The Matt Damon Column

Updated 8/28/2003

At the LA premiere of "The Talented Mr Ripley", December 1999
If you would like to contribute news about Matt, please write to Felicity at [email protected]
8/28/2003
  • Veronica kindly transcribed a great interview from Spanish television station Corazon, Corazon filmed during Matt's visit to Madrid nearly a year ago.

    Presenter: Matt Damon and Winona Ryder were dating for two years, then their relationship ended, but the two maintain a good friendship. The actor, who was in Madrid, did not doubt at the time to defend the actress who's facing a trial for robbery.

    (While showing some footage of Matt in Madrid)
    Narrator: Matt Damon was Winona Ryder's boyfriend for two years and they broke up in 2000, but the actor has a close friendship with her and because of that, he doesn't believe she was caught by the security cameras of an important boutique, stealing some articles in December last year. Matt defends her from the charges of robbery, vandalism and drugs possession she is imputed with on the trial that is currently taking place in Los Angeles.

    Matt: We were together. We were involved for, you know, a couple of years, so I'm very close to her. I think, I don't know all this specific stuff, but I think everybody who knows her, know she is smart and talented and a wonderful human being, so I think it will all work well.
    (They show Matt and Ben accepting their awards at the Golden Globes in 1998)
    Narrator: He is a good friend of all his friends, but it is actor Ben Affleck who stands out from all of them. Matt met his current girlfriend Odessa Whitmire through his Oscar partner for the film Good Will Hunting.

    Matt: She is somebody that I met actually [tries to remember] four years ago? Three or four years. We were friends for a long time, then she started to work with Ben as his assistant. She doesn't do that anymore, but, I mean, we started dating, I don't know, a year and a half ago.

    (Some scenes of Matt and Odessa at the Bourne premiere in Taiwan and from The Bourne Identity)
    Narrator: A relationship that won't end up on marriage, for the moment. Despite the fact he's arrived in Madrid with her to present his latest project, The Bourne Identity - an action thriller we'll see in November - where Damon is very protective of his costar. In real life, Matt bets all his money for strong women.

    Matt: I think to a certain extent, I think I'm most attracted to women who are strong, and I would be naturally protective, but I wouldn't say that my girlfriend is somebody who needs protecting. She's pretty tough. (Laughter)

    Narrator: Maybe that's one of the reasons why Matt knows the time to become a father hasn't come to him yet.

    Matt: (replies smiling) I don't know. I don't think I'm ready yet. I'm an uncle so I have two nephews and I have the experience with them to know that I don't think I'm quite ready to have kids. (Laughter)

    Narrator: 'Till that moment arrives, we'll be glad and satisfied watching him as an onscreen hero.

  • This is from an online excerpt of a Boston Magazine article about a nightclub promoter, but the remainder of the story is not available.

    Silver-screen producer Bobby Farrelly, half of the brother duo behind such films as There's Something about Mary and Kingpin, stands with cabernet in hand, talking about Stuck on You, the movie he has just wrapped up about a pair of Siamese twins. "Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear were literally joined at the hip for 58 days of shooting," Farrelly is saying, chuckling almost sadistically.

  • Don't expect many comments from Heath Ledger about Brothers Grimm or anything else prior to the release of his new Fox movie The Order. There will be no press junket for the film, there have been no screenings of the film for the press in months, no stars are scheduled to make television appearances, and Heath is stuck in Prague.

8/25/2003
  • In a post on the ViewAskew.com boards, Kevin Smith confirmed Matt's hectic schedule when asked if he was considered for a role in the upcoming Fletch Won. The unnamed Soderbergh flick would be The Informant, currently in development at Warner Bros.:

    I have. But the dude's monumentally busy. He's doing "Brothers Grimm" now, then immediately starts "Bourne Identity 2", followed right afterwards by "Ocean's 12", which I guess is then followed by another Soderbergh flick. We'd be waiting two years to get him.

  • Sydney Daily Telegraph film critic Michael Bodey attended the recent Australian Movie Convention, which previews upcoming films from all studios. An excerpt of his comments follows, where SOY was the first mentioned:

    Now rather than give a blow-by-blow description of the Movie Convention, The Bodey Line is simply going to give you a hint of the films, or trailers, that pushed the right buttons up there (and their release date). Nothing elaborate, just the buzz beyond Lord of the Rings and The Matrix Revolutions.

