The Matt Damon Column - February 2004 Archive

Updated 2/27/2004


2/27/2004
  • Bourne Supremacy finishes filming in Germany this Saturday, and the crew will then move to Goa, India, for two weeks. Details from an article here, and translated below. Thanks to Aurelia of depp.ca for another still from the film, which is a better quality version of a black and white picture seen previously.

    Yesterday was the final day of filming for "The Bourne Supremacy" in Potsdam

    Peer Straube, Babelsberg

    Henning Molfenter is relaxed. This is not a miracle, because the production boss of the studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures GmbH has done everything correctly until now. From a Hollywood view. It is Thursday, and it is the last filming day in Potsdam for the spy thriller "The Bourne Supremacy" with Matt Damon and Franka Potente. Well, for three months the team has fought the wind and weather in Potsdam and Berlin, but Molfenter's 'stress telephone' remained usually mute. The 36-year old was responsible as an implementing producer for logistics and had the production obviously in the grasp. Producer Frank Marshall has already spoken of "best filming conditions". Reason enough to be relaxed.

    Molfenter sits in an empty catering tent at the Billy-Wilder-Platz. A few meters away, in the Marlene Dietrich studio, Matt Damon remains for a few remainding photographs before the camera. Parallel to the filming a raw version of the film is already cut. "We have the two American editors here", says Molfenter, "so they can say straight away what they still need". For example an image of Damon's face in the rear view mirror of a car. Or a scene which plays in Naples in which he must deliver his passport. It is not the first time that Potsdam must double for Italy.

    Since the beginning of January the "Bourne" crew has taken over parts of the studio. Marlene Dietrich Studio was amongst other things the CIA headquarters based in Berlin at the Alexanderplatz. "Whether those seats are really white I know not", laughs Molfenter: "However for the film that is not important." Important however was absolute the absolute quiet required for the interior filming. Damon alias Jason Bourne is questioned in the scene by the CIA. For these "intensive dialogues" it was simply too loud at the Alex.

    Already in November there was filming of scenes at Potsdam. The Gregor Mendel road served as the replacement for winter in Moscow. Wild pursuits were filmed there. Also by the Hegelallee Russian cars rushed past, however without the US star. There only a second unit team was used.

    The "Bourne" caravan continues to roll on. On Saturday the last filming on German soil falls in the Grunewald. Some days ago Franka Potente was here for costume fittings. Their scenes are turned however exclusively in India, where the crew moves now.

    Molfenter rubs his arm. "I can still feel the pain of the inoculation" he says, and smiles. He will also attend to make sure things go right.

  • Unknown members of the Ocean's Twelve cast will be filming in Chicago from April 15 to April 30 - details here.

2/24/2004
  • From an interview with Ben Affleck in Japan Today when asked about Matt last week:

    "Now we are so busy we hardly see each other," said Affleck who was born in Berkeley, California. "But we have decided we are going to make time this summer and sit down and write another movie we can both be in."

  • Thanks to Kathryn for this story about Brothers Grimm in the Mail on Sunday:

    The film, out next year, also stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, and was shot on location in Prague. Despite long hours of filming, the two leading men kept up everyone's spirits on set. "They were always smiling", says one crew member. "They even threw a party for everyone at the end of the shoot."

  • An article about a stunt crew company working on Bourne Supremacy is here.

  • Some pictures of Matt filming the cameo for Eurotrip are at the website of the band Lustra here.

  • And more comments from the Eurotrip directors and cast about Matt are in a filmstew interview:

    When the three friends got together on the Eurotrip set, one of the first calls they made was to old friend and fellow Harvard alumni Matt Damon. "We went to college with Matt, we've known him for years," Schaffer says. "We used to always hang out back in the day before he was, you know, Matt Damon. As it turns out, he was shooting The Brothers Grimm in Prague the same time we were shooting, and we thought we just had to see if he could do a day for us."

    "He was great," Mandel chimes in. "He was awesome."

    Schaffer found particular pleasure in casting his clean-cut friend in the cameo role of a bald, tattooed punk rocker. "That is the real fun of seeing screenings where people don't know he's in the movie," he smiles. "We put him up on screen and you see people think he looks kind of like Matt Damon, then chattering with others whether it is him or not. They're all confused."

    Damon's presence was also a bit confusing for Eurotrip star Scott Mechlowicz, who makes his film debut as Scotty, the teenager determined to find his true love in Germany.

