The Matt Damon Column: November 2003 Archive

Updated 11/29/2003

Matt at a Berlin press call for 'Bourne Supremacy'
If you would like to contribute news about Matt, please write to Felicity at [email protected]
Reminders:
      11/30 -- Matt interviewed in Parade magazine
      12/02 -- HBO's behind-the-scenes look at Stuck on you begins airing
      12/04 -- Eva Mendes on Last Call with Carson Daly
      12/07 -- Baltimore premiere of Stuck on you
      12/08 -- Matt on The Late Show with David Letterman
      12/11 -- E!'s behind-the-scenes look at Stuck on you premieres
      12/12 -- Eva Mendes on Jimmy Kimmel Live
      12/12 -- Stuck on you opens in US cinemas
11/29/2003
  • The website for Parade magazine has been updated with additional photos from their cover story on Matt. Here's the text summary and screen captures of the photos and captions:

    This week's PARADE features a revealing profile of actor Matt Damon by contributing editor Dotson Rader. Damon looks at his life and career, and ponders the changes he's been through since he catapulted to fame in the movie Good Will Hunting in 1997. Damon's next movie is the comedy Stuck On You, in which he plays a Siamese twin who has nothing in common with his brother. Check out our exclusive photo gallery of Damon, watch the Stuck On You trailer and visit the official movie Web site. (Photos are by Danny Clinch)



  • There is a new press release about the filming of Bourne Supremacy in Berlin and Potsdam at the website for Studio Babelsberg.

11/28/2003
  • More photos from Berlin: Matt filming in Potsdam Thursday, with details here, and dining at Borchardt restaurant Monday night with (I believe) Paul Greengrass, from berlinonline.de.

  • Matt and Greg Kinnear will not attend the Woonsocket Rhode Island premiere of Stuck on you, but there will also be premieres in Baltimore on the 7th of December, and New York on an unspecified date. Details about the Woonsocket premiere are available from the Providence Journal.

  • Daniel sent in a WENN article about a partly deleted scene in Stuck on you:

    Cher's Sex Scene With Teenager Cut

    Producers of Cher's new movie Stuck on You have cut a scene in the film in which the pop superstar gets raunchy with teenage star Frankie Muniz.

    Even Cher was shocked when she first met the Malcolm in the Middle actor, who plays her lover in the film, because he looked like he was eight.

    And although their hilarious bedroom scene had cast and crew rolling around in tears, film fans didn't get the joke and the scene was cut.

    Cher explains, "I don't watch TV so all I knew was I'd be in bed with Frankie Muniz. I knew he was famous and I knew he had a TV show but I had no idea what he looked like. Out of the darkness comes this little boy who jumps in the bed and takes off his shirt and says, 'Alright, I've done my push-ups out there and I'm pumped and ready to go!'

    "There was more to our scene but they cut it out because it was too much for the audience. I said, 'You've got to go to bed because you have a geography test tomorrow,' and he says, 'Oh, OK' and turns off the TV and rolls over like we're spooning and says, 'Can I at least touch your nips!'

    "Everyone was laughing then but when they screened it people just didn't think it was funny. Hopefully it will end up on the DVD."

  • Here's a partial summary of Greg Kinnear's interview in FHM magazine:

    The very first question was about Matt and they asked what it was like being in such close quarters. Greg said that Matt's been smoking since he was very young and smokes many packs a day. But on the second day of shooting, Matt quit. Greg was concerned and kept urging Matt to light up. He was afraid that spending the next 60 days strapped to an irritable Matt would not be fun. Matt didn't smoke for the rest of the filming (at least not while strapped to Greg) and Greg said he was completely unaffected by having to kick the habit cold turkey.

11/27/2003
  • A press event for Bourne Supremacy was held in Berlin Wednesday, where Matt posed for photos and producer Frank Marshall talked about the film. Here are some photos from yahoo, German sites and getty images, and my translated version of the Tagesspiegel story.

If Matt Damon smiles
Filming for "The Bourne Supremacy" begins in Berlin - the third Babelsberg Hollywood production this year
By Sabine Schicketanz

He was almost not noticeable at all, the Hollywood star. In the black coat, wool pullover, dark trousers and into the blazing sun he wanted to creep past the waiting photographers to lunch. That didn't unfold completely. One discovered him nevertheless, the cameras clicked, but Matt Damon is not annoyed. Arriving on the passenger seat of the silver Volkswagen bus, he even gives a radiating smile to the photographers and promises: "I'll be back."

He will return, with the 33-year old actor finally completing his first filming day for the espionage-thriller "The Bourne Supremacy" - the continuation of the cinema hit "The Bourne Identity". The fact that Matt Damon is in a good mood lets the strain of the past days yield with Henning Molfenter slowly. Molfenter is the production boss of Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures and responsible for everything that has to do with the filming. Because the Hollywood studio Universal Pictures assigned to Babelsberg the complete production service for the 60 million dollar film: Search and develop the locations, organise and support the filming, building of sets, studio letting. Also the post production office required for the film will take place in Babelsberg. It's no wonder then, that for all the responsibility he is carrying, that a smile from Matt Damon works like a calming pill.

That is our quick impression, which shows that Matt Damon is a young man who is having fun. In the entrance to the not yet opened Berliner zoo-tunnel at Potsdamer Place a yellow taxi stands diagonally over the lanes. At the front a black camera is secured. "In the old films we would have made this in front of a blue screen, but Matt Damon so can actually drive the car and we can film we it at the same time", says Frank Marshall, jointly with Pat Crowley producers of "The Bourne Supremacy".

Marshall also has to work, but he's enjoying it. "Berlin is a spectacular city", he says. Especially the modern architecture round around the Potsdam Place which he finds fascinating. "It looks like something out of the future, a little like in the film, Blade Runner". Frank Marshall is already a very experienced producer with films like "Seabiscuit", "Signs" or "The Sixth Sense", but this has woken his enthusiasm for Berlin.
For that Henning Molfenter was again responsible. He sent Marshall photos of the Federal capital, for which location-searcher Friederike von Rau had gone before on the Pirsch. "It showed a Berlin that you had never seen before", says Molfenter. Marshall was convinced by these photos, for "The Bourne Supremacy" is not only filmed in Berlin, but also the film action plays there. Cinema watchers will not be able to discover the Germany of the film until it is released on 9 September 2004.

Iin the film the CIA-spy Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is a trained killer, that in the first part of the "Bourne" trilogy was lost and with only computer chip of stored memories, tried while crossing various cities to learn the truth about his past. He is hunted at the same time by an unscrupulous CIA agent, who tries to kill him. Franka Potente ("Run Lola Run"), who, in "The Bourne Identity" played a German named Marie, conquered the heart of Jason Bourne and helped him, but will not be able to assist here Matt Damon in Berlin, she is budgeted only for the filming days in India. "However she will come and visit us here while filming", says Frank Marshall.

For the filmcrew, it is not as simple as Franka's involvement. "We do not know exactly where we are filming tomorrow", says Molfenter. Apart from the planned locations: Kurturstendamm, Alexanderplatz , Caf� Moscow, Tempelhof Airport, roads in Potsdam, and the former Siemens buildings in the main street in Teltow, which will become the interior of the CIA headquarers, Frank Marshall and director Paul Greengrass ("Bloody Sunday") are always looking for new locations. "Yesterday I was on the road under the lime trees, and absolutely want to film there", says Marshall.

Having sufficient time for spontaneous decisions will be up to the filmmakers. Three-quarters of the espionage-thriller will film here, says the producer. Nevertheless until the end of February there will be filming in Berlin and Brandenburg, interrupted by two weeks filming in India before Christmas. Once all outdoor filming is completed, there will be two more weeks of filming in the studio-halls in Babelsberg. Yet the Studio Babelsberg plays a much larger role than that of a studio set. "80 percent of the filmcrew comes out of Germany, out of Brandenburg and Berlin", says Henning Molfenter, for the first time in a Babelsberg/Hollywood production. "The confidence in us has grown", says Molfenter. This is hardly remarkable, for "The Bourne Supremacy" is for the studio this year already the third international production after "Around the world in 80 days" and the currently filming at Babelsberg "Beyond the Sea" with Kevin Spacey.

Matt Damon in any case held his promise. He returned after the noon recess and smiled again for the photographers. "He loves this role", says his producer Frank Marshall.

  • There's a similar article in the Morgenpost (titled "Matt Damon smiles in Berlin"), where the journalist says Matt poses "almost shyly" before the cameras with "eyes that shine remarkably blue". Almost a teenybopper moment there.

  • Another German newspaper reported that Matt will attend a German press conference for Stuck on you on Sunday, and the film will be premiered on Monday at the Cubix Cinema at the Alexanderplatz, with an after-party in a club nearby.

  • There is an interview with Greg Kinnear at moviehole.net. Greg is also scheduled to be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.

  • A report by Phil Stubbs of his visit to the set of The Brothers Grimm is now available on his website: Dreams: The Terry Gilliam Fanzine.

    11/26/2003
    • Magazine/newspaper alert: Matt is on the cover of the upcoming Parade magazine, which is distributed in many Sunday newspapers across the US. Here's the description:

      "THERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO LIVE" by Dotson Rader
      Matt Damon, who stars opposite Greg Kinnear in the upcoming comedy Stuck on You, is living his dream of being an actor -- but, he says, it's been a bitter-sweet ride to success.

    • A clip of Matt at the press conference talking about The Brothers Grimm is available at comingsoon.net. It's more comprehensive than the summarised answer in the Moviehole.net interview (linked yesterday), and includes Matt saying Terry gave him a huge opportunity to play a very different kind of character. And some fun comments about Johnny Depp and Terry selling out.

    • From London Features, here are some photos of Matt signing autographs outside the Regency Hotel on the weekend. In the first picture Matt's with NY identity 'Radio'.

    • The website for Stuck on you is now almost fully functional, and includes production notes, lots of images and desktops (such as a great Iron Chef take-off called "Fry Gods"), and a game where you can create a photo album with yourself, Bob and Walt. The site is stuckonyoumovie.com.

    • Jennifer sent in links to the E! SOY interviews with Matt and Greg: here for Real Video format and here for Windows Media Player format.

    • Jennifer (thanks!) also passed on notice that another behind-the-scenes look at SOY will air on E! premiering Dec. 11 at 2:30 p.m and encoring on Dec. 12 at 7:30 a.m and 3:30 p.m; Dec. 14 at 3a.m and 7:30 a.m. and Dec. 15 at 3:30 a.m.

    • An interview with Cher was on Extra Tuesday, and here's the website summary.

      It is Cher in the ultimate role of her career, playing herself in "Stuck On You." Extra" sat down with the superstar and co-director Bobby Farrelly, who told us all about playing the evil Cher. She says, "I like being funny. I thought that if I'm bad at this, at playing myself, it just can't get any worse than that."

      Costars Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon say it is her persona that is larger than life. Damon says, "She is like the sun, she does kind of suck you into her orbit." Farrelly adds, "We love her as an actress, but we didn't think she would do it."

    • An interesting report from a reader about yesterday's fluff "news" coverage of SOY on the entertainment shows:

      On The View this morning they were having their usual chat about current events and mentioned Michael Jackson. Star Jones takes over the conversation and starts talking about the television coverage. She asked if anyone watched the evening entertainment news shows. She said "Those people everywhere they went to every event, every premiere, they were asking all the celebrities what they thought about Michael Jackson. On Access Hollywood Matt Damon was there to promote a movie and they sit down and ask him about Michael Jackson. Then they ask him about the Bennifer wedding like the guy's best friend is going to tell them anything! He had to sit through all those questions before he got to say a word about the movie he was there to promote!" Then she went on to say that most people, like Matt, are too nice to tell the interviewers it's none of their business.