    Stuck On You: the Farrelly brothers look to have returned to form with a comedy about Siamese twins, played by Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear. Bad taste? Yes. Funny? Very. (Boxing Day)

  • And the oddball rumour of the day comes from an Australian magazine (New Idea?) which mentioned that a female version of Stuck on you is a possibility if the film is a hit, and could star Drew Barrymore and Kate Hudson.

8/23/2003
  • Matt telephoned Boston sports radio station WEEI on Friday to support a Boston Red Sox fund-raising effort for the Jimmy Fund. Ben was in Boston to throw out the first pitch at the Sox game, and also talked to the station - reported in the Boston Herald. Did anybody catch Matt's interview?

    Ordway asked if Affleck grew weary of people asking him, ``Hey, where's J. Lo?''

    ``It's better than, `Hey, where's Matt Damon,' '' he answered.

    Speaking of Damon, he rang in earlier in the day from the set of ``The Brothers Grimm'' over in Prague and told Boston fans to cut Ben a break. ``Come on,'' he said. ``He's from here.''

  • Here's a story from the website of Czech PR company GCI, which talks about local press coverage of Brothers Grimm. The poor translation is directly from the website, and the accompanying picture shows recent local newspaper stories about the film (including an on-set photo of a castle, which is probably Krivoklat).

    GCI Prague co-shares in a communication of the biggest film project that the Czech Republic has hosted recently. In ateliers and on estates of BARRANDOV STUDIOS is shot an American movie the Grimm Brothers. The estimated project budget of the company Miramax reaches 75 million dollars. The cult film director Terry Gilliam (Monty Python, 12 monkeys, The King fisherman) features Matt Damon and Heath Ledger.

    As far as Czech stars are concerned we will see Tom�s Han�k, who after a successful casting said: "when shortly after our meeting Gilliam said YES, I was not able to carry on common home works - myself, who is going to act with Matt Damon in Gilliam's film the sixth leading part, am supposed to empty our bin and replace a broken bulb? However, in the course of time I calmed down and now - when I just do not empty our bin - I pray not to mess it too much to dear Terry".

    Media relations are proposed in co-operation with a media representative of the film production Patric Scott. Media reports that continuously map development of shooting will complete only an excursion of selected media directly on the 'place' near the film stars. The only nut is lack of picture material, which is usual for foreign production though. They protect picture authenticity for massive pre-view campaign.

  • From the NY Post:

    We hear... THAT comic and Friars roastmaster Jeffrey Ross, who's writing jokes for MTV's Video Music Awards host Chris Rock, just shot parts for "Captured" starring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston and "Stuck on You" starring Matt Damon...

  • Thanks to Bec for sending in a story from AOL Entertainment by Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith, which is also found here:

    MOVIE INSIDER: Damon, Kinnear Close for Months
    Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear went to the lengths of doing "everything together for months" to prep for their roles as Siamese twins joined at the hip in the Farrelly Brothers' upcoming big-screen comedy, "Stuck On You." So says Lenny Clarke, who plays a lawyer in the film.

    Clarke, who's also garnering big attention with his fall-debuting ABC "It's All Relative" sitcom, reports that Matt 'n' Greg's hard work definitely paid off. "To see them walk in unison -- it looks so real! They were really in sync. It's unbelievable, with the special effects and everything." He adds, "This movie's going to be a smash."

    Clarke does allow that the Farrelly Brothers, whose hit films include "There's Something About Mary," "Shallow Hal" and "Me, Myself and Irene," will once again be pushing, -- er, make that tearing -- the envelope of questionable taste with "Stuck on You." But the stand-up comic-cum-actor defends his long-time buddies.

    "I'm fortunate enough to be friends with them for ten years. They've asked me to do every one of their movies and the one thing everyone will agree with is that they make you laugh," he says. "The thing about the Farrelly Brothers is when they use people with multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis or quadriplegics -- sure they get a laugh, but they treat these people like movie stars. There are always groups that are complaining, but the people in the movie are saying, 'Shut up. I'm in a wheelchair and I'm starring in a movie for crying out loud!' The Farrelly Brothers have the biggest hearts. Although they may appear to be making light of these people, they are giving them the dream of a lifetime and they would never do anything in anyway to harm anyone or anyone's feelings."

