Speaker A
Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. I'm very, very excited about our guest today. It is a superstar, and that star is Matt Damon.
Matt Damon discusses his role in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, professional relationships, and filmmaking challenges on Good Hang with Amy Poehler.
Key Takeaways
- Adapting a legendary story like The Odyssey requires sincerity and a unique interpretation rather than trying to compete with existing imaginations.
- Matt Damon is praised for his professionalism, leadership, and ability to inspire the cast and crew during physically demanding shoots.
- Strong collaborative relationships, like that between Damon and Nolan, are crucial for successful filmmaking.
- Physical and emotional preparation is essential for actors taking on challenging roles.
- Respect for original material combined with personal creativity leads to compelling storytelling.
Summary
- Matt Damon joins Amy Poehler on Good Hang to discuss his career and latest film, The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan.
- The conversation covers the challenges of adapting a classic like The Odyssey and staying true to the original text while offering a fresh interpretation.
- Christopher Nolan shares insights on casting Matt Damon and the physical and emotional demands of the film.
- They discuss the importance of long-lasting professional relationships and collaboration in filmmaking.
- Matt Damon's dedication to his roles, including physical training and commitment to authenticity, is highlighted.
- The episode includes lighthearted moments about tea preferences and humorous behind-the-scenes anecdotes.
- Amy and guests touch on the balance between respecting source material and bringing personal creativity to adaptations.
- The episode features sponsorship messages from Allstate and Subaru, integrated naturally into the conversation.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Guest Welcome
- 03:48Interpreting The Odyssey and Acting Challenges
- 07:24Casting Matt Damon and Physical Demands
- 10:30Behind the Scenes and Production Insights
- 13:44Collaborative Relationships and Filmmaking Process
- 21:44Personal Stories and Reflections
- 26:30Comedy, Writing, and Creative Process
- 38:41Closing Remarks and Sponsor Messages
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Matt Damon is joining us, Boston's own, so good at so many things. Such a professional and in the peak of his career in a huge movie. And we're going to talk about a lot of things today.
Speaker A
We're going to talk about long-lasting professional relationships, and how important they are. We're going to talk about hating pranks, but loving a little bit of reality TV. We're going to talk about shooting in caves and working with giant
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puppets. And we're going to talk about The Odyssey, the new film that is out, the giant new film by Christopher Nolan that he is the star of. He plays Odysseus. He's on the journey, babe. But before we
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get to talking to Matt, we are going to talk to somebody who knows our guest, who wants to speak well behind their back and give me a question to ask them. And we have a great guest. We've got a
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little indie filmmaker named Christopher Nolan. He is on the rise. Keep an eye out for this kid. He's doing great work.
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And Chris Nolan is joining us. And we are very, very excited to talk to him. And let's see if we can get him on the Zoom.
Speaker A
This episode is presented by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking how long that recipe takes before you start cooking? Well, that's how you learn that simmer for 4 hours is buried
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availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. What do you say?
Speaker A
All I ever wanted. How you doing? Hi, Chris. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
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Oh, are you pouring some tea? I am. I don't do anything without tea. I also am an excessive tea drinker.
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What's your brand? Earl Grey. Oh, I see. I enjoy a black tea. Who makes your Earl Grey?
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Twinings. I see. Have you heard of Barry's Tea?
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Yeah. But you don't like it? I would say that I wouldn't. I don't want to upset the Irish contingent, but no. Every country, every nation has their own particular
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blend. Twinings works for me. Well, thanks for talking today. I'm very, very excited to talk to Matt. Congratulations on another incredible film.
Speaker A
Thank you. How do you compete with the imagination of people who have read and studied the Odyssey? I mean, it's like you're competing with the idea of the Odyssey in a way.
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I mean, you can't, and I learned this. You know, we all learn this who worked on the Dark Knight trilogy. Like you couldn't compete with people's idea of that amazing character and the, at the time, 75 years of history behind it.
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This is 3,000 years of people imagining everything these words. So you can't compete with it. What we realized addressing the character of Batman, and I brought that very much to the Odyssey, is you have to trust that what people
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want from you is your most sincere attempt to do justice to the material, to do it with seriousness and with an appreciation of the original text. But it has to be your own interpretation.
