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

• Matt, Ben and others will participate in a live AOL chat on Monday for Greenlight. The transcript will appear 'as soon as possible' afterwards on the site.
  Matt, Ben and other celebs will then 'talk' on the Greenlight boards during the party afterwards.
• According to www.upcomingmovies.com 'The Bourne Identity' has been given a strange provisional release date of September 7. There's not much competition at that time, but it's a fairly quiet box office usually. Almost Famous was released a week later last year, but it's too late for summer and too early for the prestige projects. I think Rounders was released around the same date a few years back. Of course, it may well change.
• All the pretty horses will be released on video May 1, and Bagger Vance is scheduled for video release in April.

Ben Affleck & Matt Damon - Marla (Feb 19, 2001, 07:34 PM)

I was having dinner with my husband on Valentines Day at Nobu Next Door in Tribeca, and at 11:30 pm, we were getting ready to leave and spotted Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and an unknown girl standing outside the restaurant smoking cigarettes... As we walked out, they walked in...

My response to Diane:
I am glad Matt has appreciative fans such as you. Of course I agree with you - I have loved everyone of his films: Rounders, BV, and ATPH included. I truly think that Matt is one talented guy, and it is rare to see that combination of talents+looks+good-naturedness in a guy. Which is why it really bothers me that he seems to have hit a lull. Let's face it, he is in a lull. On the other hand, it is better this way, because now he has to strive to achieve his full potential, instead of sitting on his laurels. Matt is just an extremely interesting actor to watch, in my opinion. I just hope that we continue to get the opportunities to see his performances. You just never know. Hollywood is a cruel place. Heck, the world is a mean street generally :-) I do have faith in Matt. Although now that I have seen how shallow the Oscars/Golden Globes really are, I really don't know what defines a crowning achievement for an actor anymore.

• There's a fairly bad couple of pics of Matt at the Chicago set taken by a fan on the Greenlight boards (one where he's hugging a young fan): http://boards.projectgreenlight.com/Forum1/HTML/009221.html
• The Oceans filming should be finished for another month, so Matt moves this week onto the set of Jay and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith flick) in LA. Probably for only one or two days of shooting. I think that could make filming on three different films within one week!
• Possible address for LA filming from the Greenlight board: 2/21- 04.30 -22.00 2640 HURON ST
• From a short bit on Penelope in Jam:
  Penelope Cruz dismisses rumors
  By LOUIS B. HOBSON
  Calgary Sun
  HOLLYWOOD -- Spanish beauty Penelope Cruz is getting a reputation for being a heart-breaker.
  On screen and off. Cruz has played a temptress in such films as Woman on Top, Hi-Lo Country, Belle Epoque, Live Flesh and, most recently in All the Pretty Horses, which had her seducing Matt Damon. Last year, she filmed Captain Corelli's Mandolin in Greece with Nicolas Cage and has just completed filming Vanilla Sky for director Cameron Crowe, co-starring with Tom Cruise.
  Cruz has been romantically linked with all three of her American co-stars Damon, Cage and Cruise.
  "I'm used to these kind of stories appearing in the press. It happened to me all the time in Spain. The press are always inventing stories," says Cruz.
  "It doesn't bother me but it could be hurtful to the other people involved."
  She admits she and Damon "got very close" filming Pretty Horses.
  "Matt and I are very good friends, just as Billy Bob Thornton and I remain very good friends after our incredible experience working on All the Pretty Horses."
  Cruz says Thornton is writing "a very dark road movie for him, Angelina (Jolie), Matt and I to star in. We think (Spanish filmmaker) Pedro Almodovar will direct us.
  "It will be his first English-language film."
  Cruz says working with Cruise on Vanilla Sky exceeded her expectations.
  "He is one of the most helpful and hard working people I've ever met. He's always worried about everyone else on the set.
  "If something happens, it is Tom who picks up the phone and calls for a doctor."
• Just an interesting note: Ben's home in LA is up for sale for about $2.3 million (I think). The LA Times claims he wants more privacy in LA and is looking to be based in New York.

BTW: I did get a chance to see the letters section in the new TALK with Uma Thurman on the cover. There are two letters pertaining to Matt's interview. One, by a professed Matt "junkie" who claims to be more interested in his films than his personal life, nevertheless thanks the magazine for the "witty" and "intelligent" interview. The other letter takes offense at the cover phrase "I literally have nowhere to sleep" because of what he considers a tasteless comparison to actual homeless people. Whatever! For what it's worth, his comments seem to be directed more toward the magazine's editors than toward Matt himself.

Ben's move to NY is interesting. Dare we say it has anything to do with Matt's decision to finally move into his NY loft? Of course, neither is likely to spend much time there until summer, I would imagine.

As for the Greenlight Chicago photos, maybe it's the cold weather or the particular angle, but doesn't Matt seem a bit thin again? It worries me that his weight seems to vary so often. That can't be healthy.

• Quote from Liman "I don't care if the shot's out of focus or if it makes me as a director or director of photography look bad. If the actor's great in the scene, it's going to make it into my movie."
• Very interested in discovering moments on film, special tricks by the actors, and what they can add to the film - thus very interested in the performance of the actors, and working with actors, the unplanned, unscripted moments
• Has a lot of interest in music, camera shots, photography set-ups, style (remember that he was the cinematographer in previous films, and has worked in advertising)
• Tries never to have the actors hit a mark (so they'll be in focus, in shot). Would rather just have the actors go where they want to go
• (on setting up a sequence in the film) "I had faith in the audience - if one half didn't get it, I didn't care about them."
• The editor claims that Doug will do whatever feels right, not what everyone expects or wants
• Liman admits he enjoys playing with fireworks (should enjoy the big explosion scenes in Bourne)
• Always chooses the cut for the film based on the performances given by the actors, not always to the benefit of the film (sequencing, focus might be off)
• Will shoot every moment of the written script, every shot various times, for options in the editing room
• Likes an environment of chaos, will bend the rules, and gets a great deal out of the interaction between the writer/editor/filmmakers

Molly went on to say: My comments is that I wonder what Matt did but obviously it has to have been something funny. He's known for his sense of humor which was wonderfully displayed the last time he was on Oprah with Billy Bob.

• Still no news going around, but it should pick up. It's been widely reported this week that Colin Farrell has got Matt's part in Minority Report, which Matt was claimed not to take due to constant delays, script re-writes and other projects.
• From a note on Greenlight - Matt's currently in Chicago to film Oceans. He apparently went into Le Passage on Rush Street. I wonder if Bourne is finished? Confirmed by this item in the Chicago Sun Times: Omigosh! . . . It's almost too much. Actors George Clooney and Matt Damon were spotted on Thursday drinking at Whiskey Bar & Grill, owned by supermodel Cindy Crawford's hubby, Rande Gerber.
  * Later in the night the pair, in town to shoot scenes for Steven ("Traffic") Soderbergh's latest film, "Oceans Eleven," headed to the Yow Bar at Le Passage with a few female fans in tow.
  *** Matt's bonding with George...
  And more news from a Clooney site: They will be filming tomorrow at Emmet's Bar on Halstead (Chicago).
• From an interview in the Economic Times today on recognising gifts:
  While your spontaneous reactions provide the clearest trace of you talents, here are three more clues to keep in mind: yearnings, rapid learning, and satisfactions.
  Yearnings reveal the presence of a talent, particularly when they are felt early in life. At ten years of age the actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, already close friends, would find a quiet spot in the school cafeteria and hold meetings to discuss their latest acting ``projects.��
  At thirteen Picasso was already enrolled in adult art school. At five the architect Frank Gehry made intricate models on the living room floor with wood scraps from his father�s hardware store. And Mozart had written his first symphony by the time he turned twelve.
  These are the eye-catching examples, but the same holds true for each of us. Perhaps because of your genes, or your early experiences, as a child you found yourself drawn to some activities and repelled by others.
  ***
  I like the company he's with!
• Only two sources mentioned that Matt could/should have been recognised in the Oscar nods: Boston Herald and Liz Smith's column.
• More from Charlize on the 'passing letters' story, from the Chicago Sun-Times:
  The real Theron doesn't mind trashing the hand that feeds her. She isn't too impressed with the Hollywood elite, often telling big names to stuff it. She tells a story about working with Matt Damon on "The Legend of Bagger Vance" and his buddy Ben Affleck on "Reindeer Games" practically at the same time.
  "I'd fly to Canada to shoot with Ben and then Savannah to shoot with Matt," she says. "They gave me letters for each other. I was like their mail girl.
  "Finally, I was like, `Boys, pick up the phone. And why are you writing love letters? Don't start rumors!" She frowns and says, "Afterward they didn't give me letters anymore. They didn't trust me. They gave them to the makeup artist."