8/22/2003
  • ET and E! on Thursday showed different clips from a new Stuck on you trailer. The trailer is currently available at the ET website in Windows Media format, but should be available over the weekend in the much better Quicktime format at the Apple trailers site. Apart from Matt, Greg and Cher, the trailer includes quick glimpses of Eva Mendes, Frankie Muniz and golfers Sergio Garcia and Jesper Parnevik. Thanks to Daniel for sending in some stills of Cher in the preview.

  • From E!Online's Movie Scoop today:

    Red Light, Greenlight?
    Just as with the first Project Greenlight project, Moore, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon don't really know if there will be another one after Shaker Heights. "I hope we continue doing it every year," Affleck said at the junket. "But because we have multiple partners, we have to demonstrate to each one of them that it's worth it for them to go forward. Blockbuster has to see some value out of it, it has to work on HBO, the movie has to make money for Miramax--and we're going to have to adjust if any of those things don't happen." He added, "I hope that we will, but I'm not sure."

    Damon and Affleck both hope Greenlight can eventually work with less of their involvement, on both sides of the camera. Right now, however, they're crucial. "Hopefully, the brand finds its own name," said Affleck. "I think next year, me and Matt can pull back. Chris Moore is the star of the show."

    Moore also hopes the brand can live on without its celebrity cheerleaders. "Do you think everybody here [would be] coming if they weren't here?" Moore asked at the premiere. "We'll start getting bigger people in the movie, we'll start getting bigger budgets, but $2 million is plenty to make a movie. Until we have a script and a group we want to break [the bank] for, we'll stick at that level. I hope Project Greenlight takes on a life that's bigger than Ben or Matt or anyone else."

    Also from the above Movie Scoop article, and confirmed by Jennifer:

    But This One Goes to 12!
    Don Cheadle, George Clooney and the rest of the Ocean's Eleven cast start on Ocean's Twelve February 11. Although he hasn't seen a script, he knows he'll be shooting "all over Europe."

  • Another very positive review for Gerry appears in The Guardian, where it is film of the week - here.

  • Martin Grove from the Hollywood Reporter talks about next season's top summer contenders in today's article, and mentions Bourne Supremacy.

    Universal's "The Bourne Supremacy" opens July 23 and is the sequel to "The Bourne Identity," which grossed $121.5 million in 2002. Directed by Paul Greengrass ("Bloody Sunday"), it reteams Matt Damon and Franka Potente. Its screenplay by Tony Gilroy is based on another of Robert Ludlum's novels. The sequel's story involves the assassination of a Chinese official, which appears to be the work of Jason Bourne (Damon). The success of the first "Bourne" came as a surprise. Its sequel sounds like another winner.

  • Irma sent in a new AP article about the "Matt and Ben" play, currently being performed in NY, which includes a few new quotes by the actor/writers. (I won't be including any more stories about the play on this site - they've already received far too much undeserved attention for their unoriginal publicity stunt.)

8/21/2003
  • TV ALERT: ET will be airing at least one new clip from Stuck on you on Thursday's show. The previewed clip featured Cher and Frankie Muniz, um, in bed. Here's the ET online summary.

    Frankie and Cher: 'Stuck' Together?
    CHER and FRANKIE MUNIZ -- in bed together? Only the FARRELLY BROTHERS could come up with something so twisted and hilarious at the same time. That's right, the guys behind 'There's Something About Mary' and 'Me, Myself & Irene' are back with an all-new comedy starring MATT DAMON and GREG KINNEAR. We've got your exclusive first look at 'Stuck on You'!

    Bob (Matt) and Walt (Greg) are conjoined twin brothers who, literally, can never leave each other's side. "We're not Siamese. We're American," insists Bob's character in the movie. Stuck together since before they could remember, wild complications ensue when Walt decides to pursue his dreams and persuades the reluctant Bob to come along for the ride. When they ultimately are separated, the brothers face their greatest challenge ever: living life apart!

    Cher plays herself in the film, and Frankie makes a chuckle-inducing cameo as her strange bedfellow. Other stars who drop in to play themselves in the film include JAY LENO, JACK NICHOLSON and MERYL STREEP!