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Certainly, I as a filmmaker respond to that in other people. If I go see a movie and I realize that people have loved this and have really tried to give you an experience and tried to put something
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across in the way that they really believe is great, I think people cut you a lot of slack for that because yes, you cannot compete with people's own imaginings when they read a text.
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If we are to care that Odysseus makes it home, we need to care about the person trying to make it home. We need to just feel like they even care about home, and there's something about
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Matt as just an actor, I think that's innate in him and able to express that.
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What made you cast him in this film? Well, you know, I'd gone to nine or ten other people by the time I got that on the road, but no, the truth is I actually don't think about actors when
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I'm writing. I try not to. I try to really just live through the characters and the writing process, then come out the other side and go, "Okay, how is this going to work? Who are we getting for this?" And Matt really
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immediately popped into my head because you're looking for this, what you're talking about, that kind of empathetic ability to draw the audience into a character's dilemma. And he has that openness. He brings the audience with him, but he also can project an iconic,
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frankly, superhero presence. I mean, he's, you know, he's the guy from The Martian or We Born a Zoo and then, you know, Good Will Hunting and then he's Jason Bourne.
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Mhm. And to be able to do such desperate things and sort of fuse them into a character was exactly what I needed. Also, I worked with Matt twice before, and I knew that the way we
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wanted to take this on and what was really important to us in making The Odyssey was to try and get out there and find a way to bring the audience with us, put the audience off the deck of his
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ship and climb mountains and go into the Cyclops cave with him. So, you know, I needed a partner. I needed somebody who would lead from the front and just dive in and do all of this crazy stuff without complaining about it. And he's
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just in such a wonderful place in his life and career. He really appreciates what he gets to do. He understands how good he is at it, I think, in a really comfortable way, in a really great way,
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and he just leads from the front. He gets everybody inspired with him. And I think without that, you know, we would have crashed and burned horribly. So from a practical point, you can't have an Odysseus complaining
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that it's cold or it's late or, and I mean, you put him through the ringer.
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Put him through the ringer. And what's fun about working with Matt is, you know, he's a great writer himself.
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You can have really, really specific and detailed conversations about script and about how we're going about things, but he also doesn't, he doesn't talk for the sake of it. You know, he doesn't want to just use a sounding board to
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hear his own ideas about the character. He sort of goes off and figures out who he is and then, you know, brings that to the floor, which is really fun to deal with. Well, he has to go rest
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because he has to work out a thousand, like 5,000 sit-ups a day because you're insisting on making this, let's face it, middle-aged man.
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Yeah, he was exactly the right place in his time of life and everything to do it. And I actually had a moment with him at his first wardrobe fitting because we'd been
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fitting all of the supporting cast, all the guys who play his crew and some younger actors and everything, and they all come in. And they've all got tattoos, which is a nightmare for a period film. It means hours in the show
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because you have to cover all that up and then put the costume on and then rain and wind and your costume will rub it away. And I thought, okay, well, here's B, you know, he takes
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a shirt off at the fitting and he's got a tattoo. And I was like, not you as well? Like, what?
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And it was, you know, very small, tasteful tattoo, you know, name of his children, all that, and he said to me, "Well, if I would be perfectly honest, I thought my bare bicep days were over." And I said,
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"Okay, fair enough." The truth is, I think they're just beginning, but, you know, little extra time in the chat.
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Do you have to physically train to get ready for a film, too? I mean, it is exhausting to be directing your... like, do you physically train when you're getting ready to go on set?
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No, I don't. But it's actually kind of a natural process because what happens be...
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but we cover a thousand thousand miles and we're just constantly climbing up hills and you know all that and the first couple trips are bad you know I'm like well not up to this like how is this going to work
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and you're doing that thing where you're like I know it's beautiful but maybe that maybe it something a little closer to the hotel.
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Exactly. Well, I I congratulations. is just such a triumph and everything you make is so incredible and just um what a career you've had and um and I I ask my uh my my guests a question um uh from
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someone I speak to beforehand and we talk well behind their back and then um I I I we ask a question of them and um I want to get to that but but but just one last thing before I do which is your
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wife Emma Thomas is so instrumental in the stuff that you such a badass, so incredibly talented.
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And I don't really have a question other than I just want to remind people of your beautiful union.
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I'm just thinking right now, I wish I'd asked her to leave the room before I did the interview cuz she heard all that.