    • Sandi sent in a scan from the new Premiere magazine about the conjoined twins who assisted the SOY directors.
    • Entertainment Weekly has Stuck on you at #9 on their list of "Fall movies we most want to see":

      WHY WE CAN'T WAIT: A gleefully tasteless buddy comedy from the Farrelly brothers (''Dumb and Dumber'') that includes Siamese-twin jokes? We're there, but just be grateful the brothers didn't go with their original casting choices: Jim Carrey and Woody Allen.
      SOURCE MATERIAL: One of the siblings' earliest screenplays, predating their 1994 ''Dumber'' breakthrough
      PLOT POINTS: When Walt (Greg Kinnear) is bitten by the acting bug, he drags conjoined twin Bob (Matt Damon) along to Hollywood, where they get a job on a sitcom starring Cher (one of several real-life stars playing themselves in this movie). But will success break up the act?
      BURNING QUESTION: "Will & Grace" guest spot aside, can Matt Damon be funny?
      COME FOR: The slapstick
      STAY FOR: The witty showbiz satire

    • The first Berlin sighting: Matt was seen at Berlin restaurant "Borchadt" on Monday evening - from Morgenpost.de.

    • German newspaper berlinonline.de has details of Berlin streets and subway stations being transformed into Moscow locations for Bourne Supremacy.

    • Matt mentioned it at the press conference, and here's some further news about the next series of Project Greenlight from the Hollywood Reporter via yahoo:

      Dropped by HBO, 'Greenlight' May Light Up Bravo
      By Andrew Wallenstein
      NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - "Project Greenlight" is getting a red light from HBO, which has decided not to order a third season of the filmmaker-focused series. NBC-owned Bravo has emerged as the likely home for the next installment of "Greenlight," according to sources, who indicated that the cable network is deep in negotiations with Miramax TV and its production partner Live Planet, which is run by Ben Affleck (news) and Matt Damon (news). Miramax reportedly received interest from broadcast and basic cable networks interested in picking up the third season.

      A Miramax spokesman would only confirm that it is seeking a new home for the series. "We believe in 'Project Greenlight' and are currently re-evaluating its distribution options," he said.

      HBO, which was licensing "Greenlight" on a season-by-season basis, declined comment. Live Planet could not be reached for comment.

      While it was not quite the cultural phenomenon that "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City" became, the denial of another season came as a surprise. The series, which first chronicled the efforts of a rookie filmmaker in 2001, had built buzz and ratings in its second season, which completed its run in the summer.

      Maybe even more surprising would be Miramax's interest in reviving "Greenlight," both seasons of which produced theatrically released films -- "Stolen Summer" and "The Battle of Shaker Heights" -- that fared poorly at the box office. However, Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, Damon and Affleck are said to be less interested in the films' earnings than in their ability to provide budding independent talent a shot at mainstream acclaim.

      The series could be a natural addition to Bravo, which recently pacted with Miramax on a fashion-themed spinoff to "Greenlight" titled "Project Runway."

      One factor in HBO's decision to drop "Greenlight" was the absence of a commitment from a third Live Planet principal, Chris Moore, to produce the film that would eventually become the centerpiece of the third season, according to sources. Moore was not only a guiding force in the development of both films but earned himself something of a cult following for his on-air role in past "Greenlights." Equally uncertain is the future on-air involvement of Damon and Affleck, who squeezed "Greenlight" appearances into their busy shooting schedules.

      The series underwent extensive changes in format before its second season, which expanded the contest at the heart of the program to recruit not only a director but a scriptwriter whose struggles are recounted each episode. More tinkering is expected, with more time likely to be allotted for the winning writer to develop his or her script after a rushed process last season resulted in an uneven product.

    • Website note: Daily news will be updated as new material becomes available.

    11/25/2003
    • The first interview with Matt from the press junket is at Moviehole.net, compiled by Paul Fischer. A few quotes, with a spoiler in the first answer:

      Question: What about your cameo in Euro Trip?
      Damon: Oh, did you see it? How is it? Those guys, the directors, Dave [Mandel], Alec [Berg], and Jeff [Schaffer], I went to college with those guys. So I was over in Prague on 'The Brothers Grimm' and we were in pre-production and they called me up and said, 'look, will you come do a day on our movie.' It's called 'Euro Trip.' I lip sync in that movie, I play like a Henry Rollins wannabe from the suburbs, with earrings and a shaved head. I don't know, the scene seemed kind of funny to me.

      Question: Do you have anything coming up next?
      Damon: Sure, I'm happy to report to you all that I've just done a movie that Terry Gilliam directed. It's finished. Yeah, it's finished, yes. It was great, it was really great, and he was everything that I could have ever hoped he would be. You know, watching 'Lost in La Mancha' you see how passionate he is and what an incredible director he is, and it was just really nice to work with him. I have huge, huge hopes for that movie, I think it could really be special. It's very funny, it's got a lot of fairy tale imagery in it and stuff that the Brothers Grimm ended up writing about. Hard to classify, really. I'll probably see a cut of it in about six months or something, but it'll be interesting to see.

      Question: What are you working on now?
      Damon: I'm taking a break for the next twenty minutes, and then I'm getting on a plane to go to Germany to do 'The Bourne Supremacy.'

      Question: Is that going to be better than the first one?
      Damon: I don't know. We've got Paul Greengrass directing, and he's fantastic, he directed 'Bloody Sunday,' he's just a terrific director. So you know, I don't know. The script is there, and Paul really is confident about it. So I don't know, hopefully it'll be good. We start shooting, it's ten to four now, that means it's midnight there. We start shooting officially in 20 minutes is our first day of shooting.

    • TV Alert: Matt will appear on The Late Show with David Letterman on Monday 8 December.
    • Here's the online text about Stuck on you from Extra's website:

      It is the hilarious new Farrelly brothers' film starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins. Both actors say they never imagined that their careers would bring them locked at the hip with another guy. Kinnear says, "No, that wouldn't sound like an idea in my life that I would have expected to hear."

      Damon adds, "This is the part at the VH1 behind the scenes where they say, 'Then tragedy struck.'"

      Make a date with "Stuck On You" next month.

    • From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

      Matt Damon said on "Access Hollywood" last night, that one offshoot of the Jackson scandal is that it's pushed his buddy Ben Affleck off the front page.

      "I haven't talked to [Ben] since this whole thing broke," says Damon, "but I've got to imagine it's a welcome rest for him. Nobody hates that stuff more than Ben does. I've known him for 20 years. He's a very regular guy, so not being able to leave his house is going to slowly drive him crazy."

      Not if J.Lo does it first.

      "When [the media is] out of control there's nothing you can do," Damon says, "because it's not you putting yourself out there. I think there's that weird line where people try really hard to get on the cover of some magazines at a time when their movie is coming out... But it spins out into all those other magazines..."

      If Ben and Jen actually do walk down the aisle, Damon adds he'll be there. "I'm sure if it happens, I'm going to get a phone call. He's got a whole group of friends and family that are ready to drop everything and come be there and stand up for him."

    • The following is a reader's summary of Stuck on you coverage by the various entertainment shows. The SOY segment did not air on Entertainment Tonight and should appear at a later date.

      The interviews on Extra were very brief, with Matt and Greg doing interviews together. Cher said it was fun just to make a total fool of herself. Interviewer John Kelly asked what it was like to be attached to another person for seventy hours a week, and who got tired of who first. They didn't really answer, but said it was an exercise.

      He asked if they ever imagined anyone would propose this type of movie scenario to them and they said no. At one point Greg was bleeped out. Then they asked if Greg was going to be Matt's date for the Bennifer wedding. Uneasy laughter and Matt said it's true that he and Greg are dating.

      On E! Jody Ross did the interview and again it was Matt and Greg together. Again it was brief. They started off talking about the amount of time it took to put the body make up on each day. Twelve hours to put on the suits. She asked if it was true that they had to wax their chests. Matt unbuttoned his shirt to show that he has little hair to speak of.
      Then they moved to the bathroom question. They talked about going number one together, but never number two. Matt said you had to eat fiber and take Metamucil to keep yourself regular. Then she asked about the Bennifer wedding. Matt said after the last go round he's sure they will do something quick and quiet. He will be waiting by the red phone and jump on a plane if they call.

      For Access Hollywood Billy Bush and Pat O'Brien both did the interview with Matt and Greg. Almost the whole segment was about the Bennifer wedding with one SOY moment at the end. Billy started out asking if there would be a wedding and what did Matt think as a groomsman? Matt said that if it happens he'll jump on a plane and go. He said that Ben has a group of family and friends ready to fly anywhere to stand up for him. Then they asked how Ben was handling it all. Matt said Ben is the last person to want all of this attention, but he's not going to complain too much. Ben realizes there are bigger problems in the world, but not being able to leave his house is slowly driving him crazy.

      Then at the very end they mentioned SOY and I think Greg got a word in and said Ben needs to know he's Matt's new best friend.

    • New stills from Stuck on you are available at Latino Review.

    • Bourne Supremacy is now filming in Berlin and at Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam after two weeks of filming in Moscow. This article mentions that Matt was due to arrive in Berlin Monday night, and that Franka Potente will only film in India.

    • Thanks to CaseyAffleck.net for the full-size Wireimage photos.

    11/24/2003
    • More photos from the Stuck on you press conference are now available at wireimage.com, including the following:

    • Video interviews with Matt, Greg and Cher for Stuck on you are online at the Entertainment Tonight website. Here's the related article:

      Cojo: 'Stuck on' Cher & Matt Damon!
      November 24, 2003
      MATT DAMON and GREG KINNEAR -- as Siamese twins? "We're not Siamese," insists Matt's character in the FARRELLY BROTHERS' new movie. "We're American." Ah yes, the wacky Farrellys are back and only they could come up with something so twisted and yet so hilarious.

      And only our STEVEN COJOCARU can get to the bottom of the story with Matt, Greg and the rest of the cast of 'Stuck on You' -- including CHER! Watch tonight's ET for the latest from all the stars of this crazy comedy.

      In the film, Bob (Matt) and Walt (Greg) are conjoined twin brothers who, literally, can never leave each other's side. Stuck together since before they can remember, Walt decides to pursue his dreams and persuades the reluctant Bob to come along for the ride. Naturally, wild complications ensue!

      Matt tells Cojo that filming the sticky roles required he and Greg to be zipped and glued together for 12 hours before filming, and then shoot for another six to seven hours after that.

      "We made a bet to see who would lose their temper first," Matt said, "'cause I've never cracked on a movie set before."

      So, Cojo had to know, does this mean Greg has replaced BEN AFFLECK as Matt's best bud?

      "Say it's so! Say it's so!" Greg pleaded. But Matt played it cool. "We're pretty darn close," he said. "I've never been zipped to Ben for four straight months. This means a lot of responsibilities, Greg, and I hope you're ready for them."

      In a show-stopping supporting role, Cher plays a diva-like version of herself, and FRANKIE MUNIZ makes a chuckle-inducing cameo as her strange bedfellow.

      Cher tells Cojo she was "terrified" to play such an over-the-top mean person. "I thought, 'How will I do a good enough job to be me, but then to be this horrible b***h?' I just went as far as I could possibly go. Sometimes I wasn't going far enough and they'd go, 'Come on, Cher!' Scream louder! Be meaner!' I finally said, 'I'm going to go balls to the wall on this one.' And it was fun! After a while it was the most fun I ever had. Who else could do this as well as me?"

      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.

    11/23/2003
    • The press junket for Stuck on you is being held this weekend at the Waldorf Astoria and Hotel Regency in New York. The first pictures from the press conference are below, taken from wireimage.com. Other attendees were Greg Kinnear, Cher, Eva Mendes, Bobby and Peter Farrelly. Interviews from the junket should air on entertainment shows next week.

    • There is still no sign of an official Stuck on you premiere, but at least one site claims Matt and Greg will attend a charity premiere in Baltimore on Sunday 7 December. Here are the details from the site of a Baltimore theater.

      "Stuck on You," the latest from the Farrelly brothers, stars Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear and Cher. Dr. Ben Carson has a cameo appearance in the film and proceeds from this fundraiser go toward his Carson Scholars Fund and the BEN Fund.

      The VIP cocktail reception and silent auction takes place from 3-4:30 p.m., a question-and-answer session with the stars takes place from 5-6 p.m.

    • Laura sent in this report of a movie project likely to be of interest to Matt:

      Entertainment Weekly just reported that director Ang Lee is "showing interest in" Brokeback Mountain, based on a story by Pulitzer prize-winning author E Annie Proulx. This was a Gus Van Sant project for a long time, and it was rumored that Gus wanted Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to play the main characters -- two cowboys who fall in love but can't be together. No idea if Matt would still be interested; the EW piece only mentioned Ang Lee.

