confirm that Matt (who is the only candidate left from the original male A-list possibles) is not filming this year, when this was the most likely prospect? Love the slip about the author...
    JUICY PLUMS
    THE long-awaited film version of "Cold Mountain," Cormac McCarthy's stirring Civil War novel, is bound to have a stellar cast. Director Anthony "The English Patient" Minghella was recently in L.A. taking meetings with Josh Hartnett, Leonardo DiCaprio, Eric Bana (of the upcoming "The Hulk"), Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Connelly, Kate Winslet, and Rene Zellweger. Needless to say, they all want starring roles
  • From the Chicago Sun-Times:
    MORE 'SUMMER': At Tuesday's Chicago premiere of ''Stolen Summer,'' producer and Academy Award winner Matt Damon happily fielded an Oscar question--but showed he's not as riveted by this year's race. Asked who he's rooting for, Damon paused and said, ''I've got to think a minute about who's nominated. ...For best actor, I think it should go to Billy Bob Thornton for 'The Man Who Wasn't There.' ''
    Reminded Thornton wasn't nominated, Damon said with a laugh, ''Well he should have been. ...I don't care. That's who I'm voting for, no matter what!''

• From Felicity:
  • There were some pics on yahoo of the Stolen Summer premiere in Chicago, but they've gone now (might be back later?) Matt was definitely there (black sweater, denim jacket), but Ben did not appear. No other news agencies (at this time) appear to have photos. A media blackout for some reason, or just little interest?
  • From the Chicago Sun-Times:
    Greening of Chicago--a wee bit early
    March 13, 2002
    BY BILL ZWECKER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
    They rolled out the green carpet--not the usual red one--at the Chicago Theatre Tuesday night to greet the filmmakers and stars of ''Stolen Summer,'' the Project Greenlight movie that has captured the imagination of budding filmmakers everywhere.
    ''This is just not real. This is not me standing here. ...I feel like I'm somebody else,'' said an effusive Pete Jones, the writer and director who finally caught Hollywood's attention, thanks to his winning a new kind of million-dollar lottery.
    ''Tonight is so amazing. Here I am a Chicago guy with a Chicago story, at the premiere of my movie that is all about Chicago people, standing on the green carpet, just before St. Patrick's Day, with my entire Irish family here. ...I can't believe it,'' said Jones, happy to have the symbolism of his green shirt also acknowledged.
    As a large crowd of mostly female fans screamed his name adoringly, Project Greenlight co-founder Matt Damon stepped from his limo, shyly grinned and waved and explained how standing on the Chicago Theatre green carpet gave him a sense of deja vu.
    ''Being at this premiere comes closest to how I felt the night we premiered 'Good Will Hunting' in Boston. ...It was a Boston movie by Boston kids, and I remember very well. My family was there. Tonight this is the same thing for Pete ... and Bonnie [Hunt] as well. Bonnie is the mayor of Chicago; I don't care what Mayor Daley says,'' added Damon with a laugh.
    ''Mayor'' Hunt, joined by her mother at the premiere, showcased her signature comedy and pretended to be circumspect about playing fellow Chicagoan Aidan Quinn's wife in the film.
    ''My husband is within earshot,'' said Hunt with a wink. ''Maybe this is the time to tell him,'' she quipped.
    For Quinn, it was ''absolutely terrific to be back in Chicago to make this film. ...but also because it was such a great story.''
    Damon clearly feels the film--boosted by the HBO series--was a project well worth undertaking.
    ''A big hope for us is proving that this system can work ... there are so many deserving people out there who just can't get access. They don't have an agent, they can't get in. ...We hope this changes things a bit.''
    What set Jones' script apart was ''its heart,'' Damon said. ''It was raw and there was all this honest emotion in it... you believed the story, you believed in the characters."
    Though Damon is not seen in ''Stolen Summer,'' his connection to the project was enough to draw Lincoln Park resident Angie Hutson to the Chicago Theatre Tuesday night.
    ''I'll be perfectly happy just to wait and watch his name come up when the credits roll.''
    Now that's what you call a true fan.
  • The boys of 'Summer' talk about HBO's reality series
    BY CINDY PEARLMAN
    During the hours before the Chicago premiere of his film "Stolen Summer," Deerfield native Pete Jones took some time to talk about the HBO reality series "Project Greenlight." According to Jones, the 12-episode chronicle of the production wasn't exactly true to life.
    "Hey, it was great TV," the director said. "I watched the series and thought, 'Whoa, this is good.' But all the fighting and bad things you saw on the series wasn't the whole story. There were wonderful moments making this movie. That's the part they didn't show on HBO," Jones said.
    Jones, who won a contest for young screenwriters sponsored by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and producer Chris Moore, became a household name due to the behind-the-scenes series that depicted producer fights and a novice director (Jones) who shot under the L tracks (too loud) and plopped his child star in Lake Michigan (the kid couldn't swim).
    "Yeah, I wish I came across better in the series, but the idea for HBO was to show all the bad stuff," Jones said. "If you showed what really happened on a movie set, it would be so boring. In fact, a few of my buddies came to the set one day and were so bored they said, 'We're going back to our desk jobs.' ''
    Coming off worse than Jones was Moore, who also was in town for Tuesday's premiere. Warm and funny in person, the producer shrugged and said, "I can be a hard--- when it comes to making a movie, but my goal is to make the best movie possible."
    The movie, about a Catholic boy (Adi Stein) and a Jewish boy who is dying of leukemia (Mike Weinberg) bonding over a summer in Chicago, already is getting kudos. Oprah Winfrey liked it so much she had Damon and Jones tape an upcoming show. Sundance audiences loved it.