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So, Emma, well, Emma, if you're there, I will never hear the end of it.
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Emma, I mean, just like, hey, hi. You're such a badass. I'm never going to forgive you for that. Only me.
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I I mean, it's so cool how you guys work together and and and what you do together and how you work together. I have such great respect for Emma and her work. Um Well, me too. No, that's really I love
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everything to say. That's all. I mean, no question other than how isn't it great to be married to such a cool lady? It is very great to be married to such a cool lady. It's very great to have such
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a great producer on the film. I mean, you take something like this, it's like it wouldn't it would be really unthinkable without her calm, clear, you know, we'll get through this, we'll find a way sort of sensibility. So, thank you
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for bringing it up. Yeah, of course. Um, so, um, do you have a question you think I should ask Matt specifically about the project or about him or anything you want to know about him, big or small, that you you don't
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feel like you know? There is a question that I've tried to ask him before and I've never got okay a clear answer. So I think you might have better luck which is so Matt as I'm sure you know but he's a
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obviously he's an amazing actor, wonderful movie star as well as we talked about. Uh he's also a great writer. He's an Academy Award-winning writer as he occasionally reminds me when he agrees with something in the script, but uh and a fantastic producer.
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Produced, you know, best picture nominees, all the rest of films he wasn't in, you know, everything. And I'm pretty curious, and I haven't got a straight answer from him about this, as to why he hasn't directed.
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Ooh, great question. It's something he could have chosen to do. Um, he's he's so knowledgeable. You know, you get on set with him, he knows more about everything on set than than anyone. Well, almost anyone. I I'm going
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to claim a little bit more knowledge of what I want to do on my set, but he's pretty he's he's pretty in control of every aspect, you know, holding in his head in terms of what everybody's doing, which is one
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of the reasons he's such a great collaborator as a as an actor because he's not just looking at his part. He's looking at how what he's doing is advancing the story and he's very very cognizant and respectful of all the
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other things I'm trying to balance in terms of how the scene we're doing interacts with the rest of the narrative.
Speaker A
Okay. I'm going to ask him that. And um I'm going to say that you said that he would make a great director.
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I I don't know if I actually said that. I'm just saying I was curious as to why he hasn't tried. Maybe he noticed something. I think he know he yeah he has such he has such a clear ability to
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be able to step into that role if he wanted to. So I'm I'm curious. I mean maybe there's maybe there's something about him that have you ever acted?
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I have far too much respect for what actors do to try and try and tread on their toes.
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I know we we always say on a set everyone should just do everyone's job just for one take.
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Yes. I I think nobody's afraid of being the director. They'll think it'd be a great game. He might have to do it.
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Yeah. But I think that may that might be the answer you get from Matt. It might be that he knows so much about it and he's seen so many people do it uh that that he doesn't he doesn't fancy
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sitting in the hot seat. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for for your incredible work. Um I'm going to let you get back to your tea. I know it's sitting right under frame and we
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all know any good director, they've set up the tea in the beginning. We need to see that tea very soon because it's gonna be a big part of the story.
Speaker A
Thank you, Emma, if you're still there. And really nice talking to you. Thanks, Chris. Pleasure.
Speaker A
Nice talking to you. Yeah, you too. Take care. Bye. Bye. This episode is brought to you by Subaru. There's something about being on the road that has a way of leading to those unexpectedly memorable little moments. And in the allne 2026 Subaru
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Speaker A
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Speaker A
We were just talking about we just got to see we got I'm so happy I have talked to so few people who've seen it.
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I mean I feel really lucky that we got to see it. Great. And it was so great to be able to see it. Like congratulations.
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It is such a huge movie. Yeah. It's the by far the biggest thing I've ever been anywhere near.
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It's going to be big and it is big and it's so loud. It's a really loud movie.
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Get bring IMAX is intense. Yeah. Yeah. IMAX is intense. Yeah, it it's um it's incredible.
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Yeah, the whole experience was like that. It was just it was it was awesome.
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Matt Damon's here, everybody. Sorry, we're jumping into the Odyssey, but like but I I wanted to start there because I was lucky enough to get to see it. I've been thinking about it a lot. It's one of those things that sticks with you, of
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course, because it's like in many ways probably the most famous story ever told. I watched it and it's been swirling around in my head obviously because of what it represents. But I'm thinking about it as this meditation on
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aging. Okay. I I No, no, I I hear you and I agree because it you and I are the same age.