• from the Unofficial Oceans Eleven page:
  Here's some info about the filming in Chicago which will take place this Saturday (Feb. 17). Thanks to Jeff for the scoop.
  "Just thought I would give you a little info. At the corner of Dearborn and Van Buren in Chicago there is a notice posted that our cargo entrance on Plymouth Court will be blocked off on Saturday Feb. 17 due to the filming of this movie. It is the eL station at the library at the corner of Van Buren and Plymouth Court. The street is going to be blocked for the entire day for shooting of the movie."
  (My note: If you are in the Chicago area and have news about the filming, especially if Matt is involved, please do write.)
• A slightly different version of Ben's usual quote about him and Matt (old interview):
  In the event, the tall and classically square-jawed Affleck came over extremely well, speaking openly and enthusiastically about working with veteran director John Frankenheimer and the pros and cons of Hollywood celebrity. Even so, Affleck is the first to admit that, unlike his close friend and collaborator Matt Damon, with whom he co-wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Good Will Hunting, he doesn�t always treat press interviews as seriously as he might: "Matt and I have very different personalities. Matt�s a little more introverted. so he�s a little more self-conscious about how he comes across. I think Matt feels a responsibility to be deliberately prosaic in his interviews, so he doesn�t get in trouble or something. Whereas I�m a little more willing to make a fool out of myself in the press, because I guess I feel more of a responsibility to be interesting or funny."
• A really nasty quote from actor/director Vincent Gallo
  You used Curtis Clayton to edit Buffalo '66, famous for his editing on 'Drugstore Cowboy' and 'My Own Private Idaho'. Is it true that you had to convince him to do the project?
  "Yeah. Yeah, because he was thinking that he was going to do one of two things. Either he was going to edit Gus Van Sant's 'Good Will Hunting', or he was going to direct his own film and I tried to explain to him that Gus Van Sant had become a mainstream faggot and 'Good Will Hunting', because I knew Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and I knew the script would be a mainstream piece of shit. I also explained to him that it was unlikely that he would get funding for his film in the brief period that I needed him to work, and that he should continue to do what he does so well, on one more film."
• An old interview from the Tennessean in November 97:
  Damon professed to be uneasy about this turn of events before the Rainmaker opening yesterday. "Here I have my first four starring roles, all in big movies, and nobody has bought a ticket yet, nobody has seen me as a star. Most people won't even recognize me. I could be a total flop."
  Damon enjoys a reputation as a inventive performer and a hard worker, traits he says he owes to his mother. "She is a professor of early child development at a small Massachusetts college. She has written a book lamenting those Saturday morning TV shows that mostly are concerned with telling how to use the military toys they're selling.
  "My brother and I got only building blocks, and when we complained she told us to go make up our own games if we didn't like the blocks. I remember once we decided to put on a play. My brother made the costumes and I did the acting. He is now an artist, and I'm trying to act.
  "Both my parents actively discouraged my acting career, warning that it would be hard work and the chances of success slim. But once I made up my mind, they supported me totally.'
  Now 27, Damon is not married, but has a steady girl friend. He will only say "she is not in the business."
  Commented Felicity:
  I thought the insecurity about the 'trying to act' was notable, as is the fact that he's denying the Minnie connection (it must be her) - she's definitely in the business!
  And did we like the news today that Winona's next movie will as the love interest to Adam Sandler!

I've found a site which has photos from the set of Bourne Identity when it was filming in the Italian Riviera (early November). It must be the first scenes in the book, where Bourne is washed up on the coast into a little village. There are two shots of Matt, although I can't recognise him in one - the other one has him signing autographs for fans.
The site is in Italian at: http://www.rivieraligure.it/eventi/mattdamon.htm.

For some new shots of Matt at the Pretty Horses premiere in NY: http://www.beautyspot.com/photos/dec12.htm

For footage of Matt and the Ripley cast at the Berlin Film Festival last year:
http://www.reeldv.com/Berlinale.html.

And a quote from Matt during that festival: "We met in Toronto when he was shooting eXistenZ, and talked about how we could make our bodies similar." -- Matt Damon reveals how he and Jude Law prepared for The Talented Mr. Ripley.

• I just hope you're wrong Mei-Ling, and that GWH won't be in twenty years time the highlight of his career. But it was a unique situation for an actor to become almost instantly famous, and for the press in reacting to the new presence. No-one has made such an impact since: the young guy in Finding Forrester had almost exactly the same role, but little press coverage; and other rising stars such as Kate Hudson, Heath Ledger? have not received the widespread acceptance that Matt did. Perhaps it was the combination of being popular and critically successful that made it so unique.
  A late Pretty Horses article, and further evidence of the 'bonding' between Matt and Billy Bob:
  From iwon.com
  All the Men of Pretty Horses: Mat Damon & Billy Bob Thornton By Jenny Peters, Fashion Wire Daily It didn't take long for Matt Damon and Billy Bob Thornton to bond on the set of their epic Western saga "All the Pretty Horses." It seems the two, who had not worked together before, have a lot in common, despite today looking like polar opposites: Damon Mr. All-American in khaki pants and white T-shirt, Thornton a total punk in leather, a Metallica T-shirt and a rosary around his neck.
  "We both hate flying, for one thing. I mean, we're all nuts. You know, we wouldn't do this stuff if we weren't," laughs Thornton, who directed the film, his sophomore effort after winning an Academy Award for his screenplay for "Sling Blade," on which he did triple duty as writer, director and star.
  Thornton and Damon may share a fear of airplanes -- "They crash!" Damon explains with a shiver -- but they also share a love for the process of filmmaking, a love that helped forge their friendship. Plus they have another big thing in common: the status of each having won an Oscar for their screenwriting skills (Damon's is with Ben Affleck for "Good Will Hunting"). And while the duo insist that they bonded big time on the dusty trail while making their new film, both admit that there was some good-natured ribbing going on over whose Academy status was higher.
  "We had a running joke about that going on all the time," Thornton says with a broad grin. "Matt would say, 'You know, seems to me that when you did your little hillbilly picture, you were nominated for best adapted screenplay and I was nominated for best original screenplay, is that right?' And I would go, 'Yeah, that's true, that's true. Whose material was it adapted from? Oh yeah, my own! And it seems like mine is there at home on the shelf and I didn't share it with anyone. You did, right?'"
  "Yeah, we'd go back and forth," Damon agrees. "Billy is like, 'So, have you ever been nominated for a supporting actor Oscar?' and I'm like, 'No,' and he's like, 'Oh yeah, I have.'"
  Both believe they have a good chance of going back to the Academy Awards next March as nominees for their work in "All the Pretty Horses," but the pair is in such demand these days that they'll be hard-pressed to find the time to don their tuxes for that big night.
  Damon, who also starred in "The Legend of Bagger Vance" this fall, has a full dance card. He's finishing up "The Bourne Identity" at the moment and will then jump right into the star-packed Steven Soderbergh remake of "Ocean's 11." Thornton has a full plate as well, currently working opposite Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchett on the film "Bandits," having just finished a starring role in the Coen brothers' latest project, tentatively titled "The Barber Project."
  When all those projects are completed, Damon and Thornton have plans to try to work together again, for both agree that their experience on "All the Pretty Horses" was one of the best either has ever had on a film set.
  "I have fun doing this," Thornton says, "and I got a friend like Matt, who I'm bonded to forever, from this movie. Why wouldn't we want to have a great experience another time? Of course we would."
  And Damon concurs. "I have never felt this way about anything that I've done before. This movie was really one of the best experiences I've ever had working, and one of the best experiences that I've ever had, period. I'd work with Billy again in a minute."
• I don't really understand this statement (some article):
  Maybe the problem with Pretty Horses was too many horses and not enough of the pretty woman. Time and the box office will tell, though Damon at least was able to pick up a new skill in addition to the golf swing he learned in Robert Redford's disappointing The Legend of Bagger Vance. Which did he prefer, horses or golf?
  "I'd rather be doing anything," he says, "than play golf."
• Another Howard Zinn article:
  Howard Zinn interview zmag.com
  It also got a mention of a different kind in the Hollywood movie Good Will Hunting. The book is mentioned by the lead character, Matt Damon. What was that about?
  Let me be more specific about the mentioning and quote Matt Damon. He says, talking to his therapist, played by Robin Williams, looking around at his books, "You want to read a real good history book, read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. This book will knock you on your ass." It was very interesting to me that you never in any Hollywood film hear anybody recommend a book. It's as if they don t want people to know that there are books. Come to the movies but don't read books. Do you want to know why the book was mentioned in the film? I can think of two reasons. One is that Matt Damon grew up as a neighbor of ours. His mother, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, is a remarkable woman, a friend of ours. So we've known Matt Damon for a very long time. I think his mother gave him People's History to read when he was barely able to hold it in his hands. This kid, now 27, grew up as a very politically aware kid.
  There are some interesting scenes in the film beyond the mention of your book, a couple of scenes where Damon is laying out his political philosophy and also he goes to a job interview for the National Security Agency.
  To me the high point of this film is where this newly discovered working class genius is being sought after by the National Security Agency. They want to give him a job. He's listening to them very skeptically. Then he says, and he does this very quickly, a quick riff through this scenario, it's delightful: Oh, yes. I understand. I'll work at breaking the codes for you. This will enable you to bomb villages in some Third World country to stop a revolution there. But that probably won't work so you'll probably have to send soldiers over there. Some of those soldiers will be my buddies from South Boston. Those who survive and come back will find their jobs no longer exist because the company that hired them has moved to the country we just bombed. It was a wonderful little piece, very rare, to find that kind of critique of American foreign policy in a Hollywood movie. I was sorry that when they showed clips for the Academy Awards they didn't show that scene.
• From Mr Showbiz back in May 1999, a nice quote from Jon Favreau:
  Speaking of Vince, and seeing as Jon's ready to see some action, one final burning question: If he and Vince were locked in a room with golden boys Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who would make it out?
  "Hands down, me and Vince," Favreau laughs. "They're tough kids and I like 'em, but Vince is just too mean. I could just do cleanup."
  Attention, all gossip rags - this is not to imply that Favreau wants to take the Boston boys on. "I've met Ben, and I'm quite fond of him, and I think Matt is probably the best young actor around," he says, adding mischievously, "I've just got to let you report accurately."
• From Showbiz Ireland in May 2000:
  Jim Sheridan Hunting Matt Damon...
  The pride of Hollywood Matt Damon, Salma Hayak, Ashley Judd and Ed Norton look set to be the next influx of visiting stars to Ireland. The Hollywood stars may join up with the pride of Ireland's filmmaking industry Jim Sheridan for his next two movies. Oscar winner Matt Damon and Jim are to meet later this week in New York for the second time to discuss their first movie together called "I Know This Much Is True." Speaking to ShowbizIreland.com in an exclusive interview Jim confirmed the duo had already been in secret talks about the movie. "Matt's in Boston at the moment. We met in New York recently and he was being followed by 100 photographers so he was a bit distracted. We are due to met again next week to discuss the movie. I wanted to make the film and so did he so we got together and hopefully things will work out."
  ***
  They're still in talks...