    Moore said the HBO series has its share of famous fans, too. "I know Steven Spielberg loved the show. He told Ben at the Golden Globes. Director Peter Jackson ['Lord of the Rings'] even called me to get all of the 'Project Greenlight' series tapes because they don't get HBO in New Zealand."
    Moore said he is being recognized everywhere, too. "People tell me, 'Look, I spent 12 Sunday nights with you. Yes, you were too hard on poor Jeff Balis [the shaggy-haired co-producer]. Oh, and congratulations on your new baby.'"
    Balis said, "I do get the sympathy vote." At one point on the series and in real life, Moore threatened to send Balis back to Los Angeles due to "lack of communication."
    "Jeff thinks I just stirred that up for the TV series, but I didn't," Moore said. "Yes, I would have brought him back. I do listen. I think that little shakeup did lead to better communication on the set."
    Two glitches that HBO played up were Jones' failure to know it would be loud under those L tracks. "I nearly went deaf," cried 11-year-old star Adi Stein, who added, "Actually that was a cool location and we just had to add the lines in later." As for 9-year-old Weinberg reportedly "almost drowning" in Lake Michigan, the kid said, ''They had a zillion guys there to pull me out if I even sneezed. I thought it was really cool, even if my legs were turning blue."
    Jones is now polishing a script he plans to shoot in Chicago about four childhood friends. "It's about the moment you know when you're an adult," he said.
    If there is any doubt about fallout from the HBO series, Jones mentions that Moore is likely to produce it.
    **
    Good to hear the story about the famous fans...
  • Ocean's 11 has broken US$400 million world-wide.
  • Still no photos! But a few quick shots on ET today.
  • From the Chicago Tribune, talking about the possibility of Greenlight without LivePlanet:
    HBO's `Greenlight' gets a new red light
    By Mark Caro
    Tribune movie reporter
    Published March 13, 2002
    The HBO series "Project Greenlight" presented filmmaking as one hyped-up conflict after another, and the dramas continued to be played out Tuesday, just hours before the movie featured on the show, "Stolen Summer," was being readied for its official premiere at the Chicago Theatre.
    Live Planet--the production company run by producer Chris Moore and actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon--oversaw the "Project Greenlight" Internet screenplay contest that enabled Deerfield native Pete Jones to make his movie in Chicago last summer for a $1.5 million budget provided by Miramax Films, which will release "Stolen Summer" March 22.
    Given the popularity of the TV series, which selectively documented the making of the film, a sequel seemed inevitable, but as of Tuesday morning Moore was saying that Miramax and HBO were considering doing the next "Project Greenlight" without him, Affleck and Damon.
    "Live Planet and Matt Damon and Ben and myself lost a lot of money this first time," Moore said. "And we're just not going to do it again to lose money. We're not going to pay for the opportunity to work this hard for free again. And so [Miramax co-chairman] Harvey [Weinstein] has decided that we're not necessary for the project. So Miramax may do it without us, and HBO may do it without us."
    Moore said Live Planet lost between $750,000 and $1 million from the Internet site, which proved costlier to administrate and generated few sponsor dollars. But when Live Planet tried to negotiate a new deal in which Miramax would cover more of the Internet costs, the distributor said no, Moore said.
    Miramax owns the rights to "Project Greenlight" and initially brought Live Planet on board. Moore, Affleck and Damon essentially became the project's public face.
    "I don't think it would have happened without us being involved," Moore said. "But they could go get Quentin Tarantino or somebody else to put their name on it and go out and do another thing."
    That possibility seemed less likely Tuesday afternoon after Miramax got wind of Moore's statements and essentially reopened negotiations.
    "It's gotten better," Moore said. "They definitely came back with something today that was progress, but it's certainly not like the deal's closed. But I think they're trying hard to make it happen."
    Miramax spokesman Matthew Hiltzik sounded optimistic Tuesday afternoon.
    "We love working with Live Planet on the first `Project Greenlight' and `Stolen Summer,'" Hiltzik said. "We're currently negotiating for a second installment and are excited about the possibilities."
    An HBO spokesperson declined comment, saying the company doesn't discuss projects in development.
• Tina wrote:
  Some news from me, a local Chicago gal ...
  Matt was indeed at the premiere of "Stolen Summer" last night, despite what the Chicago Tribune had reported. The local news channels got a couple quick interviews with him on the red carpet before the movie started--he certainly got his fair share of screams from the crowd gathered outside the theater when he showed up! From what I've read on the Project Greenlight message boards today, he also stopped to meet and greet and take pictures with his fans before going into the theater (what a sweet guy!).
  I've checked the news channels' websites and couldn't find any pictures from the event, unfortunately. I REALLY wish I could have gone downtown and seen all the red-carpet happenings in person, but I have a grad-school class on Tuesday nights and couldn't make it (it's either show up or fail the class--some fun :/).
  Anyway, the Sun-Times had an article about the premiere today: here.
  (This is the same as one mentioned by Felicity, but thanks just the same, Tina).
• And Erika (thanks!) wrote:
  According to E! Online, there will be a repeat episode of Matt Damon Revealed at 10:00pm on Wed., Mar 20. Here's the link.
• Ziggy wrote:
  From Entertainment Tonight's Website:
  MATT DAMON'S PREMIERE
  March 13, 2002 | MATT DAMON took center stage last night in Chicago at the premiere of 'Stolen Summer,' a movie he executive produced with BEN AFFLECK. The film, opening next Friday, stars AIDAN QUINN, KEVIN POLLACK and was written by the winner of Matt and Ben's Project Greenlight contest -- PETE JONES