    "This is my first film," Mechlowicz beams. "It was great to meet these people that you've heard of for so long. Every day was just a blast, and there were new things to have fun with and new people to meet with, some great cameos from Matt Damon and Lucy Lawless."

    Jacob Pitts, who plays the comically libido-driven best friend Cooper, agrees. "Yeah, showing up for work every day to find out who you were going to work with was pretty interesting. You'd look at the call sheet and think, 'Wow, Matt Damon's here.' Is that all?"

  • The photos of Matt with Italian actress Claudia Gerini, soon to be seen in "The Passion of Christ", were taken at The Talented Mr Ripley premiere in Rome in 2000.

2/23/2004
  • Heath Ledger talked about Brothers Grimm for the first time in Interview magazine, where he was questioned by Paul Bettany. Text from heathbaby.

    Paul Bettany: So now you've gone and just made this Terry Gilliam movie with Matt Damon.
    Heath Ledger: The Brothers Grimm. It was extraordinary working with Terry. But I'll tell you, it was also a lot of hard work. We were in Prague [shooting] for 112 days, but turning up every day was an absolute pleasure because he's this eccentric, mad scientist who feeds you energy. You want to perform for him. You want to make it big. The humor in this film was somewhat [Monty] Pythonesque, and the thing about performing that way is that you really have to trust the director. You have to be able to let go and feel brave enough to do anything and know he's going to pick the right moments. And because Matt and l had that confidence in Terry, we felt like we had license to play around. It was like a big playground, and it was brilliant.

  • The full scans from Us Weekly magazine are below, with thanks to Sandi.

2/22/2004
  • My thanks to the Big Matt Fan for sending me the photos from the Us Weekly article of Matt and Lucy. There are four pictures, and they make take a little time to download.

  • A scan of an article about the new series of Project Greenlight at Entertainment Weekly was also sent in by the Big Matt Fan.

2/21/2004
  • Matt's girlfriend of the past few months has been identified in Us Weekly and In Touch magazine, although they disagree on her surname. My thanks to the Big Matt Fan and another reader for the text of the articles, but could anybody send me the scans? It would be much appreciated. The inset photo is of Matt and Luciana at the Dorian Gray club in Berlin a few weeks ago. First, the story from Us Weekly.

    Matt's Italian Romance

    Valentine's Day came early for Matt Damon, who took his new girlfriend on a romantic Italian getaway
    By Joey Bartolomeo

    In his upcoming thriller, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, Matt Damon plays a spy, but while on location in Italy on February 12 and 13, the actor took on the role of a tourist on a romantic holiday. His leading lady: new girlfriend Luciana Barroso, 28. "They looked very much in love," says an eyewitness who saw the couple while Damon was working one day in Capri. "After he filmed his scene, he went over and kissed her very passionately."

    So who is Barroso? The separated, Miami-based interior designer is the mother of a young daughter and has been carrying on a low-key relationship with Damon, 33, since last fall -- not long after he split from his girlfriend of two years, Odessa Whitmire, 28. Unlike his ex - who a source close to Damon says "was arrogant and rude to most of the crew who worked with Matt" -- Barroso is "quiet and shy, a nice, modest girl." Though the couple, according to the insider, first met in Florida, their relationship blossomed in Europe, where the actor has been shooting for several months.

    On October 4, they celebrated his birthday at a party in Prague where he was filming THE BROTHERS GRIMM. "She was by his side the whole night," says a source. "Later, Matt was seen with her everywhere -- at bowling alleys, bars." Recently, she has been making regular trips to Berlin, where Bourne is based. "He's really into her," a Damon pal has said. Barroso's pals, meanwhile, are rooting for a real-life Cinderella story. "Fairy-tale endings happen all the time," says a friend. "Why shouldn't it happen to Luciana?"

    More details from the printed article...

    There are a bunch of pics. On one page they are walking together in Naples, Italy on Feb 12. Matt gives her his winter coat. The caption says "Barroso," says a neighbor, "has a keen sense of style" -which she covered up in Naples, Italy, with Damon on chilly February 12. Then at the bottom of the page there is a series of thumbnail pics of Matt with all his women. It starts with Skylar and ends with Odessa.

    The second page is all pics. One big pic of Matt and Luciana fills the page. The caption says "While in Naples, the twosome visited Castel dell'Ovo - a castle on an island - where "they walked all around and Matt took pictures of Luciana," says an eyewitness. Afterwards they dined at a cozy seaside restaurant.