• From www.teenpaper.org, an early interview with Matt that we haven't seen before:
  An Interview With Matt Damon Of "School Ties"
  Jim R., Canton, MA
  Over the summer, I was asked to write a review for an upcoming film called "School Ties." I was quite surprised; the shock slowly formed into anxiety when I learned that I would also be interviewing one of the stars of the film. The closest I'd ever been to an actor was watching them perform on the screen. Now I would actually have the opportunity to carry on a conversation with one.
  On the day that I received the call (I still wasn't sure which actor I would be speaking to), my apprehension had reached its peak. What if I offended him in some way? What if he was a rude, obnoxious person? What if he didn't call at all?
  But when the phone finally rang, my uneasy thoughts were immediately erased. Matt Damon was the complete opposite of every star-stereotype: warm, friendly, and open. He and I seemed as if we had known each other for a long time.
  Damon, who currently attends Harvard, began acting in local community theatre productions as a teen. Soon after, he landed a spot in a T.J. Maxx commercial, which led to the 1990 made-for-television film "Rising Son," starring Brian Dennehy and Piper Laurie.
  The plot of "School Ties" concerns a still-growing problem of society: anti-Semitism. David Greene (Brendan Fraser) is the new star football player at St. Matthew's School and secretly hides his Jewish religion from his new pals. Damon plays Dillon, a decent kid privately resenting David's new-found popularity. When Greene's identity is revealed, Dillon turns on him completely. "The part was interesting because of the complexity of the role," mentioned Damon. "Until the conclusion of the film, you really can't figure out if he's good or bad."
  When asked about the subject matter of the film, the actor turned serious. "It's really hard to get a movie like this done in Hollywood. But with hate crimes on the rise, it is still relevant today." Damon and the rest of the young cast got along great; he and Fraser have become good friends.
  Although the film has gotten excellent reviews (the acting, in particular, has been praised), Damon honestly said that a negative review on his performance would hurt. But then he paused, and I could almost see him smiling on the other end of the line. "I guess I've adopted my own little motto: " he said, "Whatever doesn't kill me, will only make me stronger."
  ***
  That insecurity has always been present...
• From Fox News:
  At a sentencing hearing that was more like an opera than an afternoon in criminal court, former celebrity money manager Dana Giacchetto was given 57 months in jail by Judge Robert Patterson. The hearing lasted three hours and twenty minutes, ending after 7:30 p.m. It included a memorable, melodramatic statement by Giacchetto and performances by his attorneys worthy of Golden Globes.
• Because I've just seen Bagger Vance again, here's a quote from Redford: "Obviously, I like Matt intensely. You can't help but not, he's got such a good disposition."
• And a nice story (again) from Guy Barker, the widely praised musician from Ripley, from the Belfast Telegraph:
  Anthony Minghella�s recent film The Talented Mr Ripley rivets audiences with its searing depiction of evil. But for jazz fans there is an additional reason to savour the film and that is the appearance in the scenes set in Italian jazz clubs of British trumpeter Guy Barker who plays in Armagh tomorrow.
  One of the highlights of the film is actor Matt Damon, accompanied by Barker, singing My Funny Valentine. Barker explains how it came about: �Does Matt sing? and he said �we don�t know yet�! If he can�t we�ll have to find someone to cover for him and he�ll mime to that�. But Matt was very keen to have a go.
  �And when they were recording it I called the studio and Anthony said �he�s just done it. Listen�.�
  And he pressed the phone against the speaker in the studio and I listened and it sounded great and everybody was thrilled. Matt was very humble about the whole thing. He�s an extremely talented guy.�
  �When we were on the set hanging around with Matt, and Jude Law there was wonderful camaraderie and we both liked what each other did. I was looking at what they were doing and saying: �Wow, how do you get that together?� And then Jude and Matt would come over and say: �God, how do you guys get that together?�
  �There was definitely no sign of a prima donna. The whole thing was a joy.�
• From an interview with Bruce McGill (Bagger Vance) in Venice Magazine:
  Matt Damon always struck me as a young actor with an old soul.
  I've known Matt since we did The Good Old Boys together, and at that time he was playing a teenager, so he was really young. You could tell that this kid had something special. He's so dedicated, takes his craft very seriously. I was in Courage Under Fire with him a few years later when he played a junkie and lost all that weight. He really took that too far, had some health problems as a result afterwards. But you see a man with a great intellect, great sense of humor, and a real gentleman. Matt's a lot of fun. He was actually promoting two other movies while he was shooting Bagger Vance and was always having to fly out of Savannah...and it really started to take its toll. One day, I looked at him in the make-up trailer and said, 'Remember what it was like just to be Matt Damon?' He said, "That's right, you knew me when I was Matt Damon." (laughs) Matt's very close to his family, his friends. It keeps him grounded. Great guy.
  ***
  Yet another fan :)

• Here's your first item of the day, from an interview with Rounders editor Scott Chestnut on the directorsworld website:
  What about the acting style of this very eminent cast with Damon and Malkovitch and Norton? How much did their acting style contribute to the way you cut those sequences?
  Well, they're such great actors that it was a real pleasure to cut material of this caliber. Matt just delivers on everything and is so likable. I kept reminding myself while I was cutting the picture to resist being pulled in by him - he's such a movie star. He's kind of irresistible and magnetic.
  ***
  And a lovely interview on Australian site urbancinefile
  A COOL AND EXCITING LIFE
  The kid-like quality that makes Matt Damon so endearing is still in healthy abundance as he confesses his own surprise at making it to the top of the pecking order, while recognising that he has a cool and exciting life, as he admits to Jenny Cooney Carrillo.
  Three years ago, Matt Damon stood on stage clutching his Golden Globe award for co writing the screenplay to Good Will Hunting with best friend Ben Affleck and his childlike enthusiasm was contagious as he finished his acceptance speech by adding, "and Dad, we got better seats than Jack Nicholson!"
  "No longer the new kid in town"
  These days, Damon is no longer the new kid in town, nor the outsider who can 't believe people like Jack Nicholson know who he is. But he's still a long way from being a cynic. The Massachusetts-born actor and his childhood buddy Ben Affleck began writing the screenplay for Good Will Hunting seven years ago, while Damon was still attending Harvard and struggling to become an actor with only small roles in Mystic Pizza and School Ties to show for it.
  When Good Will Hunting earned him both a Best Actor Academy Award nomination and a shared Golden Globe and Oscar win with Affleck for Best Screenplay, the actor suddenly found himself in a class alone, no longer having to compete with Chris O'Donnell - who had previously beaten him out of many films, including Scent of a Woman. The 30-year-old actor has since maintained his impressive Hollywood takeover with a diverse range of films such as The Rainmaker, Saving Private Ryan, The Talented Mr. Ripley and two up-coming films both with actor/directors not appearing in them; All the Pretty Horses, directed by Oscar-winning writer (Slingblade) Billy Bob Thornton, and The Legend of Bagger Vance, directed by Robert Redford.

  "endearing"
  While he's no longer the kid who crashed the party, that kid-like quality that makes Damon so endearing is still in healthy abundance as he confesses his own surprise at making it to the top of the pecking order. "I keep waiting for someone to come tap me on the shoulder and tell me to leave," he grins, "but that's probably a common thing. I think most actors probably feel that way but I like to think I still have the same enthusiasm I had when I stood on that stage at the Golden Globes two years ago. I certainly don't think Ben and I have become jaded or anything!"
  Part of the secret to his ease and comfort with becoming a household name, Damon insists, are the friends and family from his hometown of Boston that he has remained close to throughout his life. Sitting in a swank New York hotel dutifully doing press duties for The Legend of Bagger Vance, Damon is also excitedly looking forward to his 30th birthday party at another New York hotel that same week. "I've flown my friends and family in from Boston so it should be a big night," he casually admits. "These are friends that I' ve had my whole life so they are there for all the stuff that happens, the good and the bad."

  "The perks of stardom"
  But even Damon has to acknowledge with a grin a mile wide that the perks of stardom don't entirely leave his family and friends unaffected. "My father came down to the set of The Legend of Bagger Vance and we played a lot of baseball and catch, he recalls. "The prop department had a baseball and some gloves and we went and picked up the gloves and started having a catch. One day, Redford walked over and grabbed a glove and started playing catch and about two minutes into it, my dad just turned to me and said, 'I'm having a catch with Roy Hobbs (Redford's character in The Natural)!' So there are always reminders of how kind of cool and exciting my life is."
  In The Legend of Bagger Vance, Damon plays Rannulph Junuh, a professional golfer who had it all but disappeared after going off to war and becoming disillusioned with the world. When he's coaxed into playing a once-in-a-lifetime golf match against the greatest golfers of the day, Junuh meets a mysterious man called Bagger Vance (Will Smith) who insists on becoming his golf caddie and helping him find his swing, a metaphor for what 's really at stake for Junuh during the game. Based on the novel by Steven Pressfield, The Legend of Bagger Vance marks the sixth film to be directed by legendary actor Robert Redford, who won an Oscar for his directorial debut Ordinary People two decades ago and has always been attracted to themes of redemption. And much like he did with Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It, Redford has again handpicked another Hollywood golden boy to be his muse. "I got very taken with the idea of Matt Damon who, at least at this point in his life, doesn't have much of a mark on him which is part of his appeal," he explains. "I thought it would be interesting to put him in the part of this damaged young man and then watch him come back from that."