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It feels like there's this moment in life now where it's like there's a past and all of the wreckage or whatever joy and love and drama that comes with that and trauma that comes with the past.
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this like real present that like is really hard and there's like a lot of people you're taking care of, aging parents, kids, and then this version of of how people think we are or are we still the version that people
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think we are? It's a very cool I've been thinking about it a lot because it's just really hitting me at this age. Does that does that resonate at all? It definitely does. And that's what I love about this
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uh movie and about the script. Like he he is he's a really underrated writer. I think Chris, because he's such a brilliant director that it kind of overshadows his his writing is I've read three of his scripts now
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because this is the third movie I've done with him and they're they're they're just so well written and and thematically this touches on so much.
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Yeah. And what I love why I love hearing that is because because to different people it's going to mean completely different things and where you are in your life where we both are in our lives like that piece
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will resonate with us. But for instance, there was a there was a guy who worked on the film named Duff who who's a who's a Navy Seal. And we were on the boat one day out in the middle of, you know, the the ocean and
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and and sailing back and he just turned turned to me and he said and we started talking about the screenplay and, you know, this is without having seen the movie. And he said, "I think this is the most, you know, the best movie about
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PTSD." Yeah. That I've ever wo read or seen, you know, and it's like, so I think it depends on where you are and where you've been. And and that's what's so great about the Odyssey is I think that's why it's survived for, you
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know, 3,000 years is because it works for every, you know, every everybody who encounters it encounters it at a different place in their life and it's got some resonance for them.
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I asked this to people my age cuz I found that this life life is getting better and it certainly feels I mean from the outside, not knowing your life, it feels like you've been able to just keep making more stuff that you enjoy
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and like just growing as an artist and all this stuff. What is great about being our age?
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I think honestly I think that I think that that look for the the business we're in is tough and I think you know the first time we met and worked together we were probably in our late 20s early 30s
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and you don't know how things are going to work out. You don't you know there's so much up in the air and and um and there's a lot of pressure and you know there's a lot you want to do.
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There's a lot you feel like you have to say. Everything feels ahead of you.
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That's right. Yeah. And and then I think the place we're at now or at least speaking for myself is a place there's a greater sense of calm.
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Yeah. I think and and and really like when Ben and I started a company together a few years ago it was partly because we were like what are we doing like this is the most joyful like our dream like that we had when we were kids
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literally children together you know teenagers. Well you met what 10 and eight or something. 10 and eight, but then we really were bizarre kids who were serious about acting and we were in the union and, you know, and at 16 and 14
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years old, we were going to New York together to audition for stuff. Um, and our friendship was, you know, founded on quite a bit of common experience, but that was central to it and and very unique to the two of
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us. and and and here we are 40 years later and it's like we should make every single movie we can together. You know what I mean? Because it's an unusual you said this before that you're really good at partnerships
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like and feels like Chris is another one like you know that where you're like I'm really good at picking people who can be partners in my life and the fact that you guys still work together this many years later and that you love working
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together it's it's unusual. It's just like it's it's like what do you like about working with a I think for us um we've experienced so much of life together, you know, it's not a it's not a friendship that could ever be replicated
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just because we we grew up together and and which which meant so we were together all the time, you know, we you know, writing a screenplay together.
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Um, and I think I think working together is one of the great things about writing with him was always the fact that there was a deep and abiding love and respect underneath everything that was never in question.
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It's very helpful. Yeah. And when you're working creatively with them because you're not worried about their feelings.
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And I mean, I imagine you guys have a pretty quick shortorthhand about what works is nothing is taken that personally when you're creating something.
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It's just it's just the allegiance is to the thing that we're making and we're trying to get there as quickly as we can and as efficiently as we can and and there's a deep trust if like you can
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get hung up on an idea sometimes, you know, as a writer and and and and dig in and and sometimes you can be wrong and if you have somebody that you trust that much, um they'll also they'll also hear you
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out and they'll they're humble enough to know they might be wrong, too. Um so it's just a very easy uh experience and it also ends up being just really fun because you're doing it with you know one of for me it's like
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this you know my closest friend for 40 years 45 years it's like um who else would I want to hang out with and do yeah Tina and I went on tour this year we've been friends now for like over 30
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years and we have a similar dynamic which is we just work so well together like we don't we don't care about the same thing like we don't like we have similar things that we don't stress about, right?