    There's a pic of them kissing. It's titled "How they Kept Warm", and the caption says "They seemed very couple-y," an eyewitness says of the sightseeing pair, "always hugging and kissing and happy to be together." Another picture shows them walking into a hotel together. The caption reads: The pair's suite at the Hotel Excelsior had views of the mountains and the sea.

    A quote from a friend of Luciana Barroso says "She's the type of person that you could picture yourself marrying."

  • And the text from In Touch magazine, page 70:

    Matt Damon finds love in Italy

    Though Ben Affleck has dumped his girlfriend, it looks like pal Matt Damon has found new love. The actor was spotted holding hands with pretty brunette Luciana Bozan while strolling down the streets of Naples, Italy. "Matt was wearing this dark ski cap, trying to avoid being noticed, and no one bothered them," says a source. The couple was staying at the famous Excelsior Hotel, where Matt was shooting scenes for The Bourne Supremacy, sequel to The Bourne Identity.

  • From an interview with the Eurotrip director/writers at JoBlo.com:

    Q: How did you get Matt Damon to be in the film?
    Schaffer: One of the things about being in Prague is that there are so many movies shooting there. When we realized we were going to be in Prague, we sort of looked and said, "What other big movies are shooting there?"
    Berg: What real movies are shooting there?
    Mandel: Matt Damon was in Prague doing THE BROTHERS GRIMM. We went to school with him. We convinced him, very nicely, to do a day.
    Schaffer: I think the fun thing is, if people are doing a day, like Matt or Jeffrey Tambor, or they're doing a few days, like Lucy Lawless, it's just fun. It's like, "Look, it's a fun movie. Come in and just have a great time. Let your hair down."
    Berg: It's not ten weeks.
    Mandel: People will have a lot more fun in three days and do something they've never done.

    And Matt's never done anything like that before.
    Mandel: But you know what? I know this is going to sound stupid, but we've seen Matt like that. You know, before he was Matt.
    Schaffer: He's a funny guy.

  • The reviewer for the Rocky Mountain News didn't identify Matt in the film:

    I wish, by the way, that someone had told me to look for Matt Damon as the lead singer of the band that humiliates poor Scotty. I didn't recognize him with his post-punk shaved-head, police-blotter look.

  • And a funny Eurotrip note from the Daily Nebraskan:

    "Eurotrip" used the same production offices as one of last year's cinematic turds, "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," and according to Schaffer, they performed an exorcism on the offices to rid them of evil movie spirits. I'm not really sure if they succeeded.

  • Update: The list of features on the upcoming DVD for Stuck on you (to be released 27 April) are now online at Amazon, and include:

  • Commentary by directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly
  • Theatrical trailer(s), TV spot(s)
  • Eight deleted scenes
  • Behind the scene: dodgeball
  • Featurettes: "It's Funny: The Farrelly Formula," "Bringing Stuck on You to the Screen," "The Makeup Effects"
  • Blooper reel
2/20/2004
  • There's an interesting quote from an interview with Brothers Grimm co-star Mackenzie Crook ("The Office") at the Guardian:

    Now he's doing well in America, is he hanging out with the beautiful people? Is Al Pacino now his mate? "I wouldn't say he was my mate, as such. He doesn't phone me with his problems. But he's a nice man." Matt Damon? They will hang out together if they find themselves in the same town. Damon has a wild lifestyle, he says.

  • A quote from Ben about his Oscar year, from the NY Daily News.

    In the upcoming In Style, he confides that 1998, the year he and Matt Damon won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for "Good Will Hunting," was the best year of his life.

    "I've never been happier than I was that year. Since then things have become more complicated and weird, though not necessarily worse."

  • An excerpt from a fun story about the making of Eurotrip - where Matt's getting great reviews but the film overall isn't faring so well - is available here. (Note: The author of the article names the country Czechoslovakia, which is incorrect. Prague is now the capital of the Czech Republic, and Slovakia is a separate country.)

    A different set of concerns involved the minor roles, including Matt Damon as the lead singer in a punk band and Lucy Lawless as the dominatrix at an Amsterdam sex club.

    Screen Actors Guild rules require first-class airfare, which is $10,000 to Czechoslovakia. To avoid the expense on a tight budget, Schaffer, Berg and Mandel first started looking for actors who already were in Europe. Damon, who they've known for years, was shooting "The Brothers Grimm'' in the country, agreed to do a day of filming. Jeffrey Tambor, who they knew from working on ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas,'' also was filming in Europe. Lawless had been shooting a movie in Ireland, and they were able to get her to take a side trip to Eastern Europe before flying home to New Zealand.