  "phenomenal results"
  So convinced was Redford that Damon was the perfect actor for the role, he changed his mind about only hiring actors who were good golfers, taking a gamble that PGA master professional Tim Moss could turn him into one in less than a month. Moss, who was also the film's technical advisor, worked with Damon for eight hours a day, seven days a week during that month and became not just an acting fan of the star, but a fan of his athletic prowess. "I have never seen anyone take to the game as quickly as he did," Moss says. "In order to present Matt as a legitimate player, I decided the best thing to do would be to teach him exactly as I would anyone else, to turn him into a fundamentally sound player. He worked very hard and pulled it off with phenomenal results."
  Maybe a little too hard for poor Damon, it seems. The actor developed blisters from his hundreds of hours on the driving range and also separated his ribs during one practice session but still talks about his indoctrination into the sport with unbridled enthusiasm. "I'd tried to swing a club before and been really bad so when I met Redford I asked him if he thought there was enough time and he said, 'I think you can do it'. It was probably him saying, 'I think you can do it' that was the challenge for me, rather than him saying, 'I know you can do it!'," he chuckles. "So I went down to Georgia and worked with Tim and now I'm completely addicted to the game!"
  Like Redford, Damon embraced the metaphor of finding his swing as a parallel for discovering his true self. "I didn't have the respect for the game that I do now," he acknowledges. "I played a lot of baseball growing up so I figured this game would be easy but it's hard and it's also a real exploration of yourself and who you are and how you handle things. As Tim told me, 'I can take anybody out on a golf course and by the end of the day know everything about them. If they try and cheat you, if they push their ball, if they change the way the ball is sitting to give themselves a better shot, they'll cheat you in real life.' He said that the entire range of human emotions are all identifiable in somebody's golf game and I find that even now, when I'm playing alone, often the way I'm playing is a reflection of how at peace I am with myself. If I'm calm and things are good in life, it's very easy and effortless. If things aren't going well, even if I can hide those things from people around me, they'll come out immediately in the way that I hit the golf ball."

  "To work with Robert Redford"
  Damon readily admits his main reason for making the film was to work with Robert Redford. "I'm really careful about the things I do and usually I look at the director and the script at the same time but in this case, if you notice in Good Will Hunting there's huge similarities between that and Ordinary People not only because Ben and I loved that movie but because Ordinary People is one of (Good Will Hunting director) Gus Van Sant's favorite movies. The dynamics between the therapist and the young person trying to overcome something are very similar, so a chance to not only work with an actor that I really admired but somebody whose directing I admired, was something I could not say no to," he says.
  While accolades have come quickly for Damon, he seems strangely unaffected by them or the Oscar hype already being thrown around for his performances in The Legend of Bagger Vance and All the Pretty Horses, based on Cormac McCarthy's best-selling novel about a Texan cowboy who falls in love with a Mexican in the 1940s. "I know a lot of actors who strategize about doing a big movie, then a small one, then a big one and then you really have nothing to show for the experience of being in the movie if it doesn't work out," he says. "With All the Pretty Horses, it was the first time that I really don't care what happens in terms of box-office because I did it for all the right reasons and I'm really proud of it. I just hope I get to a place where it doesn't matter with all of them."

  "An optimistic cynic"
  While Damon jokingly describes himself as "an optimistic cynic", it seems his optimism is contagious. He recently teamed up with Affleck again, only this time the pair are doing it for free, launching a competition to help other budding screenwriters get their first movie made by Miramax Films, who will offer the winner a chance to direct their own movie with a US$1 million budget, and HBO cable giant will make a documentary-style series about the making of the movie, executive produced by Damon and Affleck. Details of Project Greenlight, (winner announced in March 2001), are available on www.projectgreenlight.com and Damon seems genuinely proud of this achievement. "We're not just lending our names but we're actively involved in the hope of helping bring an influx of new writers from places like Maine or Seattle, where they are outsiders like we felt - and just want a chance to get their foot in the door," he says.
  These days Damon's foot is not only through the door, but kicking it down!

• Hi everyone,
  What do we think about the news (front page London tabloids) that Penelope was the cause of the Tom/Nicole breakup. I found it very funny!!

  From Tennis Match magazine, details about a charity event that Matt attended last year. It received very little press at the time, but it's a lovely story (especially for those tennis fans amongst us): Touching the stars
  By: Kevin OKeefe
  In the locker room of the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif., Matt Damon has voluntarily changed into a Pete Sampras Classic golf shirt and carefully affixed a gold Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation lapel pin. �I�d wear the [Pete Sampras Classic] hat, too, but I didn�t want to look like a Pete stalker,� he jokes.
  Damon, one of the celebrity player captains for March�s Pete Sampras Classic golf event benefiting the Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation, is about to meet up with Sampras and face one of those red-carpet media swarms of flashing bulbs, extended mikes and tape recorders.
  But in a hushed locker room corner away from that scene, Damon was talking about his admiration for Pete Sampras both on and off the court and about the important role of the Gullikson Foundation, of which Sampras is a board member.
  That�s the reason Damon was here on this unseasonably cold Monday and the night before at the tournament party, a fund-raiser for the Foundation that was held at Damon�s new Beverly Hills club. It�s the reason he was the first of about 30 Hollywood, sports and media celebrities�people such as Dennis Miller, Dennis Hopper, Andy Garcia, Wayne Gretzky, Evander Holyfield, Stone Phillips and Dan Patrick�who gave their day to Pete Sampras so that he could raise the Foundation�s awareness among those who don�t necessarily follow tennis.
  �I�m so happy to help support Pete and what Tim and Tom established,� Damon said inside the locker room. Soon after, he embraced Tim Gullikson�s loving family�wife Rosemary and children Erik and Megan�and Tom Gullikson and Sampras.
  Rosemary, Erik and Megan flew in from Chicago for the event, as did Tom Lembeck, a friend of Damon�s whose company was the first to purchase a Pete Sampras Classic sponsorship. At that evening�s event dinner and auction, Lembeck helped the proceedings with the donation of a rare magnum of 1975 wine that went for $2,000. From the same table, Damon made a healthy cash donation to the event.
  The generosity of Sampras, Damon, Lembeck and more than 200 others helped raise $90,000 for the Foundation, which funds care and support programs for brain-tumor patients and their families. �It�s a great feeling to have raised this significant sum for the Foundation,� said Sampras. �And it seems appropriate to have raised it through a golf event. I have fond memories both of Tim�s love of golf and his sparking my interest in it.�
  For those new to tennis, Tim Gullikson was Sampras� coach. He died of brain cancer four years ago this month. Tom Gullikson, the head of coaching for the United States Tennis Association, is probably the nicest guy among tennis� power brokers. The identical twins�who won 10 doubles titles together on the tour�created the Foundation in 1995.
  As the Gulliksons have positively touched Pete Sampras and, in turn, Matt Damon and, in turn, Tom Lembeck, they continue to touch many others in and out of tennis�people whose stories unfold far beyond the North Ranch Country Club.
  They touch people like the teaching pro in Arizona who was diagnosed with brain cancer and didn�t know where to turn. The Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation made sure he got the information he needed. They touch people like Sheryl Shetsky, president of the South Florida Brain Tumor Association�one of the country�s oldest support groups�by providing the association with the money it needs to augment its regional programs.
  They touch people like David Bailey, 34, a Virginia recording artist and brain tumor survivor who was told in 1996 that he had a year to live. Last year, Bailey received the first Tim Gullikson Spirit Award.
  They touch the more than 1,000 families that utilize the resources of Duke University Medical Center�s Brain Tumor Family Support Center�a Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation Program. They touch touch kids with brain tumors who attend camp each summer in California through Foundation gifts. They touch Pete Sampras, who touched Tim Gullikson. Just ask Rosemary Gullikson, the Foundation�s president, who remembers the important support role Pete played when her husband was suffering from brain cancer.
  �Pete�s calls from events around the world would always brighten Tim�s day,� she told guests at the Pete Sampras Classic. �Tim was Pete�s coach and friend, but Pete was there to provide coaching and support when Tim needed it most.� The Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation does the same for brain tumor patients and their loved ones every day.

• This story is really quite surprising, from http://www.theautographreport.com/reviews/050100/hobbyprofile.html On Sunday mornings, before the altar at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the Rev. Jay Wagner is the picture of piety.
  But after hours, if it will get him a celebrity autograph, he's willing to look a little goofy...
  Just before Matt Damon burst into superstardom with ``Good Will Hunting,'' Wagner wrote the actor a hopeful letter. My priest friends laugh at me and tell me I'll never succeed, he wrote, but I believe you can't obtain anything unless you ask.
  A short time later, Damon sent Wagner not one, but two, signed pictures.
  Photograph No. 1 was addressed to Wagner: ``To Reverend Jay Wagner: Thank you so much for your kind words. Keep me in your prayers, God Bless and Keep you . . . Matt Damon.''
  Photograph No. 2 was written to Wagner's priest friends, with a smiley face thrown in for good measure. ``Brothers in Christ: Father Wagner's efforts were not in vain, his persistence and generosity of spirit won out in the end. And let us not forget: they laughed at Noah too! God Bless and keep you . . . Matt Damon.''
  ***
  What!!
  