    • Matt's mentioned in a new television special from ABC: Hollywood's Hottest Hunks. It's related to a Us Weekly magazine article in which Matt receives the following listing:

      Vitals: 5'11", 33, Libra.
      Real Deal: Since breaking up with girlfriend Odessa in October Matt has been seen around Prague with a petite brunette.

    11/19/2003
    • Here's an interesting quote from model and Stuck on you actress Monika Kramlik, who is interviewed in the latest issue of Maxim Goes To The Movies.

      But her favorite gig is the Farrelly brothers' Stuck on You, in which she plays Double-Bubble Girl. "It's a small part," she admits, "but it was great working with amazing actors like Matt [Damon] and Greg [Kinnear], and the Farrellys were really great. And Meryl Streep is my favorite actress." So in a love triangle with Damon and Kinnear, who would she pick? "In real life? I would choose Greg," Kramlik says. Really? "Matt's amazing, too, but I spent much more time with Greg," she says. "Matt and I partied a lot, but Matt is more of a star and is probably scared of why someone is loving him, even as a friend. Greg I could call a friend."

    • Magazine alerts: In addition to Monika Kramlik's full-length interview in Maxim Goes To The Movies (Uma Thurman cover), Peter Farrelly is also interviewed. There is also a two-page interview with Greg Kinnear in FHM magazine (Kristianna Loken cover). If a reader can provide me with an excerpt or summary from these interviews it would be appreciated.

    • Greg Kinnear will no longer be appearing on Letterman 11/19, but is scheduled to be on Leno 11/27.

    11/18/2003
    • In an interview with ugo.com, producer Frank Marshall (pictured below with Matt), talked about the filming of Bourne Supremacy in Moscow, and the decision to choose director Paul Greengrass.

      FM: I'm actually... I just walked in from an incredible week in Moscow where we just started shooting The Bourne Supremacy. I like doing things that have never been done before, and we're doing a chase in the streets of Moscow that has never been done before.

      UGO: What's the process of picking a director like Paul Greengrass for The Bourne Supremacy? I know he directed Bloody Sunday.
      FM: I think that you're looking for a style. Once again, I think that we set a tone and style with the first movie that we want to continue into with this one and we wanted someone fresh and new who had a very strong point of view. I think that if you look at Bloody Sunday, you see someone who has a real strong point of view that is in the realm of the style of our first movie, and so then, you audition [directors]. We met with three or four other directors and we gave them an outline and they came in and they talked about how they would make the movie and how they saw the movie. You're looking for a vision and Paul was fantastic and that has been confirmed in the last week.

    • The newsletter from the official site of Julia Stiles includes this mention about Bourne:

      Julia Stiles will officially reprise her role as the character of Nicolette in "The Bourne Supremacy", the sequel to "The Bourne Identity". Nicolette's character may be the only one alive who can identify Jason Bourne...

    • The release date for Stuck on you in Australia has been delayed until 12 February 2004.

    • More filming for Matt in Russia? The thezreview.co.uk site has this update on filming for Ocean's Twelve:

      The following info on the Ocean's Twelve filming has just been sent in, and it's quite an important change. "Following a contact per e-mail with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on Nov. 10th, it seems that there has been a change of plan concerning the script of Ocean's 12. The painting 'The Nightwatch' has proven much too big to make it believable that they would steal it (to be honest, anyone who has seen the painting for real would know this, which is why the original idea sounded a little bit far fatched). It seems that that robbery is to be replaced by the robbery of a Faberge egg in the Hermitage in St Petersburg."

    11/17/2003
    • More details about Bourne Supremacy filming in Germany from PNN Online (translated version):

      From 24 November Potsdam becomes the scene of a spy thriller. Here the filming of "The Bourne Supremacy" will begin, with Matt Damon and the German actress Franka Potente in the main roles. "We have nearly all the preparations ready", say Henning Molfenter, production manager of Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures. There will be filming in Berlin and Potsdam. "We will very densely populate the Ku'damm and will offer the citizens of Berlin a real spectacle", says Molfenter. The Alexanderplatz is a further filming location, "And also Potsdam plays a large role." Here the stunt crew will drive "a quantity of cars to scrap iron". That Berlin is in the sequel to the film "The Bourne Identity", and is the actual location in the story, is very pleasing to Babelsberg, says Molfenter. "Berlin stands for Berlin, it is a city with unbelievably many possibilities." Filming will last until February, and in the last weeks the stars will film in Babelsberg in huge sets before the camera. Currently it is filming in Moscow.

    • Stuck on you has received a PG-13 rating "for crude and sexual humor and some language." Here's a preview from the Denver Post:

      Stuck on You
      The Skinny: Bob and Walt - conjoined twins and complete opposites - have chosen to never go their separate ways. At least not surgically. But when Walt gets a big break in L.A. their united-we-stand loyalty is tested.
      The Players: Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear star in Bobby and Peter Farrelly's latest foray into the touchingly tasteless. Cher plays herself as a TV producer.
      Going for the Gold: Last month, Farrelly brother Peter confessed that "Stuck on You" was testing like crazy with an audience the Brothers Grossout have never won over: women more than 30. Could it be that the Farrellys have made their first chick flick? (Dec. 12)

      And another preview from the Chicago Sun-Times:

      What's nice: Matt and Greg give new meaning to the word togetherness as conjoined twins who move from the East Coast to Hollywood because one of the brothers wants to be a huge star.
      What's naughty: Kinnear had to remove all his chest hair so that makeup artists could create the conjoined effect. "I've never known such pain, and it's called waxing. I feel so sorry for women."
      Stocking stuffer: Cher balked at playing herself -- an ego-driven, demanding diva. Like who could ever draw those parallels?

    • TV alerts: In addition to Greg Kinnear's appearance on Letterman 19 November, he will also be on Jay Leno's Tonight Show 25 November. A behind-the-scenes look at Stuck on you will screen from 2 December on HBO:

      STUCK ON YOU: HBO FIRST LOOK
      Enjoy a visit to the set of this Farrelly brothers comedy that stars Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins who head to Hollywood to become stars.

    • Eurotrip, the comedy in which Matt has a brief cameo, will be released in the US on 23 January 2004. Michelle Trachtenberg described Matt's involvement to BBC news:

      "We were in Prague shooting for four months," says Trachtenberg. "Matt Damon took a day off from The Brothers Grimm to come and shoot a small role in my movie, so we were very happy to have him."

    • The video and DVD of Gerry are now available, and here's another positive review from DVD File. With thanks to CaseyAffleck.net, here are some stills from the film. The DVD includes a basic behind-the-scenes look at filming at the salt lakes, but not a lot of information or dialogue.

    11/14/2003
    • Jennifer sent in the photo and text about Stuck on you from Entertainment Weekly's fall preview issue.

      STUCK ON YOU - Filmmaking brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly ("Shallow Hal") have finally made a movie about brothers, but don't expect anything too autobiographical: "Stuck" stars Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as twins conjoined at the waist. Eva Mendes ("2 Fast 2 Furious") costars,and - "Silkwood" reunion! - both Cher and Meryl Streep cameo. (Twentieth Century Fox)

    11/13/2003
    • Reuters has published an article from the set of Brothers Grimm, and it includes the first published comments from Matt about the film. Two pictures we've seen previously are also included.

      Damon and Ledger laugh through Grimm tale
      Wed November 12, 2003 11:41 PM ET
      By Alan Crosby

      PRAGUE (Reuters) - Standing in front of a monitor watching their latest take during the filming of "The Brothers Grimm", Matt Damon and Heath Ledger burst out laughing. Not exactly the reaction one would expect from a fairy tale, but precisely one director Terry Gilliam was aiming at.

      "This film certainly is like nothing I have ever done before," Damon told Reuters in an interview.

      Gilliam, looking to move on from the disastrous end to his film about Don Quixote when financing was abruptly pulled, has chosen to guide the stories of the Brothers Grimm in a not so fairytale way for co-producers MGM and Dimension Films.

      As with previous films "Brazil" and "Twelve Monkeys", Gilliam, once part of the comedy team Monty Python, has brought his exaggerated sense of space and shapes to the stages of Prague's Barrandov Studios.

      FAIRYTALES OR CON MEN?

      His take on Jake and Wilhelm Grimm is that they were 19th Century conmen who duped people into paying them to drive out "evil creatures" that are actually fictitious beings created by the brothers themselves.

      Eventually the two are asked by the French government to deal with an actual real-life evil creature -- played by Monica Bellucci -- that sends them on a wild adventure. Damon and Ledger, heartthrobs to millions, are barely recognisable in their Bavarian costumes.

      For Damon, the role was one he couldn't turn down, even if shooting delays have eaten up any chance for a holiday before filming a sequel to his hit "The Bourne Identity" later this month in Germany.

      "I saw the script and knew I wanted to do the movie. I knew it would cut it close with the next Bourne movie, but I didn't care. Now, when I see what is going on film, I have no doubts I made a great choice," said the affable American.

      Damon and Ledger have hit it off during filming, with the Australian referring to Damon "like he's my brother".

      WARPED SETTING

      If the costumes and acting are exaggerated, they are equalled by the set.

      In a sign of the determination of Gilliam and set designer Guy Hendrix Dyas to create a dream world, they travelled to dozens of the Czech Republic's medieval towns before realising the real thing was pretty, but too practical. Instead, after shunning some of the world's best preserved castles, Hendrix Dyas created his own village barely a stone's throw from the studios and within sight of the ugly concrete apartments that serve as a reminder of nearly five decades of Communist rule.

      "After talking to Terry, I realised very quickly we were on the same page," said Hendrix Dyas.

      "That made it easy to test the boundaries, and in the end, it's true, we would never have found a village such as this. No one would ever have left something like this standing!"

    11/12/2003
    • Bourne Supremacy has started filming, but Brothers Grimm has yet to finish. As Phil from Dreams: The Terry Gilliam Fanzine reported on the site's messageboard, Grimm is scheduled to complete filming on 22 November, but Matt will finish on 18 November. Here's the press release from Universal about Bourne:

      Universal Pictures Begins Principal Photography on the Espionage Thriller 'The Bourne Supremacy'
      Tuesday November 11, 3:22 pm ET

      UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Pictures has announced the start of principal photography on the espionage thriller "The Bourne Supremacy," the second installment of best-selling author Robert Ludlum's "Bourne" series with Matt Damon returning as trained assassin Jason Bourne.

      Damon heads an impressive cast that includes Oscar� nominee Joan Allen ("The Contender"), Brian Cox ("X2"), Julia Stiles ("Mona Lisa Smile"), Karl Urban ("The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers") and Franka Potente ("The Bourne Identity"). The film is produced by Frank Marshall ("Seabiscuit," "Signs," "The Bourne Identity"), Pat Crowley ("Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," "The Bourne Identity") and Paul L. Sandberg ("Picking Up the Pieces") and is directed by Paul Greengrass (writer/director of "Bloody Sunday") from a screenplay by Tony Gilroy ("The Bourne Identity"), based on Ludlum's book.

      "The Bourne Supremacy" re-enters the shadowy world of expert assassin Bourne (Damon), who continues to find himself plagued by splintered nightmares from his former life. The stakes are now even higher for the agent as he coolly maneuvers through the dangerous waters of international espionage-replete with CIA plots, turncoat agents and ever-shifting covert alliances-all the while hoping to find the truth behind his haunted memories and answers to his own fragmented past.

      Compelling use of exotic worldwide locations and the muscular cinematic edge brought by vanguard director Greengrass maintain the aggressive style and fresh, non-traditional perspective established in "The Bourne Identity." "The Bourne Supremacy" is the latest entry in a refreshingly new breed of that time-honored genre, the espionage thriller.

      Joining Greengrass is a talented production team behind the camera, including director of photography Oliver Wood ("The Bourne Identity," "U-571"), production designer Dominic Watkins ("Bad Boys II"), costume designer Dinah Collin ("Bloody Sunday"), editor Christopher Rouse ("The Italian Job") and special effects supervisor Kit West (the upcoming "Around the World in 80 Days").