  • Update: Here are some comments about Matt from the Eurotrip cast, taken from an about.com interview.

    Q: There's a surprising cameo from Matt Damon in "Eurotrip." What was he like to work with?
    SCOTT MECHLOWICZ: Indeed, shaved head, tattoos, piercing, a madman.
    TRAVIS WESTER: Just rocking out, Matt Damon.

    And how was he between takes?
    SCOTT MECHLOWICZ: A sweetheart. He was like a fireball up there, just going crazy. He learned the song, I think, that day and he pulled it off so well. Off the set he was just the nicest guy.
    JACOB PITTS: He set all of our hearts aflutter.
    TRAVIS WESTER: Especially Jacob's.
    SCOTT MECHLOWICZ: Jacob got rosy cheeked.

  • And my thanks to Melisa, who has a Lena Headey fansite here, for making some more screencaps from the ET preview of Brothers Grimm.

2/19/2004
  • A snippet from an interview with Eurotrip's Michelle Trachtenberg at comingsoon.net.

    While spending four months shooting Eurotrip in Prague, Michelle says she grew homesick, specifically for the products of In-N-Out Burger and The Coffee Bean. "I like my double doubles. I like my cheeseburgers and my ice blended." Fortunately, she mentioned her longing to Matt Damon, who took a small part in the film as a favor for college buddy and the film's director Jeff Schaffer. It turns out Matt always brings along packets of The Coffee Bean's vanilla ice blended and was willing to share from his stash.

  • Thanks to David for passing on another link to pictures of the modified trains to be used in Bourne Supremacy - here.

2/18/2004
  • A report from Sunday's filming for Bourne Supremacy is at bz.berlin1.de.

    Wild parties in the 90 degree club are now over. At least for superstar Matt Damon. Yesterday, the 33-year-old was again before the camera, filming in Berlin "The Bourne Supremacy". For filming yesterday, the complete Alexanderplatz was blocked for Hollywood in the capital. And Damon was in an obliging mood at the Spree: "I love Berlin!" he called out to his fans.

  • Matt's getting some good notices for his brief role in Eurotrip, opening Friday. If you watch the film, stay for the credits as I believe Matt is in one of the out-takes.

  • I know any comments about Stuck on you are late for the majority of readers, but the film just opened in Australia (where it was in first place at the box office over the weekend), and I can now compare the film with the script I obtained. Described as being a final draft and dated 24 January 2003, there were lots of differences with the finished film. Some of them are described below, and may be of interest.

    In the script Cher telephones NY Post columnist Liz Smith to announce that Walt is a conjoined twin, hoping to destroy the show and his career. Here's some deleted dialogue from the scene with Cher and Walt drinking margaritas in a cafe after the separation:
    Walt's talking about Cher being the ultimate survivor...

    WALT I mean the things you've overcome: A bad childhood, an early marriage and divorce, Greg Allman...
    CHER Yeah.
    WALT ...The bagel-boy, the Bon Jovi dude, not to mention that Kiss loser - boy, what a beauty he was.
    CHER Right.
    WALT Then there's the infomercials, the rib removals, the stuff with ...
    CHER Yeah, I get it, I get it. By the way, I never had a rib removed.
    WALT Whatever - it's your body.

    They end up talking about Sonny Bono and they sing "I got you babe" together in front of the Rising Star apartments. Some other parts were cut after the twins become public property:

    INT. TV STUDIO - DAY
    BARBARA WALTERS is interviewing the twins off screen.

    BARBARA WALTERS Walt. You never had a father. You never had a mother. The other children made fun of you. How did you manage to become what you've become today?

    WIDEN to reveal Walt blubbering, tears streaming down his face, while Bob reads a magazine patiently.

    And this didn't appear in the finished film:

    CLOSE ON A BILLBOARD of an advertisement for Honey and the Beaze. It's a painting of a pissed-off Honey holding off the Beaze with a straight-arm to the face. Curiously, though, at the side of the billboard, they've even painted in Bob's nose.

    BOB (O.S.) That's insulting. My beak doesn't look anything like that.

  • This site just passed 100,000 hits after I re-started the counter on 1 November 2003. My thanks to all readers. As always, if you have any questions or comments about the site, please contact me.

2/16/2004
  • New photos from The Brothers Grimm, which appear to be mostly wardrobe tests, are available at thezreview.co.uk, and some are copied below. Thanks to Aurelia of depp.ca for the early link.

  • Here are some details of Bourne Supremacy filming on Sunday with thanks to Ulrike, who also shared some photos from the set.