• From the urbancinefile site, an excerpt from their review of Bagger Vance: Like a writer with his words, a golfer has only the ball for company; his focus is his strength or downfall. Matt Damon is wonderfully charismatic as Junnuh; it is the kind of character and role that Redford might have played himself some years ago. Damon and Redford have good looks and their enigmatic screen presence in common, and if it doesn't sound too old fashioned, they also share an image that defines gentlemanly conduct. Perfectly cast, Damon and the gorgeous, feisty Charlize Theron both dazzle with not only their smiles, but nuances, while Will Smith injects an amiable enigmatic quality to his Bagger Vance.
• The strange thing about the photo site that Kathryn found is the number of shots of Matt (occasionally with friends) at LA Airport - and they take about five photos each time.
• A bizarre story here from an army site about Matt and Tom Hanks receiving an award??? In a speech by The Honorable Louis Caldera, Greater Los Angeles Chapter, AUSA, Army Ball, Century City, CA, Friday, June 4, 1999 http://www.hqda.army.mil/secarmy/speeches/990604--Los%20Angeles%20AUSA%20Army%20Ball.htm
  Last fall, we honored director Steven Spielberg for making Saving Private Ryan. We presented Mr. Spielberg with our highest civilian decoration for telling the story of the American soldier. Tonight, we were to present the same decoration to the two stars of the film, Mr. Tom Hanks and Mr. Matt Damon. Both wrote to express their sincere regret that their filming schedules precluded them from joining us tonight, and conveyed their deep appreciation to the Army and AUSA for the honor and invitation.
  The characters these two outstanding actors portrayed in the film, Captain John Miller and Private James Francis Ryan, were, of course, fictional. But their stories rang true because they were ordinary citizen soldiers who did not ask to be heroes, but who answered the nation�s call, and in doing so saved the world. The story of the soldiers in Saving Private Ryan has been the story of the American soldier for 224 years.
• A line from a Wally Lamb transcript (author of 'I know this much is true):
  Moderator: Wally, anything to tell us about the casting of "I Know This Much Is True"?
  Wally Lamb: It looks like Matt Damon has the inside track to star in the double role of the Birdsey twins. There are no casting decisions beyond that at this point, and Damon's commitment, as I understand it, depends on the script which is still being written. However, I also understand that Matt Damon has imput into the script, so let's wait and see.

• From the Unofficial Oceans Eleven page:
  Mon. Feb. 5
  New update for the filming in Chicago. Thanks to Ahmed.
  Filming in Chicago will take place on Feb. 17-18. It the sequence where George Clooney is recruiting Matt Damon. One scene on the Van Buren "EL" (Elevated train) and one scene in some bar. The train scene has Matt Damon as a pick pocket practicing his craft.
  ***
  Remember Matt saying that he was going to 'practice' his pickpocketing technique in the Paris metro system?
• Here's another nice Minghella story from an Italian magazine, which I translated via Altavista and an Italian dictionary, so it's not perfect:
  How do you respond to criticism of Matt Damon as the main actor?
  [sentence that I just can't work out on the public's ability to speculate] Who has seen Matt Damon in my film will know that that information is critical, absurd and vaguely offensive. Matt is an extraordinary man. We filmed for approximately one hundred days and he was practically in every scene. He has worked with we from the beginning to the end. Few actors would have shown that amount of commitment. I want to tell a story to show you who Matt Damon really is: on the first day of filming my assistant director and I were admiring a Reverso watch. Matt passes a glance at it and goes to work on the set. Steve - my assistant - really liked that clock, but when we returned to work he had practically already forgotten it. On the last day of the filming we were all very emotional. Matt goes up to Steve and gives him a packet. Inside there was an identical watch to what we had seen that day. Actors sometimes make gifts of the directors or the producers, but I have never before seen an actor giving a gift to someone who could not improve their career. Matt is an incredible person, he has at heart the happiness of all, an exemplary man. The majority of actors are not known for their generosity.
  Mr. Minghella, anyone sees its last film, The Talented Mr Ripley, cannot but think that it's absurd that it has not received an Oscar for best picture, its direction and above all Matt Damon. How have you taken it?
  Strangely, we received five Oscar nominations and if someone had told me that the first day of shooting I would have thrown myself in the river to thank God. I am so proud of what Matt Damon has done in my film that it seems nearly impossible to imagine five actors to me worthier than he than to deserve the nomination. Since I consider myself the father of this film I can say that [something about Oscars reflecting nothing on the value of the film]. The talent of Mr.Ripley is a provocative and more difficult film than my previous film. I could not be prouder.
  **
  I know, it's a longer version of the Matt giving a gift of the watch story (to someone who couldn't help his career!) But it's still a really nice tale, and interesting in that Minghella called him an "exemplary man"; very similar to Penelope, who said he was "has no faults."
• And from a German site:
  Anthony Minghella: I had such an experience with Matt Damon. We were sitting with Winona Ryder in New York at a restaurant. That still was at the time before the press had photos of the two together. Therefore we sat quietly in the back in a dark corner. I looked from my plate and see in the restaurant a man directly on us approaching in the middle. Briefly before our table he suddenly puts his hand into his rear trouser pocket - and gets a camera and takes photos wildly of Matt and Winona. That was a real shock. For me it became suddenly clear that an assassination attempt looks exactly the same. If that had been a crazy person, we would be now be dead. He needed only one picture of the two in order to make a little cash.
  ***
  And we can probably identify the photo - the casual one that first appeared in Cosmopolitan of a very shocked Winona with a glass of wine in hand. Poor guys.
• Here's a reference to that story in an interesting I just found (how can we miss these major articles??). From mediaweek.com on 14 December 99:
  Slicing The Talented Mr. Damon Pie By David Handelman
  Two Decembers ago, Vanity Fair put Matt Damon on its cover--even though most people in America had never heard of him. The Rainmaker was just hitting theaters, Good Will Hunting was several weeks from release, and Saving Private Ryan a distant mirage.
  Well, they put their bet on the right pretty horse. This week, to promote his new movie The Talented Mr. Ripley, Damon has arrived as cover boy of choice, surpassing Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in his ability to blanket the newsstand. He's on GQ and Premiere, on Entertainment Weekly alongside co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, and even the (non-newsstand) New York Times Magazine with co-star Jude Law, to sell a big cultural essay by Frank Rich about how Ripley perfectly dissects the American obsession with remaking oneself.
  Damon was also supposed to be on the cover of this week's Time magazine, says managing editor Walter Isaacson, "but got bumped for the Columbine tapes", the exclusive peek at the home videos made by the high school killers.
  Two of the covers were even shot by the same photographer, Brigitte Lacombe. Is all this Matt too much good will? And how did the magazines divvy him up?
  In the celebrity-saturated nineties, the choice and timing of a movie-based cover is never easy, especially when you know you're going to be one of several. "If the reader feels already saturated," says the Times Magazine's editor Adam Moss, "they're not going to give you the chance to interest them. You want to get them before they feel they're being sold something. And you try to package it to separate it from the stuff that's on the entertainment conveyor belt."
  The Talented Mr. Ripley would normally be a tough-sell movie, it's about a gay sociopathic killer. But Mr. Damon's golden boy looks and status, combined with his fellow glamorous co-stars and the fact that the movie is director Anthony Minghella's follow-up to his Oscar-winning The English Patient, made it an anointed project. Every year a handful of movies are so anticipated that magazines will forgo their usual exclusivity demands, just wanting a piece of the pie. To back up their pitches, Miramax and Paramount held unusually early screenings (many movies released this time of year are still wet when they hit theaters), so editors had the advantage of actually knowing what they were deciding about.
  Interestingly, some of the competitors of these magazines, like Rolling Stone and Newsweek, were not shut out; they simply didn't share a passion for the movie, according to sources. Newsweek ran a semi-wan review by David Ansen and a three-question interview of Jude Law by Jeff Giles as part of a Christmas film package.
  But the others were very gung ho, and set out to make their pieces unique. The fact that two feature a second star on their covers is significant: often the publicists demand such variations to position a story as more about the movie and not the star, so the magazines with solo shots don't feel the competition quite so keenly.
  (It should be noted that Vanity Fair was again way out in front on the movie, running pictures from the set by Pamela Hanson back in March--so long ago that few probably even remember them.)
  Of the current cover crop, Premiere seems to have made the earliest call, their writer Christine Spines was on the set of Ripley in Venice, and did a follow-up on the set of Damon's upcoming golf movie, The Legend of Bigger Vance, directed by Robert Redford, in Georgia. GQ's John Brodie hung out with Damon around the Redford set too, while EW's Chris Nashataway visited Damon in a Chicago hotel room early one morning before an Oprah appearance promoting Ripley.
  By sending a male reporter to cover Damon, GQ got a "guy's guy" kind of piece. "Matt Damon's Dark Places" quotes Paltrow about Damon's bravery in donning a "banana hammock" Speedo; Minghella compliments his "brass balls", Brodie's phrase, in taking on a gay killer character. Brodie unearths Damon' s transforming evening at the age of 15 when he attended a performance of Glengarry Glen Ross, and talks to his high school acting teacher.
  He also inserts himself into the piece a few times, a GQ/Esquire tic, which includes the information at one point that they're "ten beers into the evening" and at another that Damon has an affinity for "tighty-whitey briefs, which I noticed when using the can back in his hotel room." Damon aw-shucks his success and says the phone could stop ringing at any moment, but admits, "This is my at-bat." GQ illustrates its piece with an informal tuxedoed portrait by Michael O'Neill and several pick-up shots, including a deer-in-the-headlights paparazzi shot of Damon with his girlfriend Winona Ryder.
  Premiere sent a woman, often a ploy for that ineffable flirting that lowers stars' guards. They also hired Sam Jones to photograph Damon in a variety of outdoorsy, Bruce Weber-ish shots that make Damon seem a lot more comfortable with the pretty-boy movie-star status than the "retreat from the spotlight" the piece describes.
  Spines starts with an unpromising travel-piece scene of Venice but then achieves a moment of payoff that makes set visits worthwhile, as she astutely chronicles Damon wrestling with the scene in which he exposes his affection for another gay character.
  She reveals that Damon's parents divorced when he was two, whereas Brodie never mentions the divorce and describes Damon as being raised by both parents. As befits Premiere's audience, the piece spends more time on Damon' s career path, but over-empathizes with how difficult it all is; it quotes Paltrow saying he "beat(s) himself up" about his success, and quotes him as "killing myself" on these last two movies. Ultimately Spines wears down Damon's knee-jerk self-deprecation and ekes out the admission "I am just as much a cynical bastard as anyone else."
  Frank Rich says he had been searching for a movie or other cultural event on which to base a major essay for almost a year when he got an early peek at Ripley because "I was a fan of [Patricia] Highsmith's book and thought its themes, if faithfully treated in the movie, could be the basis for an essay." He spent a lot of time with Minghella as he finished editing the movie, but also landed an interview with Damon, solely "about his role in the movie and the movie's themes." Yet they ended up speaking for two hours, which is all many second-tier magazines often get on which to hinge an entire cover profile--even though Rich only ended up quoting one full sentence from the star. His piece spends much more time on the late author Highsmith (who's also profiled in this week's New Yorker), and on thinking.
  Rich's piece is more like a reported review, and thus isn't really the same animal. But even if it proves too dauntingly long for the average reader, the sheer unprecedented volume of space accorded the movie by the Times assigns it a cultural significance that must have the filmmakers and publicists high-fiving.
  Moss says he told PMK, the publicity firm for both Damon and Minghella, "we wanted to write about the movie, but we made no promises. We said it was possible it was going to be a cover, and that it was our hope that we would be out first. They said they would do their best. So we entered this with no promises on either side."
  Moss says he scheduled his piece "close to the movie, but when we were likely to be out before the newsweeklies." As it turned out, Entertainment Weekly came out on the Friday before the Sunday Times piece, and Nashawaty's lead paragraph must have made Moss queasy: he writes about "the other American Dream, the one where we try to reinvent ourselves as someone better." But the rest of the piece is a fairly standard dual-celebrity profile, and, Moss reports cheerfully, "It didn't bother me that much, we don't have that much reader overlap. And anyway we had a different agenda."
  As for all the back and forthing with PMK, Moss says, "I'm delighted that I don't have to do that every week."
  In light of the "makeover" theme of the movie and Rich's piece, it's interesting to contrast Lacombe's dark, stark Times photography with her session for the EW piece, especially the gatefold cover with candid "outtakes" of the two stars looking like teenagers horsing around, which seems designed to represent the movie as an upbeat, friendly youth movie.
  As for Time's cover that wasn't, the Damon profile wasn't bumped until last Thursday, coincidentally, the day a pre-release copy of the Times Magazine is distributed among the media. But Isaacson says Damon's ubiquity had nothing to do with his decision. "Matt Damon is a nice guy and interesting enough to do, but when the Columbine thing came along it was not a difficult decision," he says. "That's why we're called newsmagazines."
  The Damon piece may still run next week, but not on the cover. Again, not because of the other covers, Isaacson says, just because he has something else lined up.
  So the moral of the story is, when somebody is big enough and the angles are different enough, it's possible to squeeze several different stories from the same promotion of a movie. But I don't know how many general readers would ever read all four, so timing and packaging become that much more important.
  Still, pity poor Jude Law. Only half his face appears on the Times Magazine cover; he's got those three puny questions in Newsweek. The Ripley publicists were pushing to get him the cover of Vanity Fair, a logical choice, but didn't get it. Instead, puzzlingly VF did Meg Ryan. Oh well, Jude, there's always next year.
  ***
  I think the Time piece ended up running only in their international editions (really good story too). It would have been amazing to get the Time cover.