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And then things that we're like, "This is really important. We have to get this right." Right.
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There's this theory that the the age you meet people like you were 10, Ben's eight. I'll compare I'm going to compare you guys to the Beatles, so get ready.
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It's coming from you, not me. Paul McCartney. No, you said I had to. Paul, you squeezed my arm when you came in and you said you had one note that came before me.
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Yeah. I got slipped a note and you said, "You call me Paul McCartney before this interview's over." But no, but like it was like Paul Card is a couple years older than George Harrison and they always had an older brother, younger
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brother dynamic just because they they were two years apart. Do you guys have an older brother, younger brother dynamic? No. Like same age dynamic?
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No. And in fact, Ben is an older brother and I'm a younger brother even though I'm older than him. So So I'm sure we fall and and I've noticed that, you know, my my wife is also an older
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sibling. And there's something about that I think that makes it easy. you naturally into your role. Like as a younger sibling, I had one, you know, my big brother and and he was like a god and it was just I just had to follow him
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around. My mom, you know, she worked, she was like, "Yeah, my brother joined the YWCA swim team because his girlfriend was on the YW.CA swim team." So I had to join the YWA YWCA swim team, you know, doesn't m like
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I could swim, okay, didn't love it, but you know, I was on the swim team. Um and uh and so things so but I it never occurred to me that I could protest, right?
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You know what I mean? Whereas an older sibling is questioning everything because they're the ones who are kind of trailblazing and they're kind of responsible.
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Yeah. Um you can tell an older sibling right away. Yeah, for sure. You really can. And they're also like translating life to other their other siblings even though they're they could be like 12 months older than you and
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they're like here's how it goes. Yeah. Yeah. Here's the thing about this. But but you brought up your mom. I'm my mom is a te my both my parents are teachers growing up. Your mom is an educator, author, like academic. You
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guys grew up in Boston as we know famously. I also did. Sometimes you do feel like you got out.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. And people are like good for you for getting out, you know, and sometimes they're like I I'm I'm still, you know, here. And you're like, that's great. I have no judgment about that. That's fantastic. Your life is great. And
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sometimes they have a feeling about it. Well, Kazinski had this has this great character called Bitter Boston guy and he and he was he leaves occasionally voicemails and they are just I mean but it's like no good for you know yeah good
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for you. No I know I'm sure you're real busy Amy you know with your big life and everything and I from what I understand you're by coastal now I mean not to Boston but to New York and I get it you know and it's just and
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it's one of those and they go it goes on and on for like five minutes and I'm just crying by the end of these things.
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Um, you know, I said to myself, if I go up there and talk to her, she's not going to want to talk to me.
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She probably won't remember me. She won't remember me, but I remember you. I remember you. And good for you. Um, and then lastly, on behalf of all Bostononians, I'm sure you've talked about this a lot, too, but I don't think
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I know on behalf of all of us, where were you when we won in 2004 when the Red Sox won?
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I was. So, I was making a movie called Syriana and and uh that was shooting at the time in Dubai and and I was watching all the Yankee games on in fact I was in Geneva during wow during the when we clinched against the
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Yankees and I was supposed to work the following week in Dubai and George Clooney, thank God, was a producer on the movie and I called him immediately and he said, "I already redid the entire schedule. You can go home."
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No way. So, I came back. I landed uh at JFK. I was I was living in New York. I landed at JFK. The game was just starting. I made it to my apartment by like the second or third inning.
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And we won that game. Y um you know, obviously we won all four, but but once we won that game, I knew that I had to watch every single moment on that couch by myself cuz that was the
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lucky. Absolutely. I was just like, well, I didn't want to jinx anything. We used to scream at my mom to leave the room. She walked into the room. She couldn't. If she was holding the laundry, she had to hold it the whole
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time. Totally. Yeah. And I do feel like something psychically changed for all of us when that happened. Like I know it did for my family. My my dad like was it felt like a release of a a long awaited something. It felt like the
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Odyssey. It did. It did. This can't be true, but it is. Wait a minute. Is the Odyssey about that? Wait a minute.