    The scene filmed Sunday was a massive rally on Alexanderplatz in which Julia Stiles and Matt hide from their "chasers" (CIA, KGB, Russian mafia whatever). There were loads of people involved carrying banners and making noise against the cutbacks in education (very close to reality as this is very much an issue at Berlin universities), and the war in general. As part of the filming, Matt and Julia jumped out of a tram and started hiding in the crowd.

    It was really cool to see Matt working on set. He is so down-to-earth and just blends with the crowd. The real extras didn't really notice him at all. Matt talked to autograph hunters and signed for fans during breaks, and also spoke to the press (as seen in the picture).

    There was also a big car stunt scene shot on Karl-Marx-Allee, but I am not sure if there was only Matt's stuntman or Matt himself involved. Karl Urban was doing his own driving in a massive black jeep (chasing Jason Bourne who, again, drove that dented yellow cab.) Karl had his family on set and his young son was cheering when Daddy proved his driving skills. It looked amazing...they used a 1.5 kilometre length of road and accelerated the cars up to full speed before Karl had to change lanes in very dense traffic. A great day on set!

    2/14/2004
    • Stuck on you will be available on DVD in wide-screen and full-screen formats on 27 April 2004.

    2/12/2004
    • Here's the second still from Eurotrip, found at movies.go.com.

    • The preview of Brothers Grimm shown on ET a few months ago is available to view in Quicktime here.




    2/11/2004
    • From Army Archerd's column in Variety:

      Among the nominees who winged in for the Oscar lunch and earlier weekend activities was "Seabiscuit's" Frank Marshall, currently filming "The Bourne Supremacy" in Berlin, with exteriors doubling for - Berlin, interiors filmed at Babelsberg. Marshall and crew completed shooting sequences in Moscow - also for Moscow. But he noted, "They didn't quite understand shutting down streets for a movie company!" Next on to Goa - for Goa - where Matt Damon continues to do his own stunts, sez Marshall.

    • Catherine Zeta-Jones has joined the cast of Ocean's Twelve, which will start filming in Rome on 12 April. Other locations are said to include Paris, Amsterdam, Monte Carlo, Italy's Lake Como, Chicago, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, but the named cities change with each press report.

    2/09/2004
    • Matt did not attend Patrick Whitesell's party in Vegas or the function to promote Studio Babelsberg in Berlin over the weekend. In this article Bourne Supremacy producer Pat Crowley said Matt was in New York. Filming on Sunday was conducted at an abandoned army camp at Goerzallee in Lichterfelde, and second unit filming returned to the Tiergarten-Tunnel. Thanks again to Ulrike.

    • Kim sent in a link to another photo of Matt with Kristin Kreuk in Eurotrip - here.

    • Peter Farrelly is in Sydney to promote Stuck on you in Australia, and discussed the film (and potential casting for his Three Stooges project) in this Age article.

    2/08/2004
    • Matt's brother Kyle wrote a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe in response to a recent article, and it includes a few references to Matt. Kyle is pictured in a 1998 photo with father Kent.

      Two goggles, one face
      2/8/2004
      I read with great interest Maureen Dezell's article about those of us who partake in art and sport ("Guess what? Arts lovers and sports fans can be one and the same," Arts & Entertainment, Feb. 1). Without question, stereotypes that divide stadiums from museums and ball fields from theaters are rooted in misconception. This "crossover" is not limited to spectators.

      My family is artsy. I am a sculptor, and my brother, Matt Damon, is an actor. Our days are filled with art and sport, and like many, we fall comfortably within the group Dezell identifies as "crossover" spectators. I also identify with ArtsBoston director Catherine Peterson's quote, "Both [art and sport] appeal to our visceral sense of wanting to be part of something larger than life . . . ."

      I would argue, however, that the mutual appeal of the two fields is more profound when its practitioners are engaged as participants, not passive spectators. I experience a very natural transition from artist to ironman triathlete as I swap the apron and goggles for Spandex (and different goggles) and leave the studio for the pool or the open road. My brother often ends a day on the movie set by offering a crew member a shot at him on the basketball court (I tip my bike helmet to you if you can beat him).

      Picasso and Bellows loved a good bullfight and boxing match. Robert Redford hits a pretty good fastball, and he went to school to be a painter. Some of my brother's actor friends would almost make better basketball players. Sport and art celebrate life in all of its beauty and meaning. They both heighten our senses and allow us to explore our deepest mental and emotional crevices in ways other things don't. They both get us dirty, tired, and fulfilled; they both engage us in a process and distill our consciousness to see only the moment in front of us.