• From Felicity:
  • The caption on a picture of Matt and Oprah on yahoo reports that the interview will be broadcast this Thursday, not Friday. And yep, it's the same black jumper.
    Actor Matt Damon, left, talks with talk show host Oprah Winfrey during taping of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," in Chicago on Tuesday, March 12, 2002. Damon talked about Project Greenlight, the Internet screenplay contest he ran with with friend and fellow actor Ben Affleck. "Stolen Summer," the movie made from the winning script, premiered in Chicago Tuesday night. The show is scheduled to air Thursday. The movie opens nationwide March 22. (AP Photo/Oprah Winfrey Show, George Burns)
    The photo is at: here.
    I haven't found any pictures from the premiere yet.
    Here's the summary of Thursday's show:
    3/14/02 Matt Damon: Project Greenlight (PG)
    Oscar-winners Matt Damon and Ben Affleck know how one lucky break can change a person's life forever. So they came up with a contest called Project Greenlight to give one unknown writer/director the chance to make a million dollar movie.
    After 10,000 applicants with 7,000 screenplays, Matt Damon is here to introduce the winner: Pete Jones!
    Be careful what you wish for...you just might get it!
  • Here's the good black and white photo with the Now magazine article. (It is shown as the feature pic of today.)
    It's old, but I'm not sure from which press circuit it's from.
  • The Chicago Tribune reports that Matt won't be attending the Greenlight premiere Tuesday.
• Ziggy wrote:
  In the March 18, 2002 issue of "US Magazine", there is the following mention of Matt in "The Scene" where celebrity sightings are detailed:
  "Matt Damon savoring scotch and a stogie at Hudson Bar & Books in New York."
• The Big Matt Fan wrote:
  ...Miscellaneous bit about Clooney's new relationship with a Montreal woman, from zap2it.com:
  "George is a real romantic and two weeks ago he bought Maria a dozen roses and asked her to move in with him," a friend of Clooney's was quoted. "She didn't hesitate. She's utterly in love with George. Even Matt [Damon] told him he'd be a fool to let her go."
• Kelly wrote:
  In regards to the scoop about "I Know This Much Is True". That information was posted on the HSX page two years ago and unfortunately nothing more has been mentioned about the project since then. It looks like the project has been put on hold.