    Also starring SEYMOUR CASSEL ('Rushmore') and EVA MENDES ('2 Fast 2 Furious'), 'Stuck on You' hits theaters nationwide December 12.

  • An update on Bourne Supremacy which doesn't say anything new, from Cindy Pearlman's column in the Chicago Sun-Times (note the director's correct name is Paul Greengrass):

    A role that Damon was 'Bourne' to play at least twice
    August 21, 2003, by Cindy Pearlman
    Matt Damon is about to be "Bourne" again. There is a shooting date for the sequel to his hit film "The Bourne Identity."

    Producer Kathleen Kennedy tells GLARE, "We leave for Berlin to shoot in November with a script written by Tony Gilroy, who wrote the first movie. It's loosely based on the second book. Paul Greenway will direct."

    As for plot secrets, Kennedy says, "Well, I can tell you that the movie will take place in India, Berlin and Moscow."

    She says the Damon character will show more layers. "This film is really about Jason Bourne's internal struggle to find out exactly who he is." The film is due out in 2004.

  • A new photo from Gerry, which opens in selected UK cinemas Friday. Here's an excerpt from the positive review at the BBC site:

    Against this backdrop, armed only with spartan, improvised dialogue, the leads excel in retaining attention. Damon trades on his inherent likeability, his movie star charisma, to make us care, while Affleck reveals a depth of talent previously only hinted at, as his character slowly disintegrates.

    A metaphor for humanity's spiritual desolation, or nature's indifference to Man; meditation on the fragility of life; paean to the power of friendship; pretentious art piece of astonishing tedium - there is credence to all of these descriptions. You will likely love "Gerry", or hate it.

  • Emilie, on behalf of IFILM, sent in a link to clips with Battle of Shaker Heights crew and cast members (not Matt), available here.

  • Here's a collection of photographs from various events, including out-takes from the USA Weekend cover shoot a few years back, from Imagestation.

8/19/2003
  • The text from Entertainment Weekly's fall movie preview has come online for Stuck on you here:

    What's at stake
    Unless they're careful, this one could have the Farrellys stuck reading hate mail for months.

    Bringing new meaning to the phrase "attached to the project," Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear star in "Stuck on You" as conjoined twins who move from Massachusetts to Hollywood to pursue one brother's dream of being a star. It's an idea the Farrellys first worked on in 1990, years before "There's Something About Mary." "Back then studios were afraid of it: 'You can't make a movie about conjoined twins,'" Peter Farrelly recalls. "There was no reason. It's just that people are pussies." At one point Woody Allen and Jim Carrey were to play the twins, but when talks fell through the filmmakers decided to go with actors who could actually pass as kin. (Cher, meanwhile, plays herself, and Meryl Streep contributes a cameo.)

    "Stuck" was one of several scripts Damon received after his comic guest turn on TV's "Will & Grace." "In a weird way, that episode really helped me," he says. "I just did it to have a good time, yet suddenly studios said, 'Oh, he can be funny.'"

    But the 11 hours of prosthetic work required to join the actors for their shirtless scenes was no laughing matter. "It was worse for Greg because he had to have his chest waxed," says Damon. "He said that was the worst experience of his life. And he had to do it three or four times because we'd shoot the scenes, like, three weeks apart. What little chest hair I had got ripped off in the first makeup test!"

    Still smarting from the flak they caught from the likes of Carnie Wilson over "Shallow Hal," the Farrellys insist they're not ridiculing their heroes. "They're complete winners," says Peter. "They have a successful business, they were the kings of the prom, and they were on the state champion hockey team." Uh, excuse me? "They were the goalie, of course."

    The Killer Moment
    "The thing that's going to blow people away is how much you care about these guys," says Peter Farrelly. "But also when they fight each other, that's pretty funny too."

  • Katie's George Clooney site here posted some info from Army Archerd's column in Variety about Ocean's Twelve:

    ... first for [Jerry] Weintraub is "Ocean's Twelve," with a return of the entire cast and director Steven Soderbergh. George Clooney returns this week from his lengthy vacation in his new Lake Como villa, where he was visited by Jerry. No, it won't be one of the locations. They are N.Y., Amsterdam, Paris and Rome...