      KYLE DAMON
      Boston

    2/07/2004
    • Matt has left Berlin for a quick trip to the US, possibly for agent Patrick Whitesell's birthday party at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas on Friday night. However, Matt is on the guest list for an official function for Studio Babelsberg with other Bourne Supremacy cast members on Sunday afternoon in Berlin, according to this article. Julia Stiles and Brian Cox attended the Berlinale opening film Cold Mountain on Thursday, and Karl Urban was on the set Friday, and happily talked with fans. Thanks to Ulrike.

    • At the IMDB board for Bourne Supremacy here, Thrax linked some photos of trains to be used in the film, which have been modified with a Russian design and cryllic characters (no longer available).

    • Further confirmation that Ocean's Twelve will film in Chicago was provided at Chicago Business. Could the untitled film possibly be The Informant?

      "The Weather Man," a new movie starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Gore Verbinski ("Pirates of the Caribbean"), is set to begin shooting in the middle of February. The other prominent works are "Ocean's 12," the sequel to the blockbuster heist movie starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts, and a third title that Ms. Sexton says at the producers' request she cannot reveal.

      The Illinois Film Office projects the Nicholas Cage movie to generate $12 million in revenues, based on its discussions with the state's major film production unions, service industries and the Illinois Department of Revenue. The "Ocean's Twelve" project is expected to net $10 million and the third, untitled project - the largest and costliest of the three films - is expected to generate as much as $35 million.

    • From USA Weekend, where various celebs were asked for their favourite romantic book or poem:

      Stuck On Love
      Matt Damon ("Stuck on You," "The Bourne Supremacy"):
      Well, I haven't read any really romantic books recently. My favorite poem -- I always liked Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress."

    • John Grisham praised The Rainmaker in an EW story in which he discussed the film adaptations of his books:

      ''I got to unload on insurance companies, which is a lot of fun. I sued 'em for 10 years when I was a lawyer....'Rainmaker' was...the first time I used first person narration, and I really, really liked it....The challenge with 'Rainmaker,' also with 'Runaway Jury,' is that courtroom stuff of a civil nature is unbelievably dull. And so you weigh the balance of pace with being legally accurate. I hate this television stuff with courtroom scenes that would make any lawyer want to vomit. I don't want to do that.''

      The movie:
      ''To me it's the best adaptation of any of 'em. [Francis Ford] Coppola really wanted my involvement, for whatever it's worth. And I love the movie. It's so well done.. And it came out a few weeks before 'Titanic' and got swamped.''

    • Here's an excerpt from an interview with Ben that's only just come online, but must be a few weeks old. Matt always claims they will be co-directing the next project, but Ben seems to have other ideas.

      When asked of his relationship with Matt Damon, he said, "I'd like to collaborate again with Matt. I'm taking six months off and then Matt and I have a couple of things we've been talking about doing. It's the only way I get to see the guy. I'd like to write a script with him in the middle of this year, and I'd like to direct it. That's the next evolution for me."

    • And some gossip from the latest In Touch magazine (which as usual has some facts incorrect):

      A sidebar to the latest Ben/Jennifer story is titled "The Problem With Ben and Matt" -- They've dated scores of beautiful women, but Ben Affleck and Matt Damon just can't seem to settle down. Both buddies are now bachelors again!

      "Ben and Matt are just two guys who enjoy playing the field," says an insider. "They want to get married, but it's going to take someone pretty amazing to get either of them down the aisle."

      As Ben's relationship with J.Lo was ending, Matt, 33 who's dated Winona Ryder, Minnie Driver, and Claire Danes, was splitting up with Odessa Whitmire, a model, aspiring actress and former personal assistant to Ben. It's a pattern that Ben and Matt seem destined to keep repeating.

    • Matt's guest appearance on Will & Grace recently aired on UK television, and was followed by this very unreliable bit of gossip from Sky News.

      Hollywood star Matt Damon recently appeared in the hit US comedy Will and Grace to great comic effect. The actor's better known for his friendship with fellow Hollywood star Ben Affleck and all-action movie roles.

      But he's now making a wave in the world of comedy. I can reveal that bosses at NBC, the home of Will and Grace, have offered Matt a return stint on the show. Not only that, but he's also been given the chance to have a comedy series fully developed around him. At this stage Matt is thinking it over.