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Um, what did your mom think about you not finishing Harvard? Uh but by then I mean I was working they they were You were really close to finishing.
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I was I was in fact I I I probably I probably did five years of classes there cuz I would go and then there was one semester the last semester I left I was two weeks away from the end of the
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semester. So I'd done everything. All I had to do was take the finals. But the rule was at the time at least you had to take your finals at the exact moment they were offered in Cambridge. Right.
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And I was like, I'm number five on the call sheet. You think I'm going to shut a movie down like for three hours, four different times? Like I just had to eat the semester.
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Do you ever have a fantasy about going back? I think I used to like there was a but I but I also, you know, I was an English major and and in fact I started writing Goodwill Hunting for a class.
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Um I just had wonderful professors and and and that professor really encouraged me Yeah.
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to keep going with it. I didn't know what I'd never tried to do that. and and and in fact I I I wrote we were supposed to write a one-act play and I wrote I wrote the first act of a three-act movie
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and but at that point I'd already been leaving and going you know I mean I I was kind of out in the world working so I wasn't like sweating grades the way I was kind of in the I was I was kind of
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out of the pipeline and I was really in school for myself at that point and I and I went to the to the guy and I said I I think I failed your class I like but this is the first
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act of a movie and and and he read it and he gave me a straight A and he just said, "Don't stop. Keep going." Like he gave me all this encouragement and that was when I just took it out and showed
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it to Ben. It's so cool because you can you can also tell that respect you have for teachers in the film like it's in Goodwill Hunting and we grew up around educators and like we're saying the obvious, but it is still wild how people
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can remember the teacher. Oh my god. The three teachers. I had multiple teachers. Me too. that were like, "You're doing good. Hang in there." That just that those like positive reinforcements about anything you were doing.
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Yeah. Um so, okay, you guys moved to Hollywood. Congratulations. You win an Academy Award. You do Goodwill Hunting, everybody's favorite movie. Give the best speech ever. You bring your mom's.
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It's incredible. Um and we didn't have a choice. But from that moment, like where you know you've been working to your point to what you were saying, you've been working for a long time. we know you then we meet you then and I'm the same
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age as you. I'm watching you like be my age like entering into some system and you're from Boston and it's like oh okay we don't have to live near the game to be in the game basically. What is your
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relationship to work now? Because when you're young like we talked about you're like I want to do this and this and then you start getting these things then like so then what what is your relationship to are you tired? That's a long question
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to ask. I'm personally asking for myself sometimes. I mean, yeah. I But but I think that's that's where this I feel uh like and for both uh Ben and me I that that we are at the same time kind of stepped
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into this new phase of life and really felt it. Yeah. What is that new phase that that we we just want to work on?
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It's it's about it's about really the pursuit of of joy in our in our lives and in our work and and and like this movie I I never would have I think 20 years ago I would have bitched a lot
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about you know I I don't think I I that actually hits home. It it was it was like the physical discomfort in making this movie that everybody everybody had to go through the entire crew. So, the experience of
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doing this movie, though it was the hardest movie that I've ever done by far, uh was so joyful.
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Yeah. It it it really and and and also it it felt more like an expedition than a movie because of how we made it. And to know that every single person around you was was weathering those same difficulties and pushing themselves like
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it just this feeling of uh you know of being a part of that that team of people was just it was it just it it it was it was one of the best feelings I've ever had.
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That's very cool. I mean you're making me think of that like Sanskrit idea that life is what you say it is basically right. So you can be like this is the worst this is the hardest thing and this
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is the or you can be like this is the most incredible opportunity I'm getting to do.
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Yeah. And I definitely from the moment Chris gave me the part I felt I felt that because first of all he it's first of all it's it's one of the great roles of of all time.
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Yeah. And and he was going to make this thing at the scale that it deserved to be made and not and like pretty practical, right? Like not practical. Like that's like, you know, he's gonna make it the way David Lean
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would have made it, right? The way somebody would have made it 80 years ago, it's that that for people that are gonna see it and you guys can tell us if it's too spoily and we'll cut it. But like
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there's scenes where Cyclops is you're meeting Cyclops, who by the way, I was proud of myself. I was like, "Is that Bill Irwin?" You got him right away. Yeah, he's amazing. He's amazing.