• Angelann (thanks!) wrote:
  t(ell) other Matt fans that there is an article about Stolen Summer on the People.com website or at this AOL site (it has a cute picture of him on the homepage under "Latest news") Thanks! Have a nice day!
  Love,
  Angelann
• And a big thanks to Kelly, who sent in these tantalizing news:
  Here's some new info on future "Matt" projects. The first one is at: here.
  Fox is working on a film based on Wally Lamb's acclaimed 900-page novel I Know This Much Is True. The story is about a depressed housepainter who decides to rescue his identical twin brother, a paranoid schizophrenic, from a maximum security mental institute. Jim Sheridan will direct the film, and Matt Damon is currently attached to play the twin brothers.
  Then at: http://www.sundayherald.com/22910:
  Very little is permanent in Hollywood. An infinitely rolling parade of names and faces that are mostly forgotten almost as soon as they have begun, it is a place where fashions change, values mutate to suit the prevailing environment and morality fits in where it can. It is a town of fast bucks and shallow relationships, of eye-popping para dises and late-night despairs, but even here they honour their heroes. Even here, everyone remembers a really big gun.
  The slickest, fastest, rooting-tootingist gunslinger in the history of the Wild West whooped back into town this week with the news that after several decades spent in entertainment hibernation, the Lone Ranger is to ride again. Bankrolled by Sony's Columbia Pictures, Gladiator producer Doug Wick has ponied up seven figures for the rights to the cult hero and is reportedly planning to shoot an epic $70 million re-telling of the masked avenger's tale, with Matt Damon, Pearl Harbor star Josh Hartnett and Edward Norton all in the running to tote the pearl-handled six-guns.
• Felicity wrote:
  From the Boston Herald's Inside Track column:
  Critics take a shine to Project Greenlight film debut
  by Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa
  Monday, March 11, 2002
  First-time director Pete Jones isn't exactly thrilled about the way the HBO ``Project Greenlight'' documentary portrayed his maiden voyage into filmmaking.
  But Pete, who was plucked from obscurity and given nearly $2 million to make his movie, isn't about to bite the hand that fed him!
  ``Well, I think it will get people into the theaters to see if the movie's a train wreck or not,'' Jones told the Track. ``And if it gets people into the movies, I guess that's good. But I think the TV show was more like `Survivor' on a movie set than it was a documentary. They really went for the drama.''
  Hey, that's show biz, Pete!
  In case you've been living in a cave, Jones is the first protege of Cambridge homeys Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who dreamed up ``Project Greenlight'' as a way to give unknown talent a ticket to Tinseltown.
  The Green filmmaker's original screenplay, ``Stolen Summer,'' was chosen out of thousands submitted via the Internet and he got a million-dollar budget (later bumped up to $1.8 million) to make the movie with Aidan Quinn, Bonnie Hunt, Kevin Pollak and the support and encouragement of Damon, Affleck, Miramax Pictures and its band of control freaks.
  The behind-the-scenes turf battles, blunders and backbiting were played out in a 12-part HBO series that wrapped up last month.
  The final product is ready to roll into theaters March 22 and the buzz, which began with the debut at January's Sundance Film Festival, has been almost overwhelmingly positive.
  ``I don't know if it's a compliment or not but people came up to me and said, `We were expecting the worst movie ever, but it made us laugh and it made us cry,' '' Jones said. ``The audiences have really responded and that made it all worthwhile.''
  But inquiring minds want to know, Pete, was Chris Moore really as big a nightmare as the TV series made him out to be?
  ``The best and worst thing about Chris Moore is his passion and honesty,'' Jones said. ``And that's not a bad thing to say about someone. There were times when I wish he wouldn't have said some things but there were times when I needed someone to push me and tell me `You've got to do this better.' It came off as tough in the TV show but they didn't show the great moments when he was my emotional backbone.''
  As for Matt and Ben, well, you'll excuse Pete if he seems rather smitten. After all, where would he be without the dynamic duo?
  ``I still can't get over how these huge, larger-than-life stars maintain their personas as just regular guys from Boston,'' he said. ``They're just like the guys I went to high school with - except they're richer, more famous and more handsome.''
  Jones has just completed work on his second script that he describes as a kind of ``modern-day `Diner' set in Chicago'' and he hopes to make it with Moore and Miramax again.
  As for the next victim, er winner, of ``Project Greenlight,'' he has a few words of advice:
  ``Make the movie and try not to make as many mistakes as I did,'' he said. ``Because everyone in the U. S. who watches HBO is going to see them!''

• Felicity wrote:
  As Kathryn told us last week, there's a interview with Matt in the UK's Now magazine. Here's some excerpts:
  Matt may have had the least glamorous role in Ocean's Eleven, but he's not complaining about the way his career has gone. He'd made it to the top of his profession by the age of 30. "There's nothing worse than some 30-year-old movie actor moaning about how awful their life is. There are 10,000 actors out there who'd love, absolutely love, to be where I am right now. For me, the greatest grip on reality is being around people who don't lose that perspective."
  Matt says that what keeps him grounded in life is his circle of friends and family. "I'm lucky to have very smart friends and family members. I have an elder brother who lives in Boston with his wife and two kids. He's a brilliant man and a great influence on me - we're very close. My mum is a great woman who ends up visiting just about every set I'm on. She's incredibly insightful and a great sounding board for whatever's on my mind. My friends are the same as they've always been. They're good people who have my best interests at heart, and that's just where I have theirs."
  He admits that he's been troubled by his friend Ben Affleck's recent problems with alcohol - but adds that he didn't feel it was his business to interfere. "I don't tell my friends how to live their lives, you know? It's a tricky business, this one, but Ben's doing great right now. He's a strong person and, like me, he's fortunate that he's got a great support group in his friends and family. Something we have in common is that we both have extremely strong family ties and a terrific group of friends - it really helps us to navigate some of the situations that can arise in our profession. Ben's like all my friends - he's trying to be a better person. Our group all are and I'm proud of us for that."
  {On relationships} But he does admit the fact that his own parents divorced when he was a child has made him a little wary of hasty commitment. "My parents married soon after they'd met and both my mother and my father have said to me 'Stay in a relationship with someone a long time before you get married.' They really wish they'd done that themselves and, knowing them, I can see how important it is. It's not that I'm against marriage, but I do think it should be with someone you're pretty sure of before you do it."