The philosophic Matt... But he still hasn't become accustomed to being recognised by fans??

The magazine gave it a very good four star review, and included a new photo I don't think I've seen before: Matt and Charlize dancing, shown side-on. It almost looks like a scene cut from the movie, as it's next to a lake and Charlize is in a dress I don't recognise. Matt's in a tux, hair slicked.

This was on ananova.com today in an article with Redford.
He directs The Legend Of Bagger Vance, which is being released in the UK next month with Matt Damon and Charlene Theron in the lead roles.
"They are very exciting to watch, " he says.
"Matt reminds me to a degree of myself at that stage of career. It's like the age of discovery. So exciting. He is immensely talented."
***
That's the nicest thing Redford has said about Matt, and he didn't comment on the others.
• And from that to a really nasty comment, in an interview with Olivia Goldsmith, author of The First Wives Club, talking about 'bad boys' - look at the category of guys he's with:
  There's also Robert Downey Jr. ("Nothing seems to stop or deter him."); Matt Damon ("He presents himself as a good boy, but in his personal life, he's trouble on two feet. Just look at what he did to Minnie Driver."); and, of course, Dennis Rodman ("I'm not sure if he's a bad boy or a bad girl . . . but I know he spells trouble.")
  ***
• And in almost a direct response to that story, I found this on the http://www.films2com website, from the time of Ripley's release. I think it's one of the most honest (and almost therefore, the most depressing), of his interviews. It appears familiar but look further...
  Matt Damon
  18 March 2000
  From All-American boy in Good Will Hunting and Saving Private Ryan to gay serial killer in The Talented Mr Ripley. That's the kind of makeover that Matt Damon undergoes in what is probably the most chilling screen role he may ever get to play.
  Directed by Anthony Minghella (The English Patient), The Talented Mr. Ripley is a clever, dark, and slightly depraved film about Tom Ripley (Damon) a lower-class con artist who aspires to become part of the slick aristo crowd he meets up with in Europe. Arriving in Rome, Ripley grows enamoured of the lifestyle of the dashing young Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), whose father has hired Ripley to track down and bring back to America. Damon's Ripley is willing to go to any lengths - even to the point of committing murder - to retain his new-found social standing and life amongst the leisure class.
  Co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Dickie's luscious Grace Kelly-like girlfriend and Cate Blanchett as an East Coast heiress who falls in love with Ripley, the film is a melancholy voyage into the tawdry psychic territory that Patricia Highsmith loved to explore. Highsmith's book of the same title served as the basis for the film, although Minghella has opened up some of the characters as well as Ripley's hidden sexuality - after all, Highsmith wrote the novel in the 'fifties. So the hidden subtext is now weaved into a strangely disturbing film about an outsider who loathes his life so much that he is willing to do anything to stay part of the rich and carefree crowd who have come to adopt him as one of their own.
  Damon's decision to take on the role of the amoral Mr Ripley has been viewed as a huge gamble by observers who worry that the clean-cut 29-year-old actor was permanently tarnishing his image by taking on a sexually ambiguous part. But sitting down with Damon at a posh Beverly Hills hotel, it becomes immediately clear that Ripley is precisely the kind of role that he was anxious to play. Though the public may have the impression that Damon is an All-American leading man type, he refutes that view by explaining that he has always seen his future as a character-based actor.
  Perhaps that explains why stardom has fallen so uneasily on his shoulders whereas his childhood pal and best friend Ben Affleck has chosen to take a more traditional approach by going after mainstream films like Armageddon and gleefully lapping up his publicity.
  Meanwhile, Damon has chosen to keep his two-year old affair with Winona Ryder under a virtual press blackout, burned by how the media twisted his breakup with British actress Minnie Driver into a cause celebre as a case of a callous Damon dropping her like a stone on live TV when the truth was far from that.
  In this interview, Damon goes a long way to setting the record straight on everything from Ripley's gayness to stardom to his love life.
  THE INTERVIEW
  Q: Matt, everyone says that playing Ripley is a risk because he's a closet homosexual. How do you view the situation? Damon: I don't think that the film is about Ripley's sexuality as much as it is about his sense of being an outsider. He's a guy who suddenly finds himself part of this very sexy and carefree group of rich young people living a very decadent life in Rome. It's a very enticing social setting and he's desperate to be part of that life. Ripley feels that he's never been loved in his life and that's why he's willing to do anything to find that acceptance and stay a part of this gleaming new world that he's chanced upon. That's the story and his sexuality is only one part of this twisted dynamic.
  Q: What is your attitude towards his sexuality?
  Damon: That's part of the underlying intrigue in the story. It's not exactly clear what Ripley is all about. And I think it's a mistake to label Ripley gay because the film doesn't define his sexuality clearly. He's frightened by sexuality and even though he's obviously attracted to Dickie and other men, he has a difficult time expressing his love. My own take on him was that he's a virgin, closeted, and sadly in need to feel loved. There's a huge gulf between that kind of interpretation and simply describing him as a gay serial killer, which is a nice neat slogan, but distorts what he's all about....
  Q: Did you ever have second thoughts about playing a gay character because of the negative career impact it might have?
  Damon: Absolutely none. I think we've evolved enough to be able to play different kinds of roles without the public automatically identifying you with your characters. I'd be more disturbed that audiences would think I'm this dark tormented person rather than just being gay. I've known gay people all my life and I would really be doing a disservice to the gay community if I would try to suggest that there's some stigma attached to playing a character like Ripley.
  Q: Does taking on a role like this help distance yourself a little from your All-American wonder boy image?
  Damon: It does, and that's a good thing because I consider myself a character actor rather than a leading man. I don't think I'm the type of actor like a Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise who can bring people into the theatre just because of the way they look. Ripley is the kind of movie which I want people to go see because I think it's probably the most complex work I've done as an actor. And because the film is dark and moody, it plays games with your head and I think that's what makes it interesting. When I was playing Ripley, it was tough to find the right level sometimes because he's not your usual kind of character. There are layers and layers of ambiguity and confusion about him, and to the extent that I've captured that quality about him, then I've done my job.
  Q: How did you try to get inside the head of Ripley?
  Damon: I used to feel like an outsider in school. A lot of kids would make fun of me or pick on me because I was short - only 5'2" - until my junior year in high school. So that kind of gives you a 'me against the world' philosophy and you're aching to be the big brawny guy on the football team who gets the girl.
  I've also gone through periods where I've felt lonely and isolated in my life. It's something I can't even explain to my friends who wonder why I have this worried look on my face and I'm all serious when they're having a ball. That's a side of my own personality that I wanted to give to Ripley, because he's spent most of his life feeling out of place and unloved. Q: What does Ben Affleck say about your playing Ripley?
  Damon: He likes to kid me about it. He'll talk to reporters and when my name comes up in connection with Ripley, Ben will try to look very serious and say, "oh, how do you think Matt's gay movie is going to do?" I guess I'm just not as anxious as Ben to get my face on magazine covers. (Laughs) Hey, I'm only joking people. We're cool.
  Q: Is there any rivalry between the two of you? Damon: No, not in the sense of being competitive and going after the same parts. We're both anxious for each of our films to do well and to get good roles, and we still hang around a lot and speak to each other on the phone if we're working on different movies. But we both got fed up with the way the media was milking our friendship to death. You get tired of reading in every magazine article the whole Matt and Ben thing.
  Sure we started out in the business together and our getting Good Will Hunting made is a great rags to riches story, but we have our own lives and our own work and it gets very cloying and boring to constantly be linked together as if every second sentence has to mention the other person. At one point, we even began to wonder if all the publicity about us was beginning to make us sick of each other! (Laughs) But lately even the press is getting tired of rehashing all of that.
  Q: You got a lot of publicity when Ben was dating Gwyneth Paltrow you began seeing Winona Ryder, Gwyneth's best friend?
  Damon: That's exactly the thing that made us feel as if we were part of some big publicity stunt. It looked too cutesy and lame, and that's why I've kept my private life as quiet as possible. I don't ever want to be part of the celebrity gristmill where you're being tracked by paparazzi everywhere. I think I would have a hard time with that. I admire actors like Ed Harris, Robert Duvall, John Malkovich, Morgan Freedman, who give incredible performances every time out and don't have to worry about anyone stalking them. That's the kind of career I want for myself.