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Rachel getting married. Amazing. And um and I was like, "Oh my god, is that Bill Irwin's face?" That I find out is a giant puppet.
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Yeah. What the That is wild. It's w It's really wild when you realize we shot it in an actual cave. And so there's no sound stage.
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That's wild. So we we would hike to this cave and it was called Zeus's cave. They say it's where Zeus was born.
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And we would hike up to this cave. Um, and the rigging that the guys did in this cave, they basically turned it into a sound stage almost, you know, like they there were there were I mean it was
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just inc the amount of the amount of work that went into doing this was like and I bet you shot at places that no one had ever been allowed in and like well that nobody would be crazy enough
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to try to shoot in was what it really was. Like honestly I would go every time I would go would show up and I would start laughing. I would be looking like you got to be kidding me.
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You're like we're going up there. Yeah, that's where Yeah. Like, so what are we shooting? Well, we're not shooting anything till we get up there cuz that's where everything is.
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So, yeah, that's wild. So, that part of it was that's what I mean about an expedition. And it was and we were all in it together. We all hike up the mountain and and and and in that in that cave that
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was, you know, Chris was like, "No, we got a 60oot puppet." And so, so basically, he does as little special effects as humanly possible, which means you can do quite a bit without without CGI. um and where he
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needs it. You know, he'll he, you know, he understands what year he lives in and he and he has the absolute best special effects teams. Yeah.
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They really help, you know, try to figure out how we can do everything almost just about everything in camera.
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Much like I compared you to Paul McCartney, I'm going to compare the Odyssey to SNL. But SNL is SNL That's another thing that I I told you I I you know um but but similarly there's few places left that's like we
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have a show tonight and you know because you've done it hosted many times and you're like everyone's just it's like comedy emergency room everyone's doing the best version they can do in the time that they have and therefore everything
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feels really human. Yeah. It's very cool that way, like things feel practical and tactile and stuff.
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And you've done the show a bunch of times. I don't know if you remember, we the first time you hosted, I think I it was like 2002. I was like my second year there.
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I have a great picture of us, me and Dr. And you have your like arms around us.
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We look like 10 years old, all such babies. And we're all like the whole world. But it was I remember um just starting when you came and I remember that exact feeling of like holy look at all these talented people trying
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to make something like real and human basically. What was it like to what is it like to do that show? Do you like doing it? I still remember I love doing it and and I um that first time the
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reason I did it, Patrick, my agent, called me and said, "You're hosting Saturday Night Live." And I said, "Oh, okay." Like, but I I don't have anything coming out.
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And he goes, "No, Bruce Springsteen's the musical guest. We're going to get to hear two songs from Bruce." So, I was like, "Oh, yeah. We're huge fans of Bruce Springsteen." So, uh so that was really why I did it. And um and and I
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remember going on the on the Monday night for the you know the little pitch in Lauren's office and everybody pitches these ideas and then everybody went um let let's go to a bar and I was like guys we have a 90 minutes
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to do by Saturday like how are you people so calm like I couldn't there's like a there's like a push like where people have to like force force panic almost to get anything creatively done. Now, I was fully
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panicked on Monday, but I then Tuesday night was the night everyone and I stayed up.
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They were like, "You're welcome to stay as long as you want." I stayed up overnight till like 5:00 in the morning popping into different rooms and writing with people and you know, and and love that part of it. And then
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and then from the read through on Wednesday, it's just you're just shot out of a cannon.
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It's Yeah. You're it's done in 5 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. And the minute you're done, you're like, "Okay, I got it. Let's do it again." And it's over.
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The rush that you get is incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I actually we were looking up some stuff because I was like, "What did I do with Matt?" And there's a sketch that I do not remember.
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What was it? And I want There's a better chance I'll remember it because I might remember, but I have zero memory of it. I You played a doctor. I saw it and I was like, "No idea what the joke is."
Speaker A
Sorry, I can't I got to get my commercials off my YouTube. Is this the one where Pornell where we're where we're on it where it's everybody's name Matt Damon?
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Is that the thing? Okay, maybe that's it. It sounds like that's it. All I know is Okay, here we go.
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Excuse me. I hate to bother you, but are you Matt Damon? Uh, yeah. That's amazing. That's That's really amazing.
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The Ice Man. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. They're Dr. Matt Damon. Yeah, I'm the chief of oncology, not science.