• Felicity's finds:
  • From the "Stolen Summer" production notes, this sweet story from Pete Jones:
    "I'll never forget introducing myself to Matt," Jones says of his first meeting with... Matt Damon. "This was when I was still part of the top 10 [finalists in the Greenlight competition]. I put out my hand and said 'Hi Matt, I'm Pete Jones.' And he said he knew who I was. And I turned to introduce my wife. Before I could introduce her, Matt put out his hand and said 'It's nice to meet you Jenny. Congratulations on your beautiful daughter Molly.' Jenny melted as any mother would, and I realized, despite his superstardom, Matt Damon was a regular guy and a class act."
    "Matt and Ben gave me notes on the script and notes in editing, but they always prefaced their notes with 'It's your movie, do it your way.' The two of them have an incredible way of instilling confidence [in me] and I will obviously be forever grateful."
  • From eonline, confirming what we expected:
    Matt Damon plans to attend the blow-out Chicago preem of Project Greenlight's Stolen Summer March 12...
    A press release about the event is at: here.
  • A story on a University of Michigan film competition inspired by Project Greenlight: here
  • The FilmMaker magazine I mentioned earlier has shown up in local stores, and it includes a very long and detailed interview with Gus Van Sant about Gerry. He again reinforces that it's inspired by the work of directors Bela Tarr and Chantal Akerman. Some excerpts (warning, this will be long):
    Filmmaker Magazine: This is based on a true story, right?
    Gus Van Sant: Yeah, the genesis is from a story that I was told by Matt Damon about two guys who were lost in the desert, and it ended tragically. But we pretty much tried to ignore the real case because we didn't want to get too close to it. Casey, Matt and I brought our own experiences of getting lost in wilderness areas into the mix.

    FM: What plan did you have going in? How much did you make up on the spot?
    VS: The original idea was something that I wanted to do with [J.T. Leroy's novel] Sarah - to just go and start shooting the novel. You have a guide that you're working from, but you're not writing it down. So when we made Gerry first, I was still interested in not going through that screenplay stage. [Casey, Matt and I] had meetings - "scriptwriting" sessions - for a number of months using outlines. Those were pretty undisciplined. We were just writing ideas down. Then out of those ideas, we made an outline. A week before we shot, Casey and Matt did more traditional dialogue writing. [When we started shooting, we] knew the progression to the end, but it changed as we reacted to things as we went. We threw away ideas, which you wouldn't ordinarily do if you were shooting a script... we didn't get locked in. We just had a selection of locations, and we chose at that moment, or maybe the day before, where to shoot.

    {On the characters having no cathartic revelations or soul-searching moments}
    VS: Before we made the movie I thought we were definitely going to hve a lot

    of long bits of soul-searching dialogue. But it wasn't Casey's reaction to the direction we were going. And I think it was maybe a big fear on our part to have a bad version of that [soul-searching dialogue]. We wanted to have a good version of that [kind of interaction]. So maybe we just wound up with our version - because we have something.
    FM: Were you ever worried that the whole thing just wouldn't work?
    VS: ...After the first week, I showed [the early footage] to Harris [Savides, the d.p.] and to Matt and Casey, and I said, "This is what the idea is." I didn't know whether or not it was going to come together or not, whether it was actually going to fit. There was a very good chance that these long, contemplative shots were going to be overly contemplative and just fall apart after the first 30 seconds. I was just going on my own instincts and having developed my own set of rules about what was good or bad [about this way of shooting] based on watching Chantal's and Bela's films. But it wasn't until we actually put it together, after the first week, that I knew we weren't wasting our money. One of the things that really glued everything together was Casey and Matt themselves. Even as people on screen doing nothing, for some reason they have this chemistry together. They're really good friends, but I'm sure [their on-screen chemistry] isn't based on their friendship. I don't think a real friendship necessarily can be filmed. Most of the time, the two people on screen are enemies who never talk to each other between takes, and somehow there's still a chemistry between them. The chemistry [between Matt and Casey] was another thing I think I saw after the first week of shooting. I was really fortunate we got that, because it would have been difficult to transcend some of those long passages without it.

    FM: What role do you think Matt Damon's status as this young American movie star played within the film? Could you have made it with two unknown guys, and would it have worked?
    VS: I don't know. What do you think?
    FM: You're definitely playing with the audience's expectations about how Matt Damon will act on screen, even if it's just the simple fact that it's kind of a non-heroic role. But I also think there's something more dramatic about Matt and Casey being subsumed by this big desert than if it was just two guys you found in Argentina.
    VS: If it were just two guys, it would be totally different. As I originally thought of it, they were going to be funny characters lost in the desert. [The roles] were elevated by Matt and Casey to be less caricatures and more regular guys - maybe partly themselves. I think the initial idea that it was two guys who were completely unprepared to spend more than even 10 minutes in the desert because of where they were from. They were supposed to be suburan kids who, once they got out of the car, were doomed. It worked its way from that to being something really different, because we realised after talking about it that it wasn't really about the naivete of the kids. Any human who gets out of the car is doomed if they don't have a way to get back. Matt's standing as an international-superstar actor was something that was never really part of the equation. But there was this whole question of, since there were two guys, which one is going to be the "alpha male"? We just arrived at that realistically, as opposed to through the way we constructed the characters. That was kind of an interesting thing to watch.