      "The Bourne Supremacy," which is shooting on location in Germany, Russia and India, is scheduled for release by Universal Pictures in 2004.

    • More details about Monica Bellucci's role in Grimm from Empire online:

      Forever Young
      Sultry star Monica Bellucci won't be quite the radiant apparition she usually is when she appears in Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm. "In my new film I play a wicked witch who casts a spell to live for ever but forgets to ask to stay young for ever," she says. "I'm going to spend hours in make-up and look really haggard.'' Sorry boys!

    • There will be a charity premiere of Stuck on you in Baltimore on 7 December. Details here or here.

    • In other Stuck on you news, Greg Kinnear will be on Letterman 19 November, and new photos from the film are available at www.cinemovies.fr.

    • Finally, here's a fun interview with Matt and Greg from the December edition of Elle magazine (US). Thanks Sandi!

    11/10/2003
    • Here are some more comments from Ben's interview with Entertainment Weekly:

      EW: How'd you get trapped in it? [the publicity storm]
      Ben: When Good Will Hunting first broke, it was all about Matt, and it occurred to me that you had to be in one of those [leading] roles to make it...I've always felt like I've been in a perpetual audition. And maybe that's part of what has contributed to the fact that this [gestures to file] has happened. I don't think anyone should shed a tear for me. I've had a good life. But it's become too much. Of course, part of that's just a product of who I chose to go out with. [Flipping though the stack of clips] Jesus, though. It's staggering.

      EW: Let's talk about Good Will Hunting. That's where you go from being just an actor to, you know, Ben.
      Ben: We got the cover of Entertainment Weekly [in February 1998] after all. We look like people with birth defects on that cover! They chose the picture of us gaping and drooling on ourselves, and [it was] like, "They like the picture! They think it shows your real spirit." I was like "What do they think our real spirit is." Vaguely, um -- I don't want to say it -- but Special Olympics?"

      EW: Have you polished the shine of the best-screenplay Oscar yet?
      Ben: You can't help but feel like an asshole putting it up anywhere, because it's like , Remember: I have an Academy Award! They give you this Oscar sweatshirt, and it says, NOMINEE '97. Of course you can't really wear that, because then you're the biggest jackass in the world. But I do have it in my drawer, and one of my knuckle-head friends was sleeping over and asked , [deep voice] "Hey, can I borrow a sweatshirt?" And he comes out with my Oscar sweatshirt on, and I was like, [hysterical] "Are you out of your MIND! TAKE THAT OFF! You're getting it first!"
      EW: It seems like about a year after the Oscars was when you started to get dinged in the media.
      Ben: We are these golden boys, but we could feel the urbane, sophisticated intelligentsia staring to go, "F--- these guys! We're over them." And then you go, "What did I do?" It was Gwyneth [Paltrow] who taught me that who the press are talking about in the paper is really someone different. They don't really know you. It's an image - a projection.

      EW: When celebrity happens that quickly, who is telling you what the hell to do?
      Ben: That's the thing. Nobody. There's no guide to do it. That's why you see so may train wrecks. Look at Michael Jackson. Here's a guy who, talent-wise anyway, should be a national treasure. But he seems to be nuts now. Let's face it. It's sad. I really benefited from having someone to go through it with, that I could look at and say, "Is this insane?" I'm also good friends with Kevin Smith [director of Affleck's upcoming Jersey Girl - his other movie costarring She Who Must Not Be Named], and it's been helpful to have him in my life because he's good at putting things in perspective and f---ing with you endlessly. Which is nice.

      EW: Do you ever look at Matt or does he ever look at you and go, "Hey! How the hell did he get that role?"
      Ben: Yeah. Probably more me looking at his stuff. Particularly after Good Will Hunting, when Matt was the more sought-after. I would have killed to have done The Talented Mr. Ripley and All the Pretty Horses. Take Paycheck. They talked to Matt about it and he said, "You know, I can't do another amnesia movie [after The Bourne Identity], but you gotta get Ben for this."

      EW: Let's talk Project Greenlight. Own up. You knew that your two novice directors, Kyle and Efram, were gonna screw up royally. You had to.
      Ben: Absolutely not. Kyle and Efram's shorts were all really funny. It was Kyle and Efram working with other people that they weren't great at.

      EW: Is there going to be a third season?
      Ben: Every year we have to beg and plead again. One of the problems is that Chris Moore, understandably, wants to be a movie producer and not a TV villain. If HBO doesn't want to do it, which is a distinct possibility, we'll have to go somewhere else. I think Greenlight is one of the things I'll be most proud of, looking back. I admire what Robert Redofrd did with Sundance. The Institute has contributed in an important way to the art of making movies, and I think, in a much tinier way, Greenlight can have a legacy of opening the door a little for independent movies.

      EW: How do you feel about that Off Broadway plat Matt & Ben, about you guys before you were famous, and acted by two women? Did you hear about this and think, 'How weird is my life?'
      Ben: I've vaguely heard about it. I just see it as part of this whole [flips through clips] stack of stuff. I have no interest in seeing it for the same reason I have no interest in reading about myself. It just seems like a snake eating its tail.

    • Sandi sent in a Stuck on you photo from the LA Times fall preview.
    11/08/2003
    • There are quite a few fall/holiday movie previews in newspapers and magazines at the moment, but no feature articles or interviews for Stuck on you have appeared as yet. Here's the Newsday preview, in which the film was called one of the season's potential blockbusters:

      STUCK ON YOU
      Opens: Dec. 12
      Directors: Peter and Bobby Farrelly
      Cast: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Eva Mendes, Seymour Cassell, Cher (!)
      Why we're psyched: It's been a long time since the Farrellys made us wince and laugh in equal measure.
      Why we're nervous: Everybody's nervous when it comes to making jokes out of...out of... physical...um, well, you know.
      The backstory: The studio accountants and adolescent ticket buyers don't care to hear this, but the Farrellys have one of the most distinctive artistic visions of contemporary filmmakers. Yeah, you could say the vision has come across as somewhat distorted, especially in 1998's "There's Something About Mary" and 2001's "Shallow Hal." But their trademark gross-out shtick has always been balanced by a sweet-tempered humanism that may not always be apparent to those who can't stop giggling (or cringing) at what they see. This latest venture, in which Damon and Kinnear play conjoined twins seeking fame and fortune in Hollywood, seems as though it could strike the proper chord - though the little we've seen so far suggests that those seeking in-your-face, giggle-inducing shocks won't be disappointed. -Gene Seymour

    • Ben made some strange comments in EW's latest issue, which were reported in the New York Daily News.

      Good will punting
      Ben Affleck claims Miramax Films "exploited" his friendship with Matt Damon to promote their 1997 film, "Good Will Hunting."

      "[Matt and I] were a very successful marketing hook for Miramax, and they used it," says Affleck, who co-wrote and co-starred in the movie. "It felt a little bit like we were whoring our friendship, like a guy out there with an organ grinder and a monkey."

      After "Good Will" hit big and their script won an Oscar, "Matt was more sought-after," Affleck tells Entertainment Weekly. "When 'Good Will Hunting' broke, it was all about Matt. I've always felt like I've been in a perpetual audition."

    • A new project for LivePlanet has been announced: following the newly created Formula Drift Championship (a specialised motorsport event) for a television series. Details here.

    • More details about the German filming of Bourne Supremacy are available at www.szon.de. The Kurf�rstendamm (or Ku'damm) is a famous shopping and entertainment district in Berlin, which has a website and webcam here. This is my translated version:

      The Matt Damon Column: November 2003 Archive

      Updated 11/29/2003

      Matt at a Berlin press call for 'Bourne Supremacy'
      If you would like to contribute news about Matt, please write to Felicity at [email protected]
      Reminders:
          11/30 -- Matt interviewed in Parade magazine
          12/02 -- HBO's behind-the-scenes look at Stuck on you begins airing
          12/04 -- Eva Mendes on Last Call with Carson Daly
          12/07 -- Baltimore premiere of Stuck on you
          12/08 -- Matt on The Late Show with David Letterman
          12/11 -- E!'s behind-the-scenes look at Stuck on you premieres
          12/12 -- Eva Mendes on Jimmy Kimmel Live
          12/12 -- Stuck on you opens in US cinemas
      11/29/2003
      • The website for Parade magazine has been updated with additional photos from their cover story on Matt. Here's the text summary and screen captures of the photos and captions:

        This week's PARADE features a revealing profile of actor Matt Damon by contributing editor Dotson Rader. Damon looks at his life and career, and ponders the changes he's been through since he catapulted to fame in the movie Good Will Hunting in 1997. Damon's next movie is the comedy Stuck On You, in which he plays a Siamese twin who has nothing in common with his brother. Check out our exclusive photo gallery of Damon, watch the Stuck On You trailer and visit the official movie Web site. (Photos are by Danny Clinch)



      • There is a new press release about the filming of Bourne Supremacy in Berlin and Potsdam at the website for Studio Babelsberg.

      11/28/2003
      • More photos from Berlin: Matt filming in Potsdam Thursday, with details here, and dining at Borchardt restaurant Monday night with (I believe) Paul Greengrass, from berlinonline.de.

      • Matt and Greg Kinnear will not attend the Woonsocket Rhode Island premiere of Stuck on you, but there will also be premieres in Baltimore on the 7th of December, and New York on an unspecified date. Details about the Woonsocket premiere are available from the Providence Journal.

      • Daniel sent in a WENN article about a partly deleted scene in Stuck on you:

        Cher's Sex Scene With Teenager Cut

        Producers of Cher's new movie Stuck on You have cut a scene in the film in which the pop superstar gets raunchy with teenage star Frankie Muniz.

        Even Cher was shocked when she first met the Malcolm in the Middle actor, who plays her lover in the film, because he looked like he was eight.

        And although their hilarious bedroom scene had cast and crew rolling around in tears, film fans didn't get the joke and the scene was cut.

        Cher explains, "I don't watch TV so all I knew was I'd be in bed with Frankie Muniz. I knew he was famous and I knew he had a TV show but I had no idea what he looked like. Out of the darkness comes this little boy who jumps in the bed and takes off his shirt and says, 'Alright, I've done my push-ups out there and I'm pumped and ready to go!'

        "There was more to our scene but they cut it out because it was too much for the audience. I said, 'You've got to go to bed because you have a geography test tomorrow,' and he says, 'Oh, OK' and turns off the TV and rolls over like we're spooning and says, 'Can I at least touch your nips!'

        "Everyone was laughing then but when they screened it people just didn't think it was funny. Hopefully it will end up on the DVD."

      • Here's a partial summary of Greg Kinnear's interview in FHM magazine:

        The very first question was about Matt and they asked what it was like being in such close quarters. Greg said that Matt's been smoking since he was very young and smokes many packs a day. But on the second day of shooting, Matt quit. Greg was concerned and kept urging Matt to light up. He was afraid that spending the next 60 days strapped to an irritable Matt would not be fun. Matt didn't smoke for the rest of the filming (at least not while strapped to Greg) and Greg said he was completely unaffected by having to kick the habit cold turkey.

      11/27/2003
      • A press event for Bourne Supremacy was held in Berlin Wednesday, where Matt posed for photos and producer Frank Marshall talked about the film. Here are some photos from yahoo, German sites and getty images, and my translated version of the Tagesspiegel story.

      If Matt Damon smiles
      Filming for "The Bourne Supremacy" begins in Berlin - the third Babelsberg Hollywood production this year
      By Sabine Schicketanz

      He was almost not noticeable at all, the Hollywood star. In the black coat, wool pullover, dark trousers and into the blazing sun he wanted to creep past the waiting photographers to lunch. That didn't unfold completely. One discovered him nevertheless, the cameras clicked, but Matt Damon is not annoyed. Arriving on the passenger seat of the silver Volkswagen bus, he even gives a radiating smile to the photographers and promises: "I'll be back."