  Q: Your co-star in Ripley, Gwyneth Paltrow, said that you feel somehow undeserving of a lot of the publicity you've received for your work? Damon: I don't think that I've produced a body of work that justifies a lot of the hype that's been printed about me. I killed myself for the part I played in Courage Under Fire and nobody said a word about that. I thought I'd have a lot of offers after that film came out and nothing. Zippo. It was like I was back to square one. So those kinds of reality checks begin to affect the way you deal with your publicity. I'm thrilled that Good Will Hunting put me on the map, but it's only one film. We all know stories of actors who make a few big films and then disappear. I would feel a lot more comfortable with my publicity if Ripley receives a lot of attention and people appreciate my performance in that. I think Ripley is a much better test of my acting credentials than anything else I've done.
  Q: Do you and Winona take unusual steps to avoid being seen in public? Damon: Not really, except for not going out as much as we'd like. But I don't want to talk about that, it's a promise I've made to myself that I just won't talk about my relationships anymore.
  Q: Is that because you're still angry about the way the press treated your breakup with Minnie Driver?
  Damon: Well, I don't want to get into that either but it's not funny to read how you're the world's all-time cad for breaking up with someone on a talkshow (Oprah Winfrey). We had broken up three weeks earlier and I wasn't thinking about what spin the press might put on things when I mentioned that Minnie and I weren't going out anymore. That's why I'm always worried that anything I say will be snipped out of context and suddenly made into a headline without people reading the five sentences that came before. I guess I do feel burned by that and it seems a lot easier if I don't talk about my relationships in public. Let's change the subject, OK?
  Q: When you were a kid, did you think of becoming an actor?
  Damon: No, I was dreaming of becoming a professional baseball player. I loved baseball, but at some point I figured out that that wasn't going to happen for me and acting kind of took hold. My goal was to get to Harvard and then go to Yale Drama School. That was my big plan from the time I was around 13 or 14.
  Q: Was it difficult for you to leave Harvard only a semester shy of getting your degree to work on a film?
  Damon: It wasn't an easy decision and a lot of people thought I was crazy to do it. But sometimes you do what you feel you have to do to get your career going. I was getting movie offers and at the time I thought it was the right decision to do a movie, work on the script for Good Will Hunting, and see what happens.
  As it turns out, it took a lot longer for me to get to where I wanted to go as an actor, and even during the negotiations for Good Will Hunting, at one point it looked like the whole deal would collapse and the film would never get made. That's the type of make-or-reality you deal with in Hollywood. That's why it fucks up so many people because one moment they're on the brink of something, or they get a taste of it, and then they're nobody and nowhere. I went through that experience myself and it's a shit feeling.
  Q: Is that fear of not working one of the reasons you've been working hard for the last few years...
  Damon: It's part of it. I can't say no to a good role. Look at what happened with Rounders. The film just died and suddenly no one was talking about Matt Damon anymore. I was already committed to doing Ripley at the time Rounders came out, but you worry that if you have a few flops in a row, you're going to wind up doing TV movies or grade B thrillers the rest of your life. That's why a lot of actors, once you get on a roll, you're afraid to get off the train because you're worried about what happens next. Maybe the game's over.
  Q: You've just finished shooting The Legend of Bagger Vance for Robert Redford. And before that you did All the Pretty Horses with Billy Bob Thornton. You must be exhausted.... Damon: I'm ripped. I've been living at friends' houses and carrying around a duffle bag the whole time because I haven't had a home to go to. It's like I've been this homeless actor wandering around from town to town in a travelling circus. (Laughs)
  Q: How much havoc does that play with your state of mind?
  Damon: It messes you up. You have this sense of living in a strange cocoon. In some kind of time warp where you only exist in terms of the films you're making. It's hard for someone who isn't in the business to understand the feeling of not being able to do anything outside of your work for two years. I haven't had the time to do anything. I lost about forty pounds to play Ripley and while everyone else was living it up in Italy I was in agony because I was hungry all the time.
  The trouble with living on a film set is that you're in this artificial setting and your life is focused on your character and the film and all the people you get to know while making the movie. Then. Boom! The film's over, and then you go to work on another project. Now all I want to do is relax, fix up my home, see my friends, and just disappear for a while. It's like I want to have my life back for a few months and become a regular human being again. No scripts, no agents, no interviews, no business. Nothing.
  Q: What about the Oscar ceremonies?
  Damon: Oh yeah, I guess I'd make an exception for that.
  Jan Janssen
  ***
  Highlights:
  • reiterates that he's always wanted to be a character-based actor
  • "Ripley is the kind of movie which I want people to go see because I think it's probably the most complex work I've done as an actor."
  • "I used to feel like an outsider in school. A lot of kids would make fun of me or pick on me because I was short - only 5'2" - until my junior year in high school. So that kind of gives you a 'me against the world' philosophy and you're aching to be the big brawny guy on the football team who gets the girl.
    I've also gone through periods where I've felt lonely and isolated in my life. It's something I can't even explain to my friends who wonder why I have this worried look on my face and I'm all serious when they're having a ball."
  • "I guess I'm just not as anxious as Ben to get my face on magazine covers. (Laughs) Hey, I'm only joking people. We're cool."
  • "But we both got fed up with the way the media was milking our friendship to death. You get tired of reading in every magazine article the whole Matt and Ben thing. ... At one point, we even began to wonder if all the publicity about us was beginning to make us sick of each other! (Laughs) But lately even the press is getting tired of rehashing all of that."
  • "Well, I don't want to get into that either but it's not funny to read how you're the world's all-time cad for breaking up with someone on a talkshow (Oprah Winfrey)... I guess I do feel burned by that and it seems a lot easier if I don't talk about my relationships in public. Let's change the subject, OK?"
  • "Look at what happened with Rounders. The film just died and suddenly no one was talking about Matt Damon anymore... but you worry that if you have a few flops in a row, you're going to wind up doing TV movies or grade B thrillers the rest of your life."
  • "Now all I want to do is relax, fix up my home, see my friends, and just disappear for a while. It's like I want to have my life back for a few months and become a regular human being again. No scripts, no agents, no interviews, no business. Nothing. "
  ***
  Any guesses that Matt was tired or in a bad mood? That darker side just reared up again. And that Minnie story has obviously affected him so badly (and continues to affect his public image).
• To finish on a happy note, this is the extension of a paragraph that was in an urbancinefile article of March last year:
  "There are short bursts - press conferences at major film festival like this, the Oscars or Golden Globes - when for 15 minutes I walk in, smile, wave and feel like Miss America," he laughs. "And then I go back to my normal life. Actually, I think the whole (publicity) thing's pretty funny. It would be different if they were camped outside my home waiting for me. Most of the changes in my life are superficial, " he says. "I don't feel at all like I've changed internally. I'm still really close to my family and my friends from high school. On New Year's Eve, Ben (Affleck) and I hired out a restaurant in Boston on for a party for 250 people so we could be with them. "
• And this was from a Playboy article with Bruce Willis in August 98:
  PLAYBOY: You've had a love-hate relationship with film critics. Who have they underrated?
  WILLIS: Mel Gibson. He is a modern Cary Grant. I'm not trying to put a curse on him or anything, but he will probably never get an Academy Award because he makes acting look so easy. He is a terrific actor. Others who are great? Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade created something that hasn't been seen on the screen in a long time. He is in Armageddon and creates a completely different character, which makes his work in Sling Blade all the more special. There are a bunch of guys coming up who are great: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Will Patton -- fabulous actors. Actresses? The best? Bar none? Meryl Streep, Demi Moore, Madeleine Stowe.
  An endorsement for Matt from Bruce Willis! Who would have thought (except he also mentioned Ben)...
• Just found this item off the www.film2.com site I mentioned in the last email. At the time of the Ripley release:
  Minghella:
  Casting is a little like dating. I'd seen an early cut of 'Good Will Hunting' because originally I was up for a part in it, which unfortunately didn't materialise, and was very intrigued by his work. You sit and chat to these people who you may have never met and try to get a handle on them, to try and tease out whether or not it is real what you are hearing from them. It's two people trying to get the journey right to a film. I passed Robert Duvall and he said of Matt Damon "He's a great kid" and then we met and spent about 8 hours talking. He's such a great friend and colleague; he brought a great deal to the film. He was very kind and remembered our Assistant Director's wish for a certain wrist watch which after the film wrapped he bought for him - what a great thing to do.