    FM: Did you know who would be the active one during the film's climactic scene?
    VS: It was a big question. We didn't know when we started out. When we were shooting we didn't know. I assumed, and I think Matt assumed too, but Casey didn't assume. I think Casey assumed that we were all assuming one thing, and I think Casey thought, "Well, why are we assuming that?"

    {On the potential pressures of the film not succeeding}
    FM: It certainly doesn't seem like the movie is informed by that pressure.
    VS: No, because the film's not trying to make money out of the money [I spent on it]. It's just trying to be free. The reason I risked the money was not to impose [restrictions] on myself. It's sort of a self-designed cage built around freedom. There are certain things we couldn't have done on this movie if there were executives around. They'd talk you out of doing them. Since we didn't have them I only had myself as the stand-in.
    **
    Gus certainly has very strong and well-developed ideas far from the mainstream. He makes some very clouded statements, and you're really not sure of their meaning (actors hating each other, Casey's assumptions etc).
    We were correct in Val's assumption from May last year that the possible murder of a Boston student in New Mexico was the source of inspiration for the film.
    There are three colour pictures with the story.

  • Another version of a Gerry pic: here.
    The photo was taken from a review of Sundance, which includes a positive look at Gerry: here.
  • From a Time Out New York article on Ed Norton before the release of "American History X", a few quotes:
    Since his big break, Edward has been determined to dodge the usual celebrity gauntlet, turning down profiles in nearly every national magazine. "He's ducked the press more than I have," observes Matt Damon. "But then again, this is his first experience with Miramax, so we'll see how he does."
    The Edward I saw saw on location for Rounders last spring in the West Village had no backstage psychodramas to speak of - a perspective Damon shares. "There was no kind of shocking story of showing up and Edward's in his underwear doing a handstand saying, 'I'm getting there! I'm getting there!'" Damon says. "He likes to talk about what the scene is and what he wants to do - and he's really involved with the writers and really starts picking his battles there."
    Edward laughs again, "I suppose all this could change," he says. "I was talking with a friend about how Leonardo DiCaprio and even Matt have had to deal with this insane boytoy, teen-idol kind of thing, and I was going, 'Thank God that's not a part of my experience, and I don't think it ever will be.' And my friend said, 'Wait till they see the swastika and the pecs. You're going to be in trouble.'"
  • Something to watch out for (maybe): there will be an E! "True Hollywood Story" on Winona Ryder April 7. She's due in court March 11 to face shoplifting charges.
• A Big Matt Fan wrote:
  RE: A possible Bernie Mac appearance
  Don't hold your breath. I asked someone at the network about this. (Bernie Mac is a FOX show.) She said that while the Matt and Brad's names were once brought up, nothing ever came of it. The ET report was just a rumor.

• We heard from Casey (big thanks!):
  Hey everyone! Guess I have a few questions to respond to. To Angelann, I printed out the picture from my computer on glossy paper, so it's like a real 8x10 picture I printed and sent to him. To Jessica, I sent the letter, picture and SASE to him on January 26, 2002, and got it back around March 1, 2002. The address that I got is from a web site I check daily and the address is http://www.stararchive.com/ and I had been waiting for a good Matt Damon address for a few months now and it worked for one girl. I wrote the letter that night, sent it off the next day, got it back about a month and here I am today. On the web site there are tons of other celebrity address you can get too. It's a really good site. The address I wrote to was:
  Matt Damon
  c/o LivePlanet, Inc.
  7610 Beverly Boulevard
  P.O. Box 48649
  Los Angeles, CA 90048
  USA
  If you have any more questions about the letter, Matt Damon, or anything else e-mail me at [email protected] and check out my site at: http://caseyscelebpics.cjb.net
  Thanks everyone for the response!
• From the Big Matt Fan:
  I don't know if any of you have HBO, but Matt's films have been on a lot lately. They've been showing both ATPH and LBV. In fact, last weekend, they showed the two films back to back.
• From Felicity:
  • From the Hollywood Reporter:
    'Clones,' 'Spirit' wow crowds
    March 07, 2002
    LAS VEGAS -- The latest technology as well as footage from two of May's most promising movies -- Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" and DreamWorks' "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" -- were unveiled to conventioneers at ShoWest 2002 on Tuesday night to near-rapturous receptions.
  • And from Jam Showbiz:
    'Spirit' to bring back older animation
    By JAM! Movies
    DreamWorks' forthcoming animated feature "Spirit" could well silence naysayers who claim computer animated films have made traditional, hand-drawn animation obsolete, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
    DreamWorks' co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg recently screened selected scenes from "Spirit" before a small audience of industry insiders, who were dazzled by the excerpts from the film, which focuses on a wild mustang in the old West. The results have been likened to a moving Remington painting.
  • On ET it was mentioned today that Matt and Brad Pitt may guest star on Bernie Mac's sitcom.