      He will return, with the 33-year old actor finally completing his first filming day for the espionage-thriller "The Bourne Supremacy" - the continuation of the cinema hit "The Bourne Identity". The fact that Matt Damon is in a good mood lets the strain of the past days yield with Henning Molfenter slowly. Molfenter is the production boss of Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures and responsible for everything that has to do with the filming. Because the Hollywood studio Universal Pictures assigned to Babelsberg the complete production service for the 60 million dollar film: Search and develop the locations, organise and support the filming, building of sets, studio letting. Also the post production office required for the film will take place in Babelsberg. It's no wonder then, that for all the responsibility he is carrying, that a smile from Matt Damon works like a calming pill.

      That is our quick impression, which shows that Matt Damon is a young man who is having fun. In the entrance to the not yet opened Berliner zoo-tunnel at Potsdamer Place a yellow taxi stands diagonally over the lanes. At the front a black camera is secured. "In the old films we would have made this in front of a blue screen, but Matt Damon so can actually drive the car and we can film we it at the same time", says Frank Marshall, jointly with Pat Crowley producers of "The Bourne Supremacy".

      Marshall also has to work, but he's enjoying it. "Berlin is a spectacular city", he says. Especially the modern architecture round around the Potsdam Place which he finds fascinating. "It looks like something out of the future, a little like in the film, Blade Runner". Frank Marshall is already a very experienced producer with films like "Seabiscuit", "Signs" or "The Sixth Sense", but this has woken his enthusiasm for Berlin.
      For that Henning Molfenter was again responsible. He sent Marshall photos of the Federal capital, for which location-searcher Friederike von Rau had gone before on the Pirsch. "It showed a Berlin that you had never seen before", says Molfenter. Marshall was convinced by these photos, for "The Bourne Supremacy" is not only filmed in Berlin, but also the film action plays there. Cinema watchers will not be able to discover the Germany of the film until it is released on 9 September 2004.

      Iin the film the CIA-spy Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is a trained killer, that in the first part of the "Bourne" trilogy was lost and with only computer chip of stored memories, tried while crossing various cities to learn the truth about his past. He is hunted at the same time by an unscrupulous CIA agent, who tries to kill him. Franka Potente ("Run Lola Run"), who, in "The Bourne Identity" played a German named Marie, conquered the heart of Jason Bourne and helped him, but will not be able to assist here Matt Damon in Berlin, she is budgeted only for the filming days in India. "However she will come and visit us here while filming", says Frank Marshall.

      For the filmcrew, it is not as simple as Franka's involvement. "We do not know exactly where we are filming tomorrow", says Molfenter. Apart from the planned locations: Kurturstendamm, Alexanderplatz , Caf� Moscow, Tempelhof Airport, roads in Potsdam, and the former Siemens buildings in the main street in Teltow, which will become the interior of the CIA headquarers, Frank Marshall and director Paul Greengrass ("Bloody Sunday") are always looking for new locations. "Yesterday I was on the road under the lime trees, and absolutely want to film there", says Marshall.

      Having sufficient time for spontaneous decisions will be up to the filmmakers. Three-quarters of the espionage-thriller will film here, says the producer. Nevertheless until the end of February there will be filming in Berlin and Brandenburg, interrupted by two weeks filming in India before Christmas. Once all outdoor filming is completed, there will be two more weeks of filming in the studio-halls in Babelsberg. Yet the Studio Babelsberg plays a much larger role than that of a studio set. "80 percent of the filmcrew comes out of Germany, out of Brandenburg and Berlin", says Henning Molfenter, for the first time in a Babelsberg/Hollywood production. "The confidence in us has grown", says Molfenter. This is hardly remarkable, for "The Bourne Supremacy" is for the studio this year already the third international production after "Around the world in 80 days" and the currently filming at Babelsberg "Beyond the Sea" with Kevin Spacey.

      Matt Damon in any case held his promise. He returned after the noon recess and smiled again for the photographers. "He loves this role", says his producer Frank Marshall.

    • There's a similar article in the Morgenpost (titled "Matt Damon smiles in Berlin"), where the journalist says Matt poses "almost shyly" before the cameras with "eyes that shine remarkably blue". Almost a teenybopper moment there.

    • Another German newspaper reported that Matt will attend a German press conference for Stuck on you on Sunday, and the film will be premiered on Monday at the Cubix Cinema at the Alexanderplatz, with an after-party in a club nearby.

    • There is an interview with Greg Kinnear at moviehole.net. Greg is also scheduled to be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight.

    • A report by Phil Stubbs of his visit to the set of The Brothers Grimm is now available on his website: Dreams: The Terry Gilliam Fanzine.

    11/26/2003
    • Magazine/newspaper alert: Matt is on the cover of the upcoming Parade magazine, which is distributed in many Sunday newspapers across the US. Here's the description:

      "THERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO LIVE" by Dotson Rader
      Matt Damon, who stars opposite Greg Kinnear in the upcoming comedy Stuck on You, is living his dream of being an actor -- but, he says, it's been a bitter-sweet ride to success.

    • A clip of Matt at the press conference talking about The Brothers Grimm is available at comingsoon.net. It's more comprehensive than the summarised answer in the Moviehole.net interview (linked yesterday), and includes Matt saying Terry gave him a huge opportunity to play a very different kind of character. And some fun comments about Johnny Depp and Terry selling out.

    • From London Features, here are some photos of Matt signing autographs outside the Regency Hotel on the weekend. In the first picture Matt's with NY identity 'Radio'.

    • The website for Stuck on you is now almost fully functional, and includes production notes, lots of images and desktops (such as a great Iron Chef take-off called "Fry Gods"), and a game where you can create a photo album with yourself, Bob and Walt. The site is stuckonyoumovie.com.

    • Jennifer sent in links to the E! SOY interviews with Matt and Greg: here for Real Video format and here for Windows Media Player format.

    • Jennifer (thanks!) also passed on notice that another behind-the-scenes look at SOY will air on E! premiering Dec. 11 at 2:30 p.m and encoring on Dec. 12 at 7:30 a.m and 3:30 p.m; Dec. 14 at 3a.m and 7:30 a.m. and Dec. 15 at 3:30 a.m.

    • An interview with Cher was on Extra Tuesday, and here's the website summary.

      It is Cher in the ultimate role of her career, playing herself in "Stuck On You." Extra" sat down with the superstar and co-director Bobby Farrelly, who told us all about playing the evil Cher. She says, "I like being funny. I thought that if I'm bad at this, at playing myself, it just can't get any worse than that."

      Costars Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon say it is her persona that is larger than life. Damon says, "She is like the sun, she does kind of suck you into her orbit." Farrelly adds, "We love her as an actress, but we didn't think she would do it."

    • An interesting report from a reader about yesterday's fluff "news" coverage of SOY on the entertainment shows:

      On The View this morning they were having their usual chat about current events and mentioned Michael Jackson. Star Jones takes over the conversation and starts talking about the television coverage. She asked if anyone watched the evening entertainment news shows. She said "Those people everywhere they went to every event, every premiere, they were asking all the celebrities what they thought about Michael Jackson. On Access Hollywood Matt Damon was there to promote a movie and they sit down and ask him about Michael Jackson. Then they ask him about the Bennifer wedding like the guy's best friend is going to tell them anything! He had to sit through all those questions before he got to say a word about the movie he was there to promote!" Then she went on to say that most people, like Matt, are too nice to tell the interviewers it's none of their business.

    • Sandi sent in a scan from the new Premiere magazine about the conjoined twins who assisted the SOY directors.
    • Entertainment Weekly has Stuck on you at #9 on their list of "Fall movies we most want to see":

      WHY WE CAN'T WAIT: A gleefully tasteless buddy comedy from the Farrelly brothers (''Dumb and Dumber'') that includes Siamese-twin jokes? We're there, but just be grateful the brothers didn't go with their original casting choices: Jim Carrey and Woody Allen.
      SOURCE MATERIAL: One of the siblings' earliest screenplays, predating their 1994 ''Dumber'' breakthrough
      PLOT POINTS: When Walt (Greg Kinnear) is bitten by the acting bug, he drags conjoined twin Bob (Matt Damon) along to Hollywood, where they get a job on a sitcom starring Cher (one of several real-life stars playing themselves in this movie). But will success break up the act?
      BURNING QUESTION: "Will & Grace" guest spot aside, can Matt Damon be funny?
      COME FOR: The slapstick
      STAY FOR: The witty showbiz satire

    • The first Berlin sighting: Matt was seen at Berlin restaurant "Borchadt" on Monday evening - from Morgenpost.de.

    • German newspaper berlinonline.de has details of Berlin streets and subway stations being transformed into Moscow locations for Bourne Supremacy.

    • Matt mentioned it at the press conference, and here's some further news about the next series of Project Greenlight from the Hollywood Reporter via yahoo:

      Dropped by HBO, 'Greenlight' May Light Up Bravo
      By Andrew Wallenstein
      NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - "Project Greenlight" is getting a red light from HBO, which has decided not to order a third season of the filmmaker-focused series. NBC-owned Bravo has emerged as the likely home for the next installment of "Greenlight," according to sources, who indicated that the cable network is deep in negotiations with Miramax TV and its production partner Live Planet, which is run by Ben Affleck (news) and Matt Damon (news). Miramax reportedly received interest from broadcast and basic cable networks interested in picking up the third season.

      A Miramax spokesman would only confirm that it is seeking a new home for the series. "We believe in 'Project Greenlight' and are currently re-evaluating its distribution options," he said.

      HBO, which was licensing "Greenlight" on a season-by-season basis, declined comment. Live Planet could not be reached for comment.

      While it was not quite the cultural phenomenon that "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City" became, the denial of another season came as a surprise. The series, which first chronicled the efforts of a rookie filmmaker in 2001, had built buzz and ratings in its second season, which completed its run in the summer.

      Maybe even more surprising would be Miramax's interest in reviving "Greenlight," both seasons of which produced theatrically released films -- "Stolen Summer" and "The Battle of Shaker Heights" -- that fared poorly at the box office. However, Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, Damon and Affleck are said to be less interested in the films' earnings than in their ability to provide budding independent talent a shot at mainstream acclaim.

      The series could be a natural addition to Bravo, which recently pacted with Miramax on a fashion-themed spinoff to "Greenlight" titled "Project Runway."

      One factor in HBO's decision to drop "Greenlight" was the absence of a commitment from a third Live Planet principal, Chris Moore, to produce the film that would eventually become the centerpiece of the third season, according to sources. Moore was not only a guiding force in the development of both films but earned himself something of a cult following for his on-air role in past "Greenlights." Equally uncertain is the future on-air involvement of Damon and Affleck, who squeezed "Greenlight" appearances into their busy shooting schedules.

      The series underwent extensive changes in format before its second season, which expanded the contest at the heart of the program to recruit not only a director but a scriptwriter whose struggles are recounted each episode. More tinkering is expected, with more time likely to be allotted for the winning writer to develop his or her script after a rushed process last season resulted in an uneven product.

    • Website note: Daily news will be updated as new material becomes available.

    11/25/2003
    • The first interview with Matt from the press junket is at Moviehole.net, compiled by Paul Fischer. A few quotes, with a spoiler in the first answer:

      Question: What about your cameo in Euro Trip?
      Damon: Oh, did you see it? How is it? Those guys, the directors, Dave [Mandel], Alec [Berg], and Jeff [Schaffer], I went to college with those guys. So I was over in Prague on 'The Brothers Grimm' and we were in pre-production and they called me up and said, 'look, will you come do a day on our movie.' It's called 'Euro Trip.' I lip sync in that movie, I play like a Henry Rollins wannabe from the suburbs, with earrings and a shaved head. I don't know, the scene seemed kind of funny to me.

      Question: Do you have anything coming up next?
      Damon: Sure, I'm happy to report to you all that I've just done a movie that Terry Gilliam directed. It's finished. Yeah, it's finished, yes. It was great, it was really great, and he was everything that I could have ever hoped he would be. You know, watching 'Lost in La Mancha' you see how passionate he is and what an incredible director he is, and it was just really nice to work with him. I have huge, huge hopes for that movie, I think it could really be special. It's very funny, it's got a lot of fairy tale imagery in it and stuff that the Brothers Grimm ended up writing about. Hard to classify, really. I'll probably see a cut of it in about six months or something, but it'll be interesting to see.