  • A Grimm casting rumour from New York magazine's Intelligencer column here:

    Grimm Tidings: Roman Holiday
    Roman Polanski may be returning to the big screen. But this time, the Pianist director will be in front of the cameras. A source tells us that director Terry Gilliam has been wooing the controversial Polanski to appear in The Brothers Grimm, a $75 million flick loosely based on the lives of the fairy-tale writers. The movie, which is being shot in Prague, stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger.

8/18/2003
  • A new article about the filming of Brothers Grimm has come online at the website of Czech newspaper Mojenoviny.cz. It includes quotes from Terry Gilliam, so there may have been a press conference in Prague. There doesn't appear a lot of information that is new, but I am unable to translate the article.

  • Ahead of Gerry's limited opening this week in the UK, Casey Affleck has written an article about Gus Van Sant and his directing style for the Independent.

8/17/2003
  • The new photo of Matt and Greg (above) in Stuck on you, from the ice hockey scenes filmed in Rockport, is in Entertainment Weekly's fall preview issue, and found at.

  • Sandi kindly forwarded the Stuck on you preview from the new Premiere magazine (where it appeared with the baseball photo).

    "Nothing will acquaint you with another carbon-based life-form like being attached to him for 70 hours a week," Kinnear says. He would know. In this latest comedy from the Farrelly brothers (Shallow Hal), Kinnear and Damon play conjoined twins who leave New England to try their hand - er, hands - at showbiz, Hollywood-style.

    "You think they're going to get their asses kicked," Peter Farrelly says. But with some Forrest Gumption, they land a spot on a talk show hosted by Cher, and even meet their idol Meryl Streep. Farrelly wrote the script with brother Bobby more than a decade ago, only to find that "studios were afraid of it."

    About five years later, Jim Carrey and Woody Allen were briefly, um, attached to the project (an unequally shared liver would have made Allen's character age faster), and even Will Smith expressed interest. Since then, the directors have enjoyed a string of hits ("People trust us more," Peter says) and the script has become studiously p.c.: The directors consulted a neurosurgeon and several sets of conjoned twins, including a country-western singer and her hospital worker sister, who quit her job so her sister can pursue her musical dreams.

    Faux pas de deux
    "It's like someone has kidnapped your coordination," Kinnear says of the contraption that kept him stuck on Damon. "We had a couple of good face plants early on."

  • From Production Weekly, a more complete plot summary for Stuck on you:

    The story follows the adventures of two Siamese twins, who each possesses his own head, torso and arms and legs, joined together at the hip where they share a liver. They're otherwise normal guys who never think of themselves as victims. In school they're made kings of the prom, are the star goalie on the hockey team. They look at their situation as an advantage, like when they're on the wrestling team, essentially two guys who pin one larger opponent.

    The duo are in danger of coming apart, so to speak, when one decides he wants to break in to showbiz and travel to Hollywood to become an actor, leaving behind their jobs at a burger joint in Rhode Island. Since each has pledged not to hold the other back, the brother has no choice but to tag along for the trip, even though he suffers from stagefright.

  • An article with mostly familiar details about Brothers Grimm and Heath Ledger, copied in full from the Sun-Herald, a Sydney paper.

    Ledger's Prague trip not so Grimm
    Heath Ledger will spent at least another month in Prague, filming The Brothers Grimm alongside Matt Damon.

    Ledger scored the role of Jake Grimm in the feature film being made by Terry Gilliam, of Monty Python fame, and began filming in the Czech Republic in June.

    The role is tipped as Ledger's biggest Hollywood breakthrough role yet, after he gained early attention in films including The Patriot and A Knight's Tale.

    Despite his star status in Australia, Ledger is still primarily known in Hollywood as Naomi Watts's boyfriend. Insiders say the actor is keen to establish his own A-list acting reputation.

    "He is playing a leading role alongside Matt Damon, so he's confident this will establish him as someone to watch," said a film insider, close to the set. "Heath is really determined to prove he is as good as Matt on screen, although there doesn't seem to be any animosity between the two of them."

    The film centres on two con artist brothers, Will and Jake Grimm (played by Damon and Ledger) who try to fool local villagers with magic tricks - until they stumble into a real-life fairytale world.