    2/05/2004
    • Project Greenlight will be accepting submissions for their screenplay and director contests from 9 February. Details here:

      Screenwriter contestants will be able to submit their screenplays via the Project Greenlight website (www.projectgreenlight.com). This year, Miramax, LivePlanet and Bravo are looking for a genre film such as a horror or thriller. Director contestants will be able to submit their directorial submissions on videotape via U.S. mail.

      A panel consisting of Miramax executives, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Moore and others, will evaluate the finalists' materials from both competitions to determine the winners. The winning director will get the opportunity to direct a full-length feature based on the winning screenplay with a budget from Miramax of at least one million dollars.

    • In an article here, poker champ Phil Hellmuth talks about his time spent with Matt and Ed Norton at the World Series of Poker in 1998 - excerpts:

      In 1998, I watched Matt Damon and Ben Affleck win Academy Awards for co-writing Good Will Hunting. They hooted, hollered, and acted all pumped up. I loved the fact that they acted their age - they were roughly 28 years old - when they were presented the awards on stage. It was a breath of fresh air.

      That's what I remembered when I heard that Matt was coming to the 1998 World Series of Poker. The next thing I knew, I found out I was invited to meet Matt and Edward Norton at the top of the Horseshoe for a Sunday morning brunch. I brought my wife and two sons with me to that brunch, and later on that evening, I gave Matt and Edward some private lessons.

      These guys are both brilliant! Matt went to Harvard for a time, and Edward graduated from Yale. They both could converse philosophically, and engagingly. Whether the subject wandered toward politics, Buddhism, or the stock market, they were both sharp as a whip.

    • German magazine Gala reports that Ben will visit Matt in Berlin next week and they will attend the Berlinale. Thanks to Elisa.

    • An article in the Hollywood Reporter talks about the making of Eurotrip in Prague.

    • From Jen:

      In ads for "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!" they ask people at the Los Angeles premiere of the film which star they'd like to go on a date with, and one of the girls says Matt Damon.

    • Australian TV alert: Peter Farrelly will be a guest on Rove (either live or pre-taped) next Tuesday 10 February to promote the release of Stuck on you in Australia. Thanks to Bec!

    2/04/2004
    • An article at spiegel.de discussed the new popularity of Berlin as a location for Hollywood films, and interviewed Matt and some Bourne Supremacy producers - excerpts:

      "I am always inspired by the pace of the city" said Bourne star Damon as he trudged through the Berlin snow sludge and lit a cigarette. "And another reason to film here: unlike Hollywood I can still smoke here unpunished."

      European film locations as well as Berlin and Prague are for US-makers above all attractive due to financial reasons. Hollywood salaries compared to Germany are much more expensive. A German production driver earns about one-third the amount his equivalent in the USA receives.

      A reason for Hollywood's expense to a foreigner is the power of the domestic trade unions, which have implemented the interests of their clientele over many decades. This ensures that each co-worker - from the leading actor to an assistant driver - in a Hollywood film is called essential. "In the USA I was a production manager and wanted to change a car tyre" says Babelsberg man Molfenter. "A union representative came immediately to me and said 'Take your hand away. We have someone whose task it is to do that.' With an American production there is a specialist for each task. That makes the films so expensive."

      But the cost factor alone is rarely decisive for Berlin, because in comparison Prague or Budapest would be cheaper. What excites the Americans above all about Berlin are the changes in wealth and the architectural variety. "The city offers many completely undiscovered subjects" says producer Frank Marshall.

      Thus Marshall and his director, the Berlinale winner Paul Greengrass ("Bloody Sunday"), filmed a car chase in the nearly complete but not yet inaugurated zoo tunnel. "The largest set in which I have ever filmed" says Marshall. The fact that Berlin is a city in development, in which many buildings are not yet complete and others are not yet dismantled, interests Hollywood. Where else can one find so many buildings for a film like in Berlin and the surrounding environment?

      For "The Bourne Supremacy", scenes set in Moscow and Nepal are also filmed in Berlin - partly at the Spree.

      Everything does not run completely perfectly in Berlin however. When filming a complex pursuit in "The Bourne Supremacy", many meters of floodlight masts were set up, immersing the station Friedrichstrasse in the middle of the night in lights. But Hollywood's enormous energy consumption brought the capital to its limits: for several hours there was no light in Berlin Mitte.

    • Here are some photos from the Bourne Supremacy set in Berlin last week, taken by reader Elisa, who has a Ben Affleck fanpage here. Shooting was taking place in a Chinese restaurant located between the Bahnhof Zoo and the Ku'damm. No persons can be identified, but they provide a good indication of the location, the poor weather conditions (it was nearly dark at 3pm in the afternoon), and a morgue van and police car can be identified in the second photo.