      Question: What are you working on now?
      Damon: I'm taking a break for the next twenty minutes, and then I'm getting on a plane to go to Germany to do 'The Bourne Supremacy.'

      Question: Is that going to be better than the first one?
      Damon: I don't know. We've got Paul Greengrass directing, and he's fantastic, he directed 'Bloody Sunday,' he's just a terrific director. So you know, I don't know. The script is there, and Paul really is confident about it. So I don't know, hopefully it'll be good. We start shooting, it's ten to four now, that means it's midnight there. We start shooting officially in 20 minutes is our first day of shooting.

    • TV Alert: Matt will appear on The Late Show with David Letterman on Monday 8 December.
    • Here's the online text about Stuck on you from Extra's website:

      It is the hilarious new Farrelly brothers' film starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins. Both actors say they never imagined that their careers would bring them locked at the hip with another guy. Kinnear says, "No, that wouldn't sound like an idea in my life that I would have expected to hear."

      Damon adds, "This is the part at the VH1 behind the scenes where they say, 'Then tragedy struck.'"

      Make a date with "Stuck On You" next month.

    • From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

      Matt Damon said on "Access Hollywood" last night, that one offshoot of the Jackson scandal is that it's pushed his buddy Ben Affleck off the front page.

      "I haven't talked to [Ben] since this whole thing broke," says Damon, "but I've got to imagine it's a welcome rest for him. Nobody hates that stuff more than Ben does. I've known him for 20 years. He's a very regular guy, so not being able to leave his house is going to slowly drive him crazy."

      Not if J.Lo does it first.

      "When [the media is] out of control there's nothing you can do," Damon says, "because it's not you putting yourself out there. I think there's that weird line where people try really hard to get on the cover of some magazines at a time when their movie is coming out... But it spins out into all those other magazines..."

      If Ben and Jen actually do walk down the aisle, Damon adds he'll be there. "I'm sure if it happens, I'm going to get a phone call. He's got a whole group of friends and family that are ready to drop everything and come be there and stand up for him."

    • The following is a reader's summary of Stuck on you coverage by the various entertainment shows. The SOY segment did not air on Entertainment Tonight and should appear at a later date.

      The interviews on Extra were very brief, with Matt and Greg doing interviews together. Cher said it was fun just to make a total fool of herself. Interviewer John Kelly asked what it was like to be attached to another person for seventy hours a week, and who got tired of who first. They didn't really answer, but said it was an exercise.

      He asked if they ever imagined anyone would propose this type of movie scenario to them and they said no. At one point Greg was bleeped out. Then they asked if Greg was going to be Matt's date for the Bennifer wedding. Uneasy laughter and Matt said it's true that he and Greg are dating.

      On E! Jody Ross did the interview and again it was Matt and Greg together. Again it was brief. They started off talking about the amount of time it took to put the body make up on each day. Twelve hours to put on the suits. She asked if it was true that they had to wax their chests. Matt unbuttoned his shirt to show that he has little hair to speak of.
      Then they moved to the bathroom question. They talked about going number one together, but never number two. Matt said you had to eat fiber and take Metamucil to keep yourself regular. Then she asked about the Bennifer wedding. Matt said after the last go round he's sure they will do something quick and quiet. He will be waiting by the red phone and jump on a plane if they call.

      For Access Hollywood Billy Bush and Pat O'Brien both did the interview with Matt and Greg. Almost the whole segment was about the Bennifer wedding with one SOY moment at the end. Billy started out asking if there would be a wedding and what did Matt think as a groomsman? Matt said that if it happens he'll jump on a plane and go. He said that Ben has a group of family and friends ready to fly anywhere to stand up for him. Then they asked how Ben was handling it all. Matt said Ben is the last person to want all of this attention, but he's not going to complain too much. Ben realizes there are bigger problems in the world, but not being able to leave his house is slowly driving him crazy.

      Then at the very end they mentioned SOY and I think Greg got a word in and said Ben needs to know he's Matt's new best friend.

    • New stills from Stuck on you are available at Latino Review.

    • Bourne Supremacy is now filming in Berlin and at Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam after two weeks of filming in Moscow. This article mentions that Matt was due to arrive in Berlin Monday night, and that Franka Potente will only film in India.

    • Thanks to CaseyAffleck.net for the full-size Wireimage photos.

    11/24/2003
    • More photos from the Stuck on you press conference are now available at wireimage.com, including the following:

    • Video interviews with Matt, Greg and Cher for Stuck on you are online at the Entertainment Tonight website. Here's the related article:

      Cojo: 'Stuck on' Cher & Matt Damon!
      November 24, 2003
      MATT DAMON and GREG KINNEAR -- as Siamese twins? "We're not Siamese," insists Matt's character in the FARRELLY BROTHERS' new movie. "We're American." Ah yes, the wacky Farrellys are back and only they could come up with something so twisted and yet so hilarious.

      And only our STEVEN COJOCARU can get to the bottom of the story with Matt, Greg and the rest of the cast of 'Stuck on You' -- including CHER! Watch tonight's ET for the latest from all the stars of this crazy comedy.

      In the film, Bob (Matt) and Walt (Greg) are conjoined twin brothers who, literally, can never leave each other's side. Stuck together since before they can remember, Walt decides to pursue his dreams and persuades the reluctant Bob to come along for the ride. Naturally, wild complications ensue!

      Matt tells Cojo that filming the sticky roles required he and Greg to be zipped and glued together for 12 hours before filming, and then shoot for another six to seven hours after that.

      "We made a bet to see who would lose their temper first," Matt said, "'cause I've never cracked on a movie set before."

      So, Cojo had to know, does this mean Greg has replaced BEN AFFLECK as Matt's best bud?

      "Say it's so! Say it's so!" Greg pleaded. But Matt played it cool. "We're pretty darn close," he said. "I've never been zipped to Ben for four straight months. This means a lot of responsibilities, Greg, and I hope you're ready for them."

      In a show-stopping supporting role, Cher plays a diva-like version of herself, and FRANKIE MUNIZ makes a chuckle-inducing cameo as her strange bedfellow.

      Cher tells Cojo she was "terrified" to play such an over-the-top mean person. "I thought, 'How will I do a good enough job to be me, but then to be this horrible b***h?' I just went as far as I could possibly go. Sometimes I wasn't going far enough and they'd go, 'Come on, Cher!' Scream louder! Be meaner!' I finally said, 'I'm going to go balls to the wall on this one.' And it was fun! After a while it was the most fun I ever had. Who else could do this as well as me?"

      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.

    11/23/2003
    • The press junket for Stuck on you is being held this weekend at the Waldorf Astoria and Hotel Regency in New York. The first pictures from the press conference are below, taken from wireimage.com. Other attendees were Greg Kinnear, Cher, Eva Mendes, Bobby and Peter Farrelly. Interviews from the junket should air on entertainment shows next week.

    • There is still no sign of an official Stuck on you premiere, but at least one site claims Matt and Greg will attend a charity premiere in Baltimore on Sunday 7 December. Here are the details from the site of a Baltimore theater.

      "Stuck on You," the latest from the Farrelly brothers, stars Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear and Cher. Dr. Ben Carson has a cameo appearance in the film and proceeds from this fundraiser go toward his Carson Scholars Fund and the BEN Fund.

      The VIP cocktail reception and silent auction takes place from 3-4:30 p.m., a question-and-answer session with the stars takes place from 5-6 p.m.

    • Laura sent in this report of a movie project likely to be of interest to Matt:

      Entertainment Weekly just reported that director Ang Lee is "showing interest in" Brokeback Mountain, based on a story by Pulitzer prize-winning author E Annie Proulx. This was a Gus Van Sant project for a long time, and it was rumored that Gus wanted Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to play the main characters -- two cowboys who fall in love but can't be together. No idea if Matt would still be interested; the EW piece only mentioned Ang Lee.

    • Matt's mentioned in a new television special from ABC: Hollywood's Hottest Hunks. It's related to a Us Weekly magazine article in which Matt receives the following listing:

      Vitals: 5'11", 33, Libra.
      Real Deal: Since breaking up with girlfriend Odessa in October Matt has been seen around Prague with a petite brunette.

    11/19/2003
    • Here's an interesting quote from model and Stuck on you actress Monika Kramlik, who is interviewed in the latest issue of Maxim Goes To The Movies.

      But her favorite gig is the Farrelly brothers' Stuck on You, in which she plays Double-Bubble Girl. "It's a small part," she admits, "but it was great working with amazing actors like Matt [Damon] and Greg [Kinnear], and the Farrellys were really great. And Meryl Streep is my favorite actress." So in a love triangle with Damon and Kinnear, who would she pick? "In real life? I would choose Greg," Kramlik says. Really? "Matt's amazing, too, but I spent much more time with Greg," she says. "Matt and I partied a lot, but Matt is more of a star and is probably scared of why someone is loving him, even as a friend. Greg I could call a friend."

    • Magazine alerts: In addition to Monika Kramlik's full-length interview in Maxim Goes To The Movies (Uma Thurman cover), Peter Farrelly is also interviewed. There is also a two-page interview with Greg Kinnear in FHM magazine (Kristianna Loken cover). If a reader can provide me with an excerpt or summary from these interviews it would be appreciated.

    • Greg Kinnear will no longer be appearing on Letterman 11/19, but is scheduled to be on Leno 11/27.

    11/18/2003
    • In an interview with ugo.com, producer Frank Marshall (pictured below with Matt), talked about the filming of Bourne Supremacy in Moscow, and the decision to choose director Paul Greengrass.

      FM: I'm actually... I just walked in from an incredible week in Moscow where we just started shooting The Bourne Supremacy. I like doing things that have never been done before, and we're doing a chase in the streets of Moscow that has never been done before.

      UGO: What's the process of picking a director like Paul Greengrass for The Bourne Supremacy? I know he directed Bloody Sunday.
      FM: I think that you're looking for a style. Once again, I think that we set a tone and style with the first movie that we want to continue into with this one and we wanted someone fresh and new who had a very strong point of view. I think that if you look at Bloody Sunday, you see someone who has a real strong point of view that is in the realm of the style of our first movie, and so then, you audition [directors]. We met with three or four other directors and we gave them an outline and they came in and they talked about how they would make the movie and how they saw the movie. You're looking for a vision and Paul was fantastic and that has been confirmed in the last week.

    • The newsletter from the official site of Julia Stiles includes this mention about Bourne:

      Julia Stiles will officially reprise her role as the character of Nicolette in "The Bourne Supremacy", the sequel to "The Bourne Identity". Nicolette's character may be the only one alive who can identify Jason Bourne...

    • The release date for Stuck on you in Australia has been delayed until 12 February 2004.

    • More filming for Matt in Russia? The thezreview.co.uk site has this update on filming for Ocean's Twelve:

      The following info on the Ocean's Twelve filming has just been sent in, and it's quite an important change. "Following a contact per e-mail with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on Nov. 10th, it seems that there has been a change of plan concerning the script of Ocean's 12. The painting 'The Nightwatch' has proven much too big to make it believable that they would steal it (to be honest, anyone who has seen the painting for real would know this, which is why the original idea sounded a little bit far fatched). It seems that that robbery is to be replaced by the robbery of a Faberge egg in the Hermitage in St Petersburg."

    11/17/2003
    • More details about Bourne Supremacy filming in Germany from PNN Online (translated version):

      From 24 November Potsdam becomes the scene of a spy thriller. Here the filming of "The Bourne Supremacy" will begin, with Matt Damon and the German actress Franka Potente in the main roles. "We have nearly all the preparations ready", say Henning Molfenter, production manager of Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures. There will be filming in Berlin and Potsdam. "We will very densely populate the Ku'damm and will offer the citizens of Berlin a real spectacle", says Molfenter. The Alexanderplatz is a further filming location, "And also Potsdam plays a large role." Here the stunt crew will drive "a quantity of cars to scrap iron". That Berlin is in the sequel to the film "The Bourne Identity", and is the actual location in the story, is very pleasing to Babelsberg, says Molfenter. "Berlin stands for Berlin, it is a city with unbelievably many possibilities." Filming will last until February, and in the last weeks the stars will film in Babelsberg in huge sets before the camera. Currently it is filming in Moscow.