    Ledger was reportedly due to travel to Scotland on Friday night, for the premier of Ned Kelly at the Edinburgh Film Festival. But he told organisers he was unable to attend because of set commitments in Prague.

    The actor will be based in the Czech Republic for at least another month, before returning home to Los Angeles.

    The Brothers Grimm is expected to be released in 2004.

  • Two articles in the Boston Globe simultaneously attack Ben and praise Matt - here and here. Some excerpts:

    It is fashionable at the moment to loathe Ben Affleck. To be honest, the guy makes it easy. What has been less noted is the Matt Damon corollary to the I-Hate-Ben uprising: the unexpressed but tangible feeling that Affleck's "Good Will Hunting" buddy has gone on to make more interesting acting choices, has stayed modest and circumspect, has refrained from becoming a whopping pop-culture pain.

    This is about more than the possibility that Damon will be hoisting a mid-career Best Actor statue around the time that Affleck is starring in a production of "The Fantasticks" at a New Jersey dinner theater. This is about the hope. Affleck may be charmingly self-deprecating on a talk show and Damon, for all we know, may steal nickels from blind street beggars, but none of that matters. We root for one to fall and the other to rise.

    Now to apply the theory to MattandBen. Since they lifted off the launching pad with their 1997 Oscar for best original screenplay, their careers have diverged:...

    Damon, on the other hand, has had a much less visible post-"Hunting" career. He's been in a blockbuster derived from a paperback bestseller, but "The Bourne Identity" had the luck to be a better movie than "The Sum of All Fears," and it wasn't rammed down our throats with similar public-relations ferocity. Damon has starred in duds ("All the Pretty Horses," "The Legend of Bagger Vance"), but the directors took the blame in both cases. He has appeared in the ensembles of "Ocean's Eleven" and "Saving Private Ryan" with what looks like self-effacing grace.

    More to the point, it's impossible to imagine Affleck taking on the role of a gay, murderous social climber ("The Talented Mr. Ripley"), a wandering existential schlub ("Gerry"), or one half of a pair of conjoined twins (the Farrelly brothers' upcoming "Stuck On You"). Who knows what Damon is up to with such diversity? His appealingly mashed-in mug offers few clues. Perhaps he has a mercurial agent. Or maybe he's doing what any smart young actor would do: exploring the possibilities.

    That may be the better route to real stardom, an actor's stardom. It's certainly the way to better movies. Are you taking notes, Ben?

  • In the context of the above articles, here's a prescient line from an interview with Matt when he was promoting Bourne Identity in Taiwan last year:

    You're being called "the thinking woman's leading man." How do you react to that?
    (After a short pause) Ben would laugh at that. (Laughter) Does that mean Ben is the unthinking woman's...?
8/13/2003
  • TV alert: Last weekend's episode of Project Greenlight included an appearance by Matt in New York for a discussion of the film ("Battle of Shaker Heights"). Matt had left Prague for the brief visit, and appeared to have his head still shaved beneath a cap. The episode will be repeated before the final show airs this weekend.

  • Here are a few comments about Matt which have appeared during the PGL promotion - first one from USA Today:

    Affleck's friends, including Don Cheadle (who starts shooting Oceans Twelve with Damon in February) and Kevin Smith, turned up for the screening and Hard Rock Cafe party.

    From Access Hollywood online in an interview with Ben:

    "Where is Matt [Damon] today?" Nancy inquired. "Matt's in Prague shooting a movie. That's one of the nice things about being in this with Matt. If one of us is working, the other can get involved and pick up the slack. Between me and Matt, we function as one full person."

    From the ET Newsletter, regarding Matt's absence at Monday's premiere:

    As for MATT DAMON, "He's a cop-out," Ben joked. Actually he's been in Prague working on 'The Brothers Grimm' with sexy HEATH LEDGER.

  • More details about Matt's character in "The Ugly Americans" (the working title of a comedy also currently filming in Prague), have been provided in a post at the IMDB. 'BlairHornstine' writes:

    "He plays a guy in a band who makes out with one of the characters... someone who seduces someone important"

  • Here's a new BBC Radio 1 news story on Gerry, which opens in the UK on limited release next week:

    Some people love it but Matt admits 75% of people hated the film when it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival and many people walked out before it ended.