  And from Matt:
  Q: - (to Matt Damon) - Did you enjoy the fantasy element of playing a part within a part?
  A: - MD - It was very strange and the experience on the set. Anthony (Minghella) is the sort of director who supports the cast and crew to the level that they can get on with their jobs yet know he's there for them as well. That gives you the time and space to create what you need to create. Anyone would give a lot to work with a director like Anthony; yet its superb collaborative effort was offset by the fact that at the end of the day I had to run for an hour and not eat. It was very lonely and sad in a way so I would want my time on the set to come quick as it was so different to my time alone.

I saw a similar article in the New York Post about bad boys. The general gist of the article centers around Goldsmith's experience with men that either would not commit, dump you at the wrong time, or would just cheat on you. Of course I was surprise Matt was listed, but, Goldmsith reasoning was "Look at what he did to Minnie Driver." She also said that his looks and his golden boy attitude are quite deceiving.

In the latest issue of US Weekly, Matt was quoted in response to the question, "What advice would you give the first lady?" His answer: "Good luck, and the country would be better off if you were president." Spoken like a true liberal.
On Live With Regis this morning, Joy Philbin was reading an article in the New York Times that discussed Olivia Goldsmith's new novel Bad Boys. The article gave its own list of "bad boys" of which Matt was one. After reading his name, Joy said, "What did he ever do?" Regis responded, "He seems like a good boy to me! He sat here with his mother." I wondered why they included Matt in their "bad boys" list. Any ideas?

From an E Online message board: Dec 11 97

As a fellow high school grad of Pilot School/Cambridge Rindge & Latin (class of 89), I am thrilled at Matt & Ben's rise to stardom. They were always great friends in highschool, they were very directed and self-modivated, and always had a talent for the stage. It is amazing to witness these Cambridge natives fulfill their dreams. It is clear that they are also proud of their home town. I look forward to seeing Good Will Hunting and continuing to watch their careers blossom. Alyssa Krimsky

"He's killed early into the movie and he probably has, like, nine lines. But I found it the most memorable performance of 1995. The guy just goes out and thinks, 'No one's gonna understand what I'm doing except for me, but I'm a f***in genius.' " Matt Damon on Benicio's performance in The Usual Suspects

MATT DAMON HAS NOT LET STARDOM GO TO HIS HEAD... he still holds the door open for ladies, holds their drinks while they rummage about for a pen and paper for an autograph and is charming and polite to everyone. Take last night at the Writer's Guild Awards where Damon was a presenter. The guild trotted him around through the pre-cocktail party where he charmed the pants off of everyone. He also did a little business and exchanged numbers with some of the Oscar nominee writers including M. Night Shyamaln who wrote Sixth Sense, Charlie Kaufman who worte Being John Malkovich and a few others. Stars do business just like you and me and lots of relationships in tinsel town begin over drinks and become bona fide friendships which doesn't hoit in the film business. But back to Damon who arrived without gal pal Wynona Ryder....Damon said she was working. These two are really very secure and don't feel the need to always be with each other. Yes he is working on his next script with longtime pal Ben Affleck but they don't think lightening will strike twice with another Oscar. All in all it was delightful watching the Damon, relatively new to the fame game bedazzle everyone in his path with his boyish, fresh and wholesome charm. 3/6/00

PERHAPS MATT DAMON AND HIS BUDDY BEN AFFLECK... are already jaded by all the attention and fame they have experienced in the last few years. My reasoning is from an observation by sources who says they both came in to Veruka in The Big Apple along with Affleck's younger actor brother Casey. As they sat talking in the VIP area model after model, gorgeous chick after gorgeous chick came over to them to meet them. But the trio couldn't have cared less and barely flickered an eye at these women that most men would have given parts of their body's to meet. Could it be that Damon is ready to marry Winona Ryder and that Affleck still loves Gwyneth Paltrow and is wooing her back to him? It is that, or they are in the process of planning a movie and putting all their energies into it hoping it will be another "Good Will Hunting." Rece 8/15/99

Yours truly scooped everyone when Driver confided that she and Damon no longer spoke to each other. In fact Driver was furious and very hurt over how badly Damon handled things which also included the evening of the "Golden Globes" where he flaunted his burgeoning affair with Winona Ryder in Driver's face. 7/25/99

MATT DAMON has been busily knocking out movies all of which should be hitting the movie theaters shortly. This will bring him back up to the status of high school buddy Ben Affleck who has been doing movies at the rate of sound. Aside of the steady work on his career Damon is still in a committed relationship with Winona Ryder. It's good to see someone new to fame handle it so well. 6/5/99

***
I don't think I ever knew that Matt presented at the Writers Guild awards last year (March 5). There's a few photos of Matt presenting Alan Ball of American Beauty with the top award at their website - nicest one at: http://www.wga.org/pr/0400/membernews0400.html . Apparently Minghella was also there as a nominee for Ripley.

He was also quoted for an article on the awards: MATT DAMON, award presenter: "In writing Good Will Hunting, Ben [Affleck] and I tended to create a lot of characters, because we wanted different people saying different things. You can do that with a 300-page screenplay, but when you're dealing with something that's supposed to be 120 pages long you end up finding ways to streamline. Things that weren't plot-specific were the first things to get cut out. So if there are certain things that you are really attached to, you have to kind of tie them into the plot, or else you're in danger of losing them."

More into at: http://www.writersguild.com/

Also in the NY Post another small bit on Julia Stiles in Liz Smith's column, who says of Julia: "She wouldn't mind having a 'nice dinner' with Matt. Well, who wouldn't".

In the way that one thing leads to another, I've found some stuff on Matt's father Kent. I found a link to a page which stated donations to the production of a breast cancer support video, based in Boston. Matt was listed as a major donor, and brother Kyle and his wife Lori minor donors. Under a listing of Psi Upsilon - Pi chapter, Kent Damon was the first mentioned.

I've never heard of Psi Upsilon before, but as can be guessed it is a fraternity of sorts. It's based at major universities across the country, and lists as its aims: friendship, brotherhood, special functions, community service, growth and personal development. The Pi chapter originates from Syracuse University in New York, so that's obviously where Kent attended university (I don't know what his degree is, but accounting and finance are possible majors).

Another useless fact: Kyle's real name is Kent Damon, Jr. He's been in quite a few marathons/charity runs etc in the Boston area, and often races under his real name (30-35 year category). Remember that story from the Las Vegas Journal (Feb 2000) in which Matt was spotted in Las Vegas with his father, because brother Kyle was trying to qualify for the Boston marathon. And an early article in which Kyle was on the phone trying to convince Matt to run the Boston marathon with him.

... I've been able to watch All The Pretty Horses on video. So I have no idea what it will be like on a large screen (it would certainly be different), but my turn will come in May. I watched it with my parents, both of whom do not really like Matt, and that didn't really change after the film, but there was some grudging respect. Neither really enjoyed the film, feeling it was slow and predictable, and my dad kept pointing out where it echoed other films - any Clint Eastwood, Butch and Sundance.

As could be expected, I loved it, and certainly more than I expected to after reading so many mixed responses and confused reactions. I haven't read the Border trilogy for a few years, but every scene brought it back to life - accurate in its language, tone and visual memories. I was surprised how effective the chemistry was between Matt and Penelope, but again my mother felt there was none. Some of Matt's scenes with Penelope I found incredibly affecting, and it certainly convinced me.

I thought Matt was outstanding, and powerful in his understated, 'I'll just look at you til you believe in me' kind of way. It amazed me how much he can emote with his eyes and simple gestures - I know we've all said it before, but he really is a master of the strong silent type who says little but expresses everything. If anyone saw the Al Pacino tribute at the Globes you could see how much Matt's been influenced by him, and his style of acting. There was one scene, introduced by Kevin Spacey, where Pacino was in focus, listening to a speech, but said nothing for quite a lengthy shot. But his eyes were constantly darting, his face reacting, and you knew exactly what was in his head. In many ways Pretty Horses plays like an extended sequence in Good Will Hunting - the swanboat scene where Matt said nothing but he completely changed the way the viewer responded to him, because you knew his controlled outward appearance barely hid the emotions within.

There were so many of those moments in Pretty Horses, and it was the sincerity and truth of his performance that stood out to me. As for the film itself, I thought some of the quick cut sequences were superb, like the breaking in of the horses and the cuts after Penelope has left on the train - one of the great 'train departure cliche' sequences, where not a word is spoken. I thought the music was effective and not overbearing, and the supporting actors just right in their roles. Penelope failed me only during one of the telephone scenes, where her reactions just didn't seem right. Even on the small screen the scenery was breathtaking, and so much more realistic than John Ford's one-shot Monument Valley westerns. And Marty Stuart's song 'Faraway' added to the final scene's ambience superbly.

I couldn't help but watch it and wonder why so few people appreciated it - how they could not 'get' some of the beautifully worked sequences, and misunderstood so much of what Billy Bob was trying to do. It did take patience, and perhaps an understanding of the novel, but the performances, the scenery, the subtlety of the dialogue and the appeal of its call to simple days and an age just a few paces forgotten certainly worked for me.

The NY Post had an item that Matt lost more than has been reported in the Dana Giacchetto story - about one million, and that he also influenced friends and Winona to invest. It claims that Matt's paid them all back.

A story in Variety about a new project for Jim Sheridan mentioned that 'I know this much is true' is still being developed for Matt to star in after a potential strike. That's good news - perfect Oscar bait, if a little too ripe for criticism.

Click on a column

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

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