    • Stuck on you has received a PG-13 rating "for crude and sexual humor and some language." Here's a preview from the Denver Post:

      Stuck on You
      The Skinny: Bob and Walt - conjoined twins and complete opposites - have chosen to never go their separate ways. At least not surgically. But when Walt gets a big break in L.A. their united-we-stand loyalty is tested.
      The Players: Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear star in Bobby and Peter Farrelly's latest foray into the touchingly tasteless. Cher plays herself as a TV producer.
      Going for the Gold: Last month, Farrelly brother Peter confessed that "Stuck on You" was testing like crazy with an audience the Brothers Grossout have never won over: women more than 30. Could it be that the Farrellys have made their first chick flick? (Dec. 12)

      And another preview from the Chicago Sun-Times:

      What's nice: Matt and Greg give new meaning to the word togetherness as conjoined twins who move from the East Coast to Hollywood because one of the brothers wants to be a huge star.
      What's naughty: Kinnear had to remove all his chest hair so that makeup artists could create the conjoined effect. "I've never known such pain, and it's called waxing. I feel so sorry for women."
      Stocking stuffer: Cher balked at playing herself -- an ego-driven, demanding diva. Like who could ever draw those parallels?

    • TV alerts: In addition to Greg Kinnear's appearance on Letterman 19 November, he will also be on Jay Leno's Tonight Show 25 November. A behind-the-scenes look at Stuck on you will screen from 2 December on HBO:

      STUCK ON YOU: HBO FIRST LOOK
      Enjoy a visit to the set of this Farrelly brothers comedy that stars Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins who head to Hollywood to become stars.

    • Eurotrip, the comedy in which Matt has a brief cameo, will be released in the US on 23 January 2004. Michelle Trachtenberg described Matt's involvement to BBC news:

      "We were in Prague shooting for four months," says Trachtenberg. "Matt Damon took a day off from The Brothers Grimm to come and shoot a small role in my movie, so we were very happy to have him."

    • The video and DVD of Gerry are now available, and here's another positive review from DVD File. With thanks to CaseyAffleck.net, here are some stills from the film. The DVD includes a basic behind-the-scenes look at filming at the salt lakes, but not a lot of information or dialogue.

    11/14/2003
    • Jennifer sent in the photo and text about Stuck on you from Entertainment Weekly's fall preview issue.

      STUCK ON YOU - Filmmaking brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly ("Shallow Hal") have finally made a movie about brothers, but don't expect anything too autobiographical: "Stuck" stars Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as twins conjoined at the waist. Eva Mendes ("2 Fast 2 Furious") costars,and - "Silkwood" reunion! - both Cher and Meryl Streep cameo. (Twentieth Century Fox)

    11/13/2003
    • Reuters has published an article from the set of Brothers Grimm, and it includes the first published comments from Matt about the film. Two pictures we've seen previously are also included.

      Damon and Ledger laugh through Grimm tale
      Wed November 12, 2003 11:41 PM ET
      By Alan Crosby

      PRAGUE (Reuters) - Standing in front of a monitor watching their latest take during the filming of "The Brothers Grimm", Matt Damon and Heath Ledger burst out laughing. Not exactly the reaction one would expect from a fairy tale, but precisely one director Terry Gilliam was aiming at.

      "This film certainly is like nothing I have ever done before," Damon told Reuters in an interview.

      Gilliam, looking to move on from the disastrous end to his film about Don Quixote when financing was abruptly pulled, has chosen to guide the stories of the Brothers Grimm in a not so fairytale way for co-producers MGM and Dimension Films.

      As with previous films "Brazil" and "Twelve Monkeys", Gilliam, once part of the comedy team Monty Python, has brought his exaggerated sense of space and shapes to the stages of Prague's Barrandov Studios.

      FAIRYTALES OR CON MEN?

      His take on Jake and Wilhelm Grimm is that they were 19th Century conmen who duped people into paying them to drive out "evil creatures" that are actually fictitious beings created by the brothers themselves.

      Eventually the two are asked by the French government to deal with an actual real-life evil creature -- played by Monica Bellucci -- that sends them on a wild adventure. Damon and Ledger, heartthrobs to millions, are barely recognisable in their Bavarian costumes.

      For Damon, the role was one he couldn't turn down, even if shooting delays have eaten up any chance for a holiday before filming a sequel to his hit "The Bourne Identity" later this month in Germany.

      "I saw the script and knew I wanted to do the movie. I knew it would cut it close with the next Bourne movie, but I didn't care. Now, when I see what is going on film, I have no doubts I made a great choice," said the affable American.

      Damon and Ledger have hit it off during filming, with the Australian referring to Damon "like he's my brother".

      WARPED SETTING

      If the costumes and acting are exaggerated, they are equalled by the set.

      In a sign of the determination of Gilliam and set designer Guy Hendrix Dyas to create a dream world, they travelled to dozens of the Czech Republic's medieval towns before realising the real thing was pretty, but too practical. Instead, after shunning some of the world's best preserved castles, Hendrix Dyas created his own village barely a stone's throw from the studios and within sight of the ugly concrete apartments that serve as a reminder of nearly five decades of Communist rule.

      "After talking to Terry, I realised very quickly we were on the same page," said Hendrix Dyas.

      "That made it easy to test the boundaries, and in the end, it's true, we would never have found a village such as this. No one would ever have left something like this standing!"

    11/12/2003
    • Bourne Supremacy has started filming, but Brothers Grimm has yet to finish. As Phil from Dreams: The Terry Gilliam Fanzine reported on the site's messageboard, Grimm is scheduled to complete filming on 22 November, but Matt will finish on 18 November. Here's the press release from Universal about Bourne:

      Universal Pictures Begins Principal Photography on the Espionage Thriller 'The Bourne Supremacy'
      Tuesday November 11, 3:22 pm ET

      UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Pictures has announced the start of principal photography on the espionage thriller "The Bourne Supremacy," the second installment of best-selling author Robert Ludlum's "Bourne" series with Matt Damon returning as trained assassin Jason Bourne.

      Damon heads an impressive cast that includes Oscar� nominee Joan Allen ("The Contender"), Brian Cox ("X2"), Julia Stiles ("Mona Lisa Smile"), Karl Urban ("The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers") and Franka Potente ("The Bourne Identity"). The film is produced by Frank Marshall ("Seabiscuit," "Signs," "The Bourne Identity"), Pat Crowley ("Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," "The Bourne Identity") and Paul L. Sandberg ("Picking Up the Pieces") and is directed by Paul Greengrass (writer/director of "Bloody Sunday") from a screenplay by Tony Gilroy ("The Bourne Identity"), based on Ludlum's book.

      "The Bourne Supremacy" re-enters the shadowy world of expert assassin Bourne (Damon), who continues to find himself plagued by splintered nightmares from his former life. The stakes are now even higher for the agent as he coolly maneuvers through the dangerous waters of international espionage-replete with CIA plots, turncoat agents and ever-shifting covert alliances-all the while hoping to find the truth behind his haunted memories and answers to his own fragmented past.

      Compelling use of exotic worldwide locations and the muscular cinematic edge brought by vanguard director Greengrass maintain the aggressive style and fresh, non-traditional perspective established in "The Bourne Identity." "The Bourne Supremacy" is the latest entry in a refreshingly new breed of that time-honored genre, the espionage thriller.

      Joining Greengrass is a talented production team behind the camera, including director of photography Oliver Wood ("The Bourne Identity," "U-571"), production designer Dominic Watkins ("Bad Boys II"), costume designer Dinah Collin ("Bloody Sunday"), editor Christopher Rouse ("The Italian Job") and special effects supervisor Kit West (the upcoming "Around the World in 80 Days").

      "The Bourne Supremacy," which is shooting on location in Germany, Russia and India, is scheduled for release by Universal Pictures in 2004.

    • More details about Monica Bellucci's role in Grimm from Empire online:

      Forever Young
      Sultry star Monica Bellucci won't be quite the radiant apparition she usually is when she appears in Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm. "In my new film I play a wicked witch who casts a spell to live for ever but forgets to ask to stay young for ever," she says. "I'm going to spend hours in make-up and look really haggard.'' Sorry boys!

    • There will be a charity premiere of Stuck on you in Baltimore on 7 December. Details here or here.

    • In other Stuck on you news, Greg Kinnear will be on Letterman 19 November, and new photos from the film are available at www.cinemovies.fr.

    • Finally, here's a fun interview with Matt and Greg from the December edition of Elle magazine (US). Thanks Sandi!

    11/10/2003
    • Here are some more comments from Ben's interview with Entertainment Weekly:

      EW: How'd you get trapped in it? [the publicity storm]
      Ben: When Good Will Hunting first broke, it was all about Matt, and it occurred to me that you had to be in one of those [leading] roles to make it...I've always felt like I've been in a perpetual audition. And maybe that's part of what has contributed to the fact that this [gestures to file] has happened. I don't think anyone should shed a tear for me. I've had a good life. But it's become too much. Of course, part of that's just a product of who I chose to go out with. [Flipping though the stack of clips] Jesus, though. It's staggering.

      EW: Let's talk about Good Will Hunting. That's where you go from being just an actor to, you know, Ben.
      Ben: We got the cover of Entertainment Weekly [in February 1998] after all. We look like people with birth defects on that cover! They chose the picture of us gaping and drooling on ourselves, and [it was] like, "They like the picture! They think it shows your real spirit." I was like "What do they think our real spirit is." Vaguely, um -- I don't want to say it -- but Special Olympics?"

      EW: Have you polished the shine of the best-screenplay Oscar yet?
      Ben: You can't help but feel like an asshole putting it up anywhere, because it's like , Remember: I have an Academy Award! They give you this Oscar sweatshirt, and it says, NOMINEE '97. Of course you can't really wear that, because then you're the biggest jackass in the world. But I do have it in my drawer, and one of my knuckle-head friends was sleeping over and asked , [deep voice] "Hey, can I borrow a sweatshirt?" And he comes out with my Oscar sweatshirt on, and I was like, [hysterical] "Are you out of your MIND! TAKE THAT OFF! You're getting it first!"
      EW: It seems like about a year after the Oscars was when you started to get dinged in the media.
      Ben: We are these golden boys, but we could feel the urbane, sophisticated intelligentsia staring to go, "F--- these guys! We're over them." And then you go, "What did I do?" It was Gwyneth [Paltrow] who taught me that who the press are talking about in the paper is really someone different. They don't really know you. It's an image - a projection.

      EW: When celebrity happens that quickly, who is telling you what the hell to do?
      Ben: That's the thing. Nobody. There's no guide to do it. That's why you see so may train wrecks. Look at Michael Jackson. Here's a guy who, talent-wise anyway, should be a national treasure. But he seems to be nuts now. Let's face it. It's sad. I really benefited from having someone to go through it with, that I could look at and say, "Is this insane?" I'm also good friends with Kevin Smith [director of Affleck's upcoming Jersey Girl - his other movie costarring She Who Must Not Be Named], and it's been helpful to have him in my life because he's good at putting things in perspective and f---ing with you endlessly. Which is nice.

      EW: Do you ever look at Matt or does he ever look at you and go, "Hey! How the hell did he get that role?"
      Ben: Yeah. Probably more me looking at his stuff. Particularly after Good Will Hunting, when Matt was the more sought-after. I would have killed to have done The Talented Mr. Ripley and All the Pretty Horses. Take Paycheck. They talked to Matt about it and he said, "You know, I can't do another amnesia movie [after The Bourne Identity], but you gotta get Ben for this."

      EW: Let's talk Project Greenlight. Own up. You knew that your two novice directors, Kyle and Efram, were gonna screw up royally. You had to.
      Ben: Absolutely not. Kyle and Efram's shorts were all really funny. It was Kyle and Efram working with other people that they weren't great at.

      EW: Is there going to be a third season?
      Ben: Every year we have to beg and plead again. One of the problems is that Chris Moore, understandably, wants to be a movie producer and not a TV villain. If HBO doesn't want to do it, which is a distinct possibility, we'll have to go somewhere else. I think Greenlight is one of the things I'll be most proud of, looking back. I admire what Robert Redofrd did with Sundance. The Institute has contributed in an important way to the art of making movies, and I think, in a much tinier way, Greenlight can have a legacy of opening the door a little for independent movies.