    "They say you get ten minutes at the beginning of a movie to kind of announce what the movie is, and the audience will forgive that and go along with it, or they'll get up and walk out."

    "It's the kind of movie that, if it wasn't working for you and you were forced to sit through it, you'd be bitter and angry. But if you'd gone in and bought a ticket you may have walked out after ten minutes. If you didn't, if you were along for the ride, then it would be something better."

  • According to juliastiles.net, which claims to be an official site for Julia Stiles, her character of Nicolette will be returning in The Bourne Supremacy.

8/10/2003
  • Another still from Stuck on you (at right) has appeared online at this ebay auction. It appears to be a larger, colour version of a photo from the Boston Herald during the Rockport shoot.

  • An old story about second-unit filming for Stuck on you at Martha's Vineyard in late February is here.

  • Dark Horizons reports that Franka Potente has joined the cast of Bourne Supremacy, but no source was stated. During interviews for Bourne Identity, Franka said she was contractually obliged to return for the sequel.

  • Filmjerk was the first to report that Bourne Supremacy has an official release date of 23 July 2004, even though shooting has not even begun, and cast and crew are not confirmed.




8/07/2003
  • An early poster and the first still photo for Stuck on you have been released to the IMDB, pictured at right and top of page.

    Coming Soon.net accompanied the new pictures with a modified description of the film's plot:

    Outrageous comedy and sentiment from the Farrelly Brothers are joined at the hip as Damon and Kinnear play conjoined twin brothers who, literally, never leave each other's side. Their unique bond leads to wild complications when Greg decides to pursue his dreams and persuades reluctant sibling Matt to go along for the ride. When they ultimately are separated, the brothers face their greatest challenge ever: living life on their own.

    Another reference to the film describes the storyline as thus:

    When one conjoined twin decides to go into show business they both wind up working on Cher's TV show.

  • Another celebrity cameo in Stuck on you will be "Carrie Fisher."

  • Actor/comedian Guy Torry also appears in Stuck on you and plays Omar, a fast talking street hustler, as described on his website. At the site Guy also has a picture of himself on the set with Matt and Greg Kinnear here.

  • And to conclude today's Stuck on you news, actress Jessica Cauffiel talks about her role to Campus Circle.net:

    Being true to her characters seems to be paying off for Cauffiel, who just received one of the greatest compliments a physical comic actor can get these days. The Farrelly brothers wrote her into their next sick'n'twisted flick, Stuck On You, which stars Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins. "I told them, "Guys, I'd push a broom in the background for you," she says about accepting the part. Her role is a surprise, just like the many other cameos in the film by the likes of Meryl Streep and Cher. "Let's just say that for 15 hours, I got to dump Matt Damon over and over again," she titters.

  • LT also kindly wrote in with another view of the E!THS program:

    I was frustrated with the way they raised a couple of nettlesome issues, only to dismiss them quite ambiguously so as to further fuel the rumor mills.

    The first I took fault with was their questioning whether Matt & Ben got help writing the 'Good Will Hunting' screenplay; the show said that it was rumored that Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman did a ghost re-write of their script. While they did interview a couple people who said they believed that Matt & Ben had written it themselves, they concluded that segment with someone commenting something to the effect of, "well, studios bring in experienced writers to do re-writes all the time" -- leaving many viewers with, I'm sure, some doubt as to the veracity of The Boys' claim that they wrote the piece themselves. (*sigh*)

    The second bit had to do with the long-running rumor that Matt broke up with Minnie Driver publicly, and quite impersonally, on the 'Oprah' TV show. Most of the people they interviewed, whether they intended to or not, seemed to fuel that rumor with their comments, and the only person that came close to refuting it simply said something along the lines of "Matt contends that he had broken up with Minnie before that taping." No mention whatsoever of Minnie's running around smearing him in the press, or of Minnie's sister's allegation that Minnie had shared with her privately that Matt had, indeed, broken up with her in person some weeks prior to the taping of that show. So their very weak "refutation" regarding this rumor was a disappointment, too.