    2/03/2004
    • In a column by Jeannette Walls here, Ben's agent suggests that Ben may consider performing in a London play with Matt in an attempt to regain credibility.

    • The photos below are taken from the Italian photo agency Grazianeri, with the link kindly provided by Melissa. The first photo is from a press conference in 2000, and the watermark has been removed by caseyaffleck.net The second photo shows a photo of Ben, Matt and Casey by Bruce Weber that originally appeared in Interview magazine, and displayed here at the Vogue Italia offices as part of a Weber exhibition in September 2003.

    2/01/2004
    • According to thezreview, The Brothers Grimm will be released in US cinemas on 19 November 2004.

    • Update: Ocean's Twelve news from the Chicago Tribune.

      Chicago's about to get a lot more beautiful

      It looks like GEORGE CLOONEY, BRAD PITT, MATT DAMON and friends are headed to the Big Windy this spring.

      Armour & Co. has learned the Chicago and Illinois Film offices are expected to finalize a deal this week to film a good chunk of "Ocean's Twelve" in Chicago, bringing the "Ocean's Eleven" gang here for three weeks of filming in April. "Ocean's Eleven," STEVEN SODERBERGH's remake of FRANK SINATRA's 1960 hit, was here for two days of shooting two years ago (Damon's pickpocket scene on an elevated train, and Damon at Emmit's pub on Milwaukee Avenue). "They liked what they got out of Chicago in that brief time," said RICH MOSKAL, head of the Chicago Film Office. A crew will be here this week to scout locations (Soldier Field and O'Hare Airport are mentioned in the script).

      There's also a bit of irony: Chicago could masquerade as New York for some scenes (parts of the movie also will be shot in Los Angeles and Paris). This should save the studio money -- like when Toronto doubles as Chicago in flicks such as "Chicago" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." "Hey, we cry pretty hard when we lose them," Moskal told Armour & Co., "so we can jump up and say, `all right' when we get them."

    • Despite the claim by Variety that a Bourne Supremacy trailer will not be run during the Super Bowl, rumors persist that it may still be shown.

    • More pictures of Matt with Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit are at backstage7.de.

    • In the absence of any real news, here's some gossip from In Touch magazine about the final stages of the Ben/Jennifer split:

      The face to face argument came a week later and it was over Matt Damon. Matt has been out of the picture for most of the relationship. Jennifer became annoyed when Ben made plans to visit Matt in Berlin. A close friend says that Jennifer knows when Matt and Ben get together they party. Matt called Ben, and Jennifer asked Ben about his plans. Ben hates to be questioned and hit the roof and told her to back off. A week later the photos of Matt and Ben hit the stands. She realized Ben would never change. Five days later he returned to the US and they called it quits.

      Though Jennifer may still be nursing a broken heart, war is already breaking out between the former couple's friends. Matt is happy to be able to spend more time with his best friend - the two have even started writing a new script together.

    General links

    Other good sources of information about Matt

    www.mattdamonforum.com: A community website and message board for fans of Matt, moderated by Kelly.
    http://cometo/mattdamon has a comprehensive photo gallery.
    www.screen-icons.org: A site for all fans of Matt & Ben.
    http://damonfantastik.tripod.com: Photos, wallpapers and original artwork

    To contact Matt

    Send mail:
    C/o Patrick Whitesell
    Endeavor Talent Agency
    9701 Wilshire Blvd.
    10th Floor
    Beverly Hills CA 90212

    Website information and disclaimer

    This is a no-frills web site dedicated to news about Matt Damon, the actor. The site is maintained by a fan of the actor and is strictly for the reading pleasure of others who admire Matt.

    The content of this site should not be copied, quoted, reproduced or otherwise reworded for use at private or commercial sites. This site is intended for the use of Matt Damon fans and information is received and reported at the discretion of the webmaster. I do not guarantee the accuracy of any report, and reader opinions, stories, and interpretation of events are not those of the webmaster.

    If information from this site is copied, please contact myself or provide the correct source and link for this website as a common courtesy. The web is a large community and we all have to share its space. None of us may still be here in ten years if we keep slighting and ignoring the rights of each other.

    Photographs have been protected from copying as this permission has been previously abused. If you wish to obtain a copy of a particular photo, please contact the webmaster.

    Header designed by caseyaffleck.net

    Website address: http://mattdamon.cjb.net or http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/fullmonty/282/

    Site online since 1998.

    Approximately 34,000 site visitors in February 2004.