• Angelann wrote:
  Hi!
  I just wanted to let you know how much I love your site and thank you for updating it so frequently. I think that the picture that Casey sent is real. I met Matt and got his autograph and it is identical to the one on her picture. I agree that it also looks like something he would say. Did Casey say whether or not she took the picture herself. It is so adorable. Do you know where to send fan letters?
  Thanks so much!

• Jessica wrote:
  Hey - I've been going to your website for awhile and I want to compliment you on always keeping up to date on all the information. It is very professional in nature and I enjoy it. I wanted to ask about the autographed picture Casey sent in. Did she mention how long it took for Matt to respond? I was just curious as to what the wait is on his mail.
  Thanks so much.

  (If Casey responds to these questions, it will be posted here.)

• Kathryn wrote:
  ...here are some belated bits on Matt for you. (I find that travelling is a perfect excuse to read all the celeb mags, heh, as opposed to just one!)
  Heat, 9-15 March:
  Matt Chews The Fat
  Matt Damon is infuriating his dining pals by insisting on chewing every mouthful of food 40 times. The actor also insists that every meal is 80% alkaline and 20% acid. (We've heard variations on this last bit, I think)

  OK, March 7:
  The Coolest Film of the Year: Ocean's Eleven
  Rob three casinos in one night? That calls for Hollywood's A-List
  (excerpt)
  Matt Damon impresses again in his limited screen time in O11. Perhaps not yet quite in the same league of megastardom as his co-stars Brad and George, surely it won't be too long before Damon establishes himself on the top table of Hollywood's leading men. In O11, however, he was happy to take a back seat. "I remember walking behind these guys and everyone was taking pictures and screaming "Brad" and "George"," he laughs.

  Empire, April 2002: The letters page has a letter about the in-jokes of O11, for example, it seems to be connected to Friends in more ways than one (Roberts and Clooney have both guest-starred, Ryder was in one episode and used to date Matt, etc). Also next issue is the "big blockbuster issue", which I take to mean will be dedicated to them - I take it Bourne will be in there somewhere too.
  There is also an article in the current issue of Now magazine dedicated to him, but I can't seem to find my copy. It's basically about two things, one of which may be his career or love life, and the other is his support for Ben through rehab. Most of it is general stuff about not wanting to talk about his love life, moving into his apartment in NY, but the Ben stuff I haven't really seen before in a UK mag. A couple of nice pictures accompany it as well. :)

• Felicity wrote:
  • New TV alert:
    Matt's scheduled to be a guest on Oprah (yet again) with Pete Jones on March 15 to promote Stolen Summer, in what I presume is likely to be only a short segment. The Oprah site has no details at this stage.
    According to the Project Greenlight site, that's the only appearance Matt's making for the film. For more details see http://projectgreenlight.liveplanet.com/film/publicity.jsp
  • From the NY Post talking about Corey Haim and Corey Feldman:
    Betsy Rott from E! channel's "True Hollywood Story" explains the enduring fascination with the two Coreys, "They were like the Matt [Damon] and Ben [Affleck] of the '80s. That's why they're so interesting to us."
  • A Sundance wrap I missed from the NY Post:
    One of the many other stars at Sundance - which ended its 11-day run on Sunday - was Matt Damon, who was there with pal Ben Affleck as producers of "Stolen Summer," the surprisingly good winner of their "Project Greenlight" scripwriting competition - which drew crowds like it was Scorsese's forthcoming "Gangs of New York.''
    Damon was also at the Eccles for the premiere of "Gerry," a strange reunion with his "Good Will Hunting" director, Gus Van Sant. Critics were divided on the merits of this odd, existential film which contains almost nothing in the way of plot or dialogue. Stunningly photographed on location in Argentina and Death Valley, it consists entirely of Damon and Casey Affleck (whose publicist prefers we not refer to as Ben's brother) as two guys named Gerry wandering around lost in a desert. Billed as an image to Hungarian director Bela Tarr (who?), it struck me as self-consciously arty.
    Fox News Channel gossip columnist Roger Friedman - who was there as producer and narrator of an excellent documentary on Motown stars, "Only the Strong Survive'' - was sitting next to me and counted the panels on the side of the auditorium.
    Event those who thought it was a masterpiece seemed surprised when this determinedly non-commercial film was quickly snapped up by a new distributor, ThinkFilm.
  • ShoWest is on again, and it's likely footage from Bourne Identity would be previewed at the Universal bash, with Matt a chance to appear.
  • The premiere of Stolen Summer is in Chicago next Tuesday, with Matt and Ben expected to attend. Footage from the film was shown on ET Wednesday, including a brief clip of Matt and Ben.