    I should also point out that there was also one very glaring and, if you ask me, embarrassing oversight by the show: they played video footage of the initial announcement of all the main Academy Awards 'Good Will Hunting' was nominated for... with the exception of Matt's Best Actor nomination! And not only did they not show it, I don't think they even mentioned his nomination in their narration.

  • JT writes that Matt was mentioned in a BBC 1 radio report as a potential lead for the upcoming film adaptation of the "Sub-Mariner" comic, where he would play an ocean superhero with a bad temper. I think Matt's previously stated that he wouldn't play a superhero or a comic book character, so this is definitely in the rumor file only.

  • TV alert: ET on Thursday is playing a "new" interview with Matt and Ben, which is actually from January or earlier, to promote PGL and The Battle of Shaker Heights.

8/05/2003
  • A few comments on the E! True Hollywood Story from a reader:

    It started at the very beginning with Matt's birth, and they talked about when and where each boy was born and listed the immediate family and subsequent divorces. They grew up two blocks from each other and met sometime around 1976. They became good friends and went to the same high school. The show had a number of high school teachers and several girls who went to high school with them.

    They talked about college versus career and detailed what each guy did and where they went. They have a whole slew of magazine writers and journalists to add commentary and speculation, including the Inside Track woman, Boston film critic Sara Brown, an editor from Us, one from People, someone from Biography magazine, Michael Musto of the Village Voice, and a couple of others.

    The two girls from high school who talked were extremely complimentary. They seemed very nice and had no high school horror stories of Matt or Ben. I don't know that they are or were friends with Matt or Ben, but I do feel they knew them quite well back in the day. I think one of them was in theater with them in school. Matt's theater teacher spoke at length and Matt has actually mentioned him in interviews as a great guy.

    One of the girls mentioned that Matt is quite the singer and was very interested in musical theater and was the lead in Pippin. He also played the lead in a play called the Visit, his junior year. It's about a woman who moves away from her small town and goes out and becomes a billionaire. She returns to visit the small town and makes a request of the residents: she wants her ex boyfriend executed. Matt played the boyfriend and it was supposedly his first role that really stood out. The girl said she cried every night.

    They really said nothing about Stuck and Grimm on a factual level. They just said that he had rapped Stuck and was working on Grimm. No pictures of Matt, but file photos. Pics of the Farrelly brothers and Terry Gilliam. The journalists did offer some commentary on the films as career moves. I believe one said that this all part of Matt's strategy. He doesn't necessarily try to jump out and carry a movie by himself. They expect Grimm to do well if it's good. It will be a family film, with the fairy tale elements, scares, laughs, special effects. It has the potential to be a commercial blockbuster, so it will be a good move if it does well.

  • Another story on Project Greenlight from the Village Voice is here. The PGL movie The Battle of Shaker Heights will open in LA and NY on 22 August, and expand to selected markets in the following week.

  • There's a new round of articles on the play "Matt and Ben", including this one from the NY Post and this one from E Online. With thanks to Jeff.

  • Gerry will be released in the UK on 22 August.

  • I can't resist... The first signs of a Ben/Jen break-up from the NY Post.
8/01/2003
  • More details on Bourne Supremacy from producer Frank Marshall at IGN Film Force:

    The final steps are now being taken in pre-production, Marshall says. "We're set to go. We're scouting locations. It will take place in India, Berlin...and Moscow. We're leaving for Berlin in September and it is loosely based on the second book [just] as the first movie was loosely based on the first book. Mainly because...it's just too dated to do the second book. ... It's really about Bourne's journey and internal struggle to find out who he is."

    Bourne Supremacy is tentatively slated for a 2005 release date, but may bow in 2004.

  • A New York Times article on filming in Prague mentioned Brothers Grimm only in this offhand manner:

    A few miles away, the Hollywood heart-throb Matt Damon was stalking a film set in a Miramax production about the fairy-tale-writing Brothers Grimm.

  • Comedian Dane Cook talked about his role in Stuck on you in this article:

    Currently Cook can be seen in a bunch of upcoming feature films including the Farrelly Brothers comedy, "Stuck On You" featuring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as two Siamese twins. "I play a police officer who pulls over Damon and Kinnear for drunk driving," explains the comic. "I was just psyched to be in one of the Farrelly Brothers movies."

  • TV reminder: The E! True Hollywood Story on Matt and Ben airs from Sunday night.

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