      EW: How do you feel about that Off Broadway plat Matt & Ben, about you guys before you were famous, and acted by two women? Did you hear about this and think, 'How weird is my life?'
      Ben: I've vaguely heard about it. I just see it as part of this whole [flips through clips] stack of stuff. I have no interest in seeing it for the same reason I have no interest in reading about myself. It just seems like a snake eating its tail.

    • Sandi sent in a Stuck on you photo from the LA Times fall preview.
    11/08/2003
    • There are quite a few fall/holiday movie previews in newspapers and magazines at the moment, but no feature articles or interviews for Stuck on you have appeared as yet. Here's the Newsday preview, in which the film was called one of the season's potential blockbusters:

      STUCK ON YOU
      Opens: Dec. 12
      Directors: Peter and Bobby Farrelly
      Cast: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Eva Mendes, Seymour Cassell, Cher (!)
      Why we're psyched: It's been a long time since the Farrellys made us wince and laugh in equal measure.
      Why we're nervous: Everybody's nervous when it comes to making jokes out of...out of... physical...um, well, you know.
      The backstory: The studio accountants and adolescent ticket buyers don't care to hear this, but the Farrellys have one of the most distinctive artistic visions of contemporary filmmakers. Yeah, you could say the vision has come across as somewhat distorted, especially in 1998's "There's Something About Mary" and 2001's "Shallow Hal." But their trademark gross-out shtick has always been balanced by a sweet-tempered humanism that may not always be apparent to those who can't stop giggling (or cringing) at what they see. This latest venture, in which Damon and Kinnear play conjoined twins seeking fame and fortune in Hollywood, seems as though it could strike the proper chord - though the little we've seen so far suggests that those seeking in-your-face, giggle-inducing shocks won't be disappointed. -Gene Seymour

    • Ben made some strange comments in EW's latest issue, which were reported in the New York Daily News.

      Good will punting
      Ben Affleck claims Miramax Films "exploited" his friendship with Matt Damon to promote their 1997 film, "Good Will Hunting."

      "[Matt and I] were a very successful marketing hook for Miramax, and they used it," says Affleck, who co-wrote and co-starred in the movie. "It felt a little bit like we were whoring our friendship, like a guy out there with an organ grinder and a monkey."

      After "Good Will" hit big and their script won an Oscar, "Matt was more sought-after," Affleck tells Entertainment Weekly. "When 'Good Will Hunting' broke, it was all about Matt. I've always felt like I've been in a perpetual audition."

    • A new project for LivePlanet has been announced: following the newly created Formula Drift Championship (a specialised motorsport event) for a television series. Details here.

    • More details about the German filming of Bourne Supremacy are available at www.szon.de. The Kurf�rstendamm (or Ku'damm) is a famous shopping and entertainment district in Berlin, which has a website and webcam here. This is my translated version:

      On 24 November, filming begins for the Hollywood-film 'The Bourne Supremacy' with Franka Potente and Matt Damon, announced the production manager of the studio, Henning Molfenter. By March they will have filmed the espionage thriller in Berlin and Potsdam, in Studio Babelsberg and Moscow. "We will densely populate the Ku'damm, perhaps even close it," clarified Molfenter. Several film teams will be in the city to film, amongst other things, stunt and action scenes. The citizens of Berlin and their guests could experience a spectacle similar to the "Around the world in 80 days" experience.

    • People magazine has an online quiz in advance of their Sexiest Man Alive issue in a few weeks, and Matt's one of the four 'perfect' matches (if you choose the more innocent/sweeter responses). Their summary of Matt repeats familiar quotes.

      Your perfect match is Matt Damon.

      Boyish Matt Damon, 33, proves that nice guys don't always finish last. Though he has been romantically linked with stars including Minnie Driver and Winona Ryder, Damon's No. 1 girl is always the same: his mom. In fact, Damon even brought her to the Oscars in 1998, where he won a screenwriting award for Good Will Hunting.

      What makes this golden boy so attractive? Modesty helps: "I'm certainly never going to be anyone's sex symbol," Damon told Vanity Fair in December 1997. "I don't think he realizes how incredible he is," then-girlfriend Driver told The Washington Post at the time.

      The Harvard dropout is also well liked by his male costars. Robin Williams told PEOPLE in February 1998 that the sandy-haired actor's appeal is that he's "a gentle, good person."

      And that may be his sexiest trait (although his giant grin and abundant talent don't hurt). "Women like nice guys," Virginia Madsen, Damon's costar in The Rainmaker told PEOPLE in July 2001. "We may play with the bad boys, but we like the nice guys. And he's one of them."

    • From a San Francisco Examiner review of Gus Van Sant's film Elephant:

      Finally, during the film's third act -- or where the third act would normally be if this were a narrative, chronological film -- Van Sant introduces us to the killers. They play violent video games (a hilarious fictional game in which the player gets to shoot at Matt Damon and Casey Affleck walking across the desert in "Gerry"), watch Nazi documentaries and order guns over the Internet.

    11/06/2003
    • Here's a casting confirmation from the Hollywood Reporter for Bourne Supremacy. Bourne will start filming at Studio Babelsberg, near Berlin, from 24 November, after filming in Moscow.

      Cox back for 'Bourne'
      Brian Cox has signed on to reprise his role in "The Bourne Supremacy," the sequel to Universal Pictures' "The Bourne Identity." Cox will again team with Matt Damon and Franka Potente in the sequel along with Joan Allen and Karl Urban. Paul Greengrass is directing. Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley and Paul L. Sandberg are producing from a script by Tony Gilroy inspired by Robert Ludlum's second novel in the "Bourne" series.
    • The French "Brazil" magazine featuring the set visit to The Brothers Grimm, which I translated here, is available for purchase as a back issue (pictured at right). If you would like an original copy, send a 10 Euro banknote with your complete address to: Brazil, Chemin du Haut des Buissons, 95430 Auvers sur Oise, France.

      The author of the article, Christophe Goffette, can be contacted on [email protected]

    • The film previously known as "Ugly Americans," in which Matt has a cameo, is now called "Eurotrip."

    • For information: Casey Affleck will be answering questions and posting at the messageboard of CaseyAffleck.net. Check out the site and write to Casey!

    • Shelley (thanks!) made some more screencaps from the Brothers Grimm preview on ET.

    11/04/2003
    • With thanks to Lainy of www.screen-icons.org, here's the Empire preview of The Brothers Grimm, included in the magazine's December issue. The author is Bob McCabe, who is currently preparing a book on the making of the film.



    11/03/2003
    • Sandi sent in a scan of the Us Weekly story written up here on Saturday. It also includes the first color version of the Brothers Grimm still originally found in USA Today.

    • The website for Project Greenlight has been updated, and it appears to indicate there will be a PGL3: here.

    • The Empire magazine article about Grimm should be available on the site tomorrow.

    11/02/2003
    • The December issue of the UK Empire magazine, with Russell Crowe on the cover, also has a 'world exclusive' from the set of The Brothers Grimm. Can anybody access the magazine and send me a scan? Thanks.

    11/01/2003
    • My translation of the Brazil magazine article, describing a visit to the Brothers Grimm set, is now complete and available at this separate page - Brazil article. It discusses many worrying aspects about the film, including director Terry Gilliam's ambivalence towards the project, his apparent loss of confidence, his fear that Grimm is becoming another Baron Munchausen, the apathy of the crew and delays to the shooting schedule.

      However, it also praises the performance of the actors and marvels at the superb set construction, props and production design. If any readers have any comments about my translation of the article, which is nearly 8,000 words long, please email me.

    • Another problem for the Grimm cast and crew was noted in this August article from Variety, discussing the unusually hot European summer:

      Film production across Europe was generally unaffected; the exceptions were films that required different meteorological conditions for their subjects. Marketing coordinator Leigh Darilek of Prague production firm Stillking said its active lineup of commercial and film shoots was "not affected, since most of our commercials this summer have been studio shoots." Not so fortunate was one of the key Prague shoots this summer, Terry Gilliam's "Brothers Grimm," which one insider noted "needed rain and horrible weather for their story."

    • Filming for Bourne Supremacy begins in the next few weeks - details also from Variety:

      'Bourne sequel preps for Babelsberg shoot
      Damon starrer is third major H'w'd prod'n for studio, By Ed Meza

      BERLIN -- "The Bourne Supremacy," which is set to secure financing from Germany's Hannover Leasing film fund, is set to start shooting at Studio Babelsberg outside Berlin in coming weeks.

      Paul Greengrass' follow-up to Universal's 2002 hit "The Bourne Identity" will lense in Berlin and other German locations through February after its shoot in Russia. Henning Molfenter, head of production at Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures, is associate producer on the Matt Damon starrer. It's the third major Hollywood production for Babelsberg after "Around the World in 80 Days" and last year's "The Pianist."

      Hannover, meanwhile, is partnering with U on six features that may include Sydney Pollack's "The Interpreter," starring Nicole Kidman. The fund company, which in the past has partnered with 20th Century Fox and New Line and helped finance two of the "Lord of the Rings" films, has raised some $266 million via its Montranus Beteiligungs tax-sheltering investment vehicle. Hannover will present U's "The Skeleton Key" and Paul and Chris Weitz's "Synergy" to its investors at a Dec. 17 meeting, where the project slate will be determined.

    • More details about Matt and Odessa's split are reported in the latest Us Weekly magazine:

      Why Did Matt and Odessa Split Up?

      Fall in Prague sounds romantic, but it spelled doom for Damon's relationship with Odessa Whitmire, a former assistant to Affleck who now co-owns a New York City boutique. What went wrong? It seems the actor, who has dated Minnie Driver and Winona Ryder, has a different demeanor from his 28 year old gal pal. While Damon has earned a rep for kindness on the Brothers Grimm set, a source tells Us Whitmire is considered "a snob." At Damon's Prague apartment, for example, Whitmire greeted one employee "by pointing out that she had a hole in her coat." but the newly single actor seems to be coping. He was spotted kissing a dark haired beauty at a party October 4.

      Us Weekly also has a separate story on Matt and Ben, which was summarised by a reader:

      The Matt and Ben story is titled Are They Still Best Friends?--The once inseparable Matt Damon and Ben Affleck haven't been seen together in 10 months. Has something-- or someone--come between them?

      It's a five paragraph item. It says that Matt celebrated his 33rd birthday in Prague at a lounge called Zelezna with the cast and crew of the Brothers Grimm. Heath DJ'd. The male stripper showed up for Lena Headey.

      Where was Ben?
      Ben and Matt haven't been spotted together since promoting their HBO movie project PGL at Sundance Film Festival 2003 last January. "Matt and Ben aren't on the same page right now," a friend who has known both since they were kids in Cambridge, Massachusetts, tells Us "Matt's focusing on his career and Ben's focusing on his relationship."

      When Affleck postponed his September wedding to Jennifer Lopez rumors flew that Damon staged an intervention. "I think Damon was able to talk some sense into him," a longtime Affleck pal tells Us. Sources say Matt is not a fan of the Bennifer bond. Says the Affleck pal, "Matt and Jennifer don't get along. That has caused tension."

      A source close to Damon insists that "the only thing that's changed between Matt and Ben is that they're miles apart." In May Damon left NYC for Prague. When that film wraps in November it's on to film Bourne Supremacy in Germany, Russia, and India. Then on to Rome, Paris, and Amsterdam for O12. Although they have not starred in a movie together don't rule out an onscreen reunion. They have an idea, but have to write it.

      Still could all this time apart eventually sever their ties? Not likely, a close friend of the pair tells Us: "They love each other like brothers."

    General links

    Other good sources of information about Matt

    www.mattdamonfanpage.com: Kelly's great site about Matt, which includes articles, photos and interviews.
    www.mattdamonforum.com: A community website and message board for fans of Matt, moderated by Kelly.
    Elise's site has a comprehensive photo gallery.
    www.screen-icons.org: A site for all fans of Matt & Ben.

    To contact Matt

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

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    in Berlin, which has a website and webcam here. This is my translated version: