Moviefone Editorial

Tag: matt damon

  • Matt Damon Is ‘Sorry’ for Controversial Diversity Comment

    Matt Damon

    Matt Damon has apologized for controversial comments he made on his filmmaker-search reality series “Project Greenlight”—that diversity only matters in front of the camera.

    “I believe deeply that there need to be more diverse filmmakers making movies,” the mea culpa began.

    “My comments were part of a much broader conversation about diversity in Hollywood and the fundamental nature of ‘Project Greenlight’ which did not make the show,” the Oscar winner said in a statement. “I am sorry that they offended some people, but, at the very least, I am happy that they started a conversation about diversity in Hollywood. That is an ongoing conversation that we all should be having.”

    Damon ignited a firestorm of discussion on Twitter branded with the hashtag “#Damonsplaining” after an episode of his HBO series aired Sunday in which he explained his opinions on how diversity should work in show business.

    “When we’re talking about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show,” Damon said to Effie Brown, a black female producer who appeared alongside him as a panelist on the HBO program.

    Brown, who has produced more than 17 feature films, including “Dear White People,” appeared to be gobsmacked by his response, commenting: “Wow, okay.”

    “Project Greenlight,” now in its fourth season, is Damon and Ben Affleck’s reality competition series that awards $3 million to a filmmaker to direct a feature film. Writers, producers and directors join the duo in narrowing down the finalists who will helm the project.

    Brown, the lone female and black person in the room, points out to Damon and her fellow panelists, that they should consider more diverse directors for a film of which its lead character, a black female, is “a hooker who gets hit by her white pimp.”

    But Damon insisted in a separate confessional interview that such a consideration “would undermine what the competition was supposed to be about, which is about giving somebody this job based entirely on merit and leaving all other factors out of it.”

  • Matt Damon Says Diversity Only Matters in Front of the Camera

    Matt Damon Says Diversity Only Matters in Front of the Camera

    Matt Damon delivered an interesting perspective on the role diversity plays in Hollywood: It only matters in front of the camera.

    “When we’re talking about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show,” the Oscar winner explained to Effie Brown, a black female producer who appeared alongside him as a panelist on his HBO series “Project Greenlight” on Sunday.

    Brown, who has produced more than 17 feature films, including “Dear White People,” appeared to be gobsmacked by his response, commenting: “Wow, okay.”

    “Project Greenlight,” now in its fourth season, is Damon and Ben Affleck’s reality series that awards $3 million to a filmmaker to direct a feature film. Writers, producers and directors join the duo in narrowing down the finalists who will helm the project.

    Brown, the lone female and black person in the room, points out to Damon and her fellow panelists, that they should consider more diverse directors for a film of which its lead character, a black female, is “a hooker who gets hit by her white pimp.” She suggests that it could be handled with greater sensitivity from a person of color or female.

    But Damon insists in a separate interview that such a consideration “would undermine what the competition was supposed to be about, which is about giving somebody this job based entirely on merit and leaving all other factors out of it.”

  • Matt Damon on Ben Affleck: ‘Jason Bourne Would Kick the S–t Out of Batman!’

    Matt Damon (L) and Ben Affleck
    Matt Damon (L) and Ben Affleck

    Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are famously the closest of Hollywood friends. But onscreen, Damon thinks his action hero “Bourne Identity” character would crush Affleck’s Batman.

    “Jason Bourne would kick the s–t out of Batman—absolutely!” Damon tells E! News at the premiere of his film “The Martian,” in theaters Oct. 2, at Toronto International Film Festival. “Batman’s gotta take on Superman first,” he adds. “If he could beat him then maybe he could take on Jason Bourne.”

    If the BFFs ever do battle it out, it would make it their eighth big screen appearance together as actors, starring in “Field of Dreams,” “School Ties,” “Glory Daze,” “Chasing Amy,” “Good Will Hunting,” “Dogma,” and “The Third Wheel.”

    Nearly 18 years ago, Damon and Affleck’s collaboration on “Good Will Hunting” earned nine Academy Award nominations, ultimately winning the duo a Best Original Screenplay statue. Of course, fans want to know about their next joint effort.

    “I wish I knew, Damon tells NY Times in a recent fan-submitted Q&A session, “I would love to do that.”

    “Now it’s just more of a scheduling issue for us,” Damon says, citing Affleck’s “Batman” franchise commitments. “I think he knows what he’s doing until 2020.”

    Since 1997’s “Good Will Hunting” Damon went on to collaborate with other members of the film’s team. For 2002’s “Gerry,” he shares a writing credit with Affleck’s brother Casey Affleck, who costarred with them in the drama, and it served as another reunion with director Gus Van Sant. Ben Affleck continued to write as well, penning 2010’s “The Town” and 2007’s “Gone Baby Gone,” among other projects.

    Together, Damon and Affleck have re-teamed as executive producers and presenters of HBO’s “Project Greenlight” – a documentary about filmmaking, now in its fourth season, returning to the cable network Sept. 20.

    But the Hollywood buddies have not rekindled their Oscar magic together as writers ever since their big win.

    “‘Good Will Hunting’ was really easy to write for us because we were unemployed,” he recalls. “And nobody was waiting for it either. It’s not like we were on deadline. The world didn’t care.”

    He describes writing 2002’s “Promised Land” with John Krasinski as a “blast,” but says that synchronicity is paramount in the creative process. “The one thing about writing is that it’s very time consuming,” he explains. “And the only way to do it is when you’re basically in the same place as your writing partner.”

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  • First Photo of Matt Damon on New ‘Bourne’ Movie Set

    Matt Damon on set of new "Bourne" film
    Matt Damon on set of new “Bourne” film

    Matt Damon’s back — even if his shirt is not.

    In this photo posted on Twitter by producer Frank Marshall, the actor strips down for what looks like a fight scene on the first day of filming the new “Bourne” film.

    Although much about the movie remains under wraps, Damon resumes the titular role he last played eight years ago in “The Bourne Ultimatum” before handing off to Jeremy Renner.

    Julia Stiles also returns, joining Alicia Vikander from “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”, Vincent Cassell and Tommy Lee Jones.

    “Without giving too much of it away, it’s Bourne through an austerity-riddled Europe and in a post-Snowden world,” Damon tells Buzzfeed. “It seems like enough has changed, you know? There are all these kinds of arguments about spying and civil liberties and the nature of democracy.”

    The movie’s due out in July 2016.

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  • Matt Damon Still Stuck on Mars in 2nd ‘The Martian’ Trailer

    Clearly, it was in the back of Matt Damon’s mind.

    “I guarantee you that at some point everything is going to go south on you,” he tells his space crew at the beginning of the second trailer for “The Martian.”

    Boy, does it ever.

    As we already know from the first trailer, Damon ends up stranded on Mars, 140 million miles away from Earth, with only 50 days of food and a rescue mission that’ll take four years to reach him — IF he can figure out a way to contact NASA.

    The good news is that he’s able to phone home. “I’m still alive,” he says, looking haggard and wearing what looks like a space bathrobe. “Surprise!”

    The bad news: How to grow three years and 10 months of food on a barren and forbidding planet. “So I’m going to have to science the s— out of this,” he decides.

    The even more bad news: NASA’s not so hot to risk the lives of other astronauts to get him. “It’s bigger than one person,” grouches NASA honcho Jeff Daniels.

    Which means it’s time to go interplanetary rogue as rescuers suit up anyway and blast off for what could be a suicide mission.

    “The Martian,” which also stars Kate Mara, Kristen Wiig, Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Donald Glover and Chiwetel Ejiofor, hits theaters Oct. 2.

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