A big thanks to Casey, for sharing the amusing photo shown above. Casey wrote:
Matt Wrote To Me!
...Yea well kind of. I wrote to him and I sent him a picture to sign also and he wrote to me on the pic. Check it out! I'm pretty sure it's real.
(To Casey I wrote:
Oh I think it sounds just like Matt - how lucky you are! Very cute - do take care of that photo and thanks very much for sharing it with Damon fans!)

• From the Big Matt Fan:
  Zap2it.com has an interview with Pete Jones, which includes this:
  QUESTION: How has working with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon been?
  PETE JONES: When I won, my mom right away was �Congratulations, what are Matt and Ben like?� They are two really special guys that decided to give back because they remember what it took to get where they got.
  The site includes a decent photos of Matt, if you're interested: here. (One of the photos is shown as photo of the day.)
• Ryan of www.DamonWeb.net wrote:
  We've completed the switch in our hosting plan, but to prevent bandwidth from being used so quickly we've implemented a password to access the Photo Gallery (the most popular feature on the site). Anyone can have a password sent to them by sending an email to [email protected], but since your viewers are such loyal Matt Damon fans, I thought I'd share it with you so you could post it. The username is damonweb and the password is 2002user.

• The official site for Bourne Identity still reports the release date as 14 June. I presume it's receiving less coverage than other summer films at this stage due to its minimal pre-release publicity. Bourne really hasn't started its press blitz yet, and will still receive less coverage than other media friendly flicks and automatic BO winners like Star Wars, Spiderman and Sum of all fears.
• At keystonepressagency.com there are some pics of Matt and Odessa leaving a restaurant after dining with Brad Pitt, George Clooney and the Confessions crew in Montreal. All of the group look as though they really don't want to be photographed, and there's a separate photo of Matt and Brad with a local fan.
  The dinner was reported in the Scottish Daily Record, talking about Clooney's new 'girlfriend':
  At another dinner with Clooney, on February 22, Maria found herself dining with Damon, his girlfriend and three of Clooney's best friends.Afterwards they went back to his hotel bar, where Maria sat on his lap as they sipped expensive cocktails.
  Such trashy stuff for which I apologise!

• Felicity wrote:
  • Features on the Ocean's 11 DVD as advised by Warner Bros - the commentary with the cast should be interesting.
    You're IN with the DVD Special Features: Commentary by Academy Award� winning director Stephen Soderbergh and writer Ted Griffin.
    Commentary by hot stars Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Andy Garcia. HBO First Look: Behind-the-Scenes documentary on the making of Ocean's Eleven.
    "The Look of the Con," a behind-the-scenes documentary featuring the cast, director and production team talking about the stylized fashion and designs of Ocean's Eleven.
    Original teaser trailer and three theatrical trailers. DVD-ROM features "In or Out" challenge where players become one of Ocean's Eleven crew and must complete several Las Vegas challenges to pull-off the ultimate heist...plus links to the original website. Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio and Dolby Surround 2.0. Languages: English and French (Dubbed in Quebec). Subtitles: English, French and Spanish.
    "The Look of the Con" will also be featured on the VHS.
    Available to own on DVD and Videocassette May 7, 2002
  • From eonline's Movie Scoop:
    Green Means Go...Away? I'm also hearing that Miramax, though committed to another season of Project Greenlight, is considering doing it without the project's founders. That means no Live Planet, the multimedia company that produced Stolen Summer, headed by producer Chris Moore and his partners Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. That would suck.
  • and
    Mountain a Comeback: Nothing is for sure in this town, but there are rumblings around Universal that Steven Spielberg may drop his commitment to Ghost Soldiers, a WWII drama that centers on the Bataan Death March and would have reunited him with his Minority Report star Tom Cruise. That may be why Cruise is so gung-ho about starring in The Last Samurai for director Ed Zwick. I'm told that with Soldiers out of the way, Cruise could even resurrect plans to star in Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain, which he dropped earlier this year.
• Ali wrote:
  Hello from windy Idaho! I've been reading all the entertainment magazines that are starting to talk about the summer movies and none of them mention The Bourne Identity. What's going on? I started to see trailers in the theaters toward the end of June and then they stopped. Has the release been delayed and if so, why? I know I've read on your website that they changed the first release date so that it would not interfere with Sum of All Fears, but now I'm hearing that they've rescheduled the release of that for July 02. What's the deal and does anybody really know? Unfortunately, this seems to happen a lot to Matt's movies. I'm starting to get a bit disgruntled. Am I the only one?
• Ryan wrote:
  since i know we share a lot of traffic, would you please mind letting the column readers know that www.damonweb.net and www.mattdamon.info are in the process of moving to new servers? certain pages and files may be intermittently unavailable over the next several days, depending on how long it takes for the domain transfer to take effect.

Click on a link

Still photos from Good Will Hunting.
USA Weekly November 2000 article, "Ace of Clubs" y by 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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