Speaker A
Okay. So, he's a doctor. Matt Damon. Matt Dam. This is That's the whole joke. It's amazing.
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You have no idea what it's been like for me. And that's not true. Your identity is not about your name, man. It's about who you are, what you do.
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Okay, that's easy for you to say. Matt Damon. Oh my god. Are you Matt Damon?
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Yeah. I'm going to puke. This is so weird. My name is Pat Dam. Okay, now we're heightening. We're 2 minutes in.
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You should always get married. And now we'll do the introduction. Hey, you do remember this. Matt Damon.
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Matt Damon. Matt Damon. Matt. So stupid. Oh my god. That's so just And it's it's just it's totally ridiculous. I haven't seen that's really funny.
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I I know. I did not rem I mean it is I Well, I remember because I pro I think I've hosted the show three times and I've and I've come on and done guest spots, but that means I've probably done
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less than 20 sketches in my life. So I think I I probably remember all of them.
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You would think you will, but I I mean I it's so dumb. And then at the end, I think someone comes out and is Dr.
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Julius Irving. I think that's the point. I think that's the that's I have a memory.
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It's I I forget how it happens, but it's like Matt Damon, Matt Damon, Pat Damon, Matt Damon, Pat Damon, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Dr. Julius Irving.
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I don't think it played that well. I thought it was funny. I know. But it's a good example of like, you know, there are hosts who like, you know, especially on your first time, you don't really know the power you have.
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You know, no one really tells you the power that you have where you can be like, I don't want to do that.
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But there are hosts that are like, I like to pick the funny stuff. And then there are hosts that like I want to pick the stuff that I'm in a lot or that, you know, like. And that's a real ensembly
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sketch. You don't get to do much in that. Well, I said I but I always say to Lauren like just I want the best show.
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I just last one I think we cut five sketches after Dressy and I was like whatever it also you've got a younger cast and it's like they're trying to like establish themselves and like all right if you've got something for them to do that you
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know what I mean like you all have to do this next week you know but but a lot of people don't really take that in like and I don't even necessarily mean it's a bad thing they're just like focusing on other like
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things like you have this ability you always have, I think, to pay attention to like the environment that you're in, what what other people need. I mean, I think it's what makes you such a good producer. I think it's
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what makes you such a good collaborator. Like, that isn't always people's process. They just don't know how to take all that in.
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Yeah. I I guess I I always just defaulted to the the the better the thing is you're making, the better for everybody.
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Yeah. And I I really do think that way about movies, too. I don't always take the best role, you know what I mean? I I I I I I want to be in a good movie.
Speaker A
Oh, you've been in so many good movies. God damn. I mean, that's interesting you say that because um like even in in um Interstellar, that role that you take is a really surprising role to take with Yeah. Chris undersold it to me actually
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cuz Chris I was really happy to get the call from him and he and he I guess like trying to manage my expectations said you know how they say there are no small parts only small actors and I said yeah and he this
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is a small part I was like okay but I read it I was like no this is a terrific part like it's a really great I mean it's it's not it's not big but it's a it's a really good
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part really good part um and so uh yeah it's always about if if there's something I feel like, you know, worth doing. It doesn't have to be the biggest thing.
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Yeah. I mean, you gotten to work with so many amazing people. uh if it's okay, I want to just ask you about a few because some of them we talk about here a lot and some I had the pleasure to either
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meet or work with and I like love talking about them and you've talked about him a lot, but can can we just talk about Robin for a second because I had the experience the as I'm sure you did of like feeling like
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I got to watch him um use his gift to make young people feel like they had some kind of future and whatever. ever they were doing. That was basically he he would come, Robin Williams would come and improvise at UCB and like jump in uh
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the theater, the improv theater that um I was a part of and he would just show up. I mean, people would lose our minds.
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He would show up and he'd talk to 20 all of us 20-year-olds like we we were like smart and funny and like change our lives.
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What was he like What was it like to work with him when you were so young?
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Yeah. He was like that generous. Like that was just his that's just who he was. Yeah, it just like overflowing with generosity like as a as a as a creative partner to work with to do scenes with and obviously this was
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something that we'd written. We'd we'd been holding on to this thing for 5 years and how seriously he took it, how prepared he was.
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Interestingly, he was very he did a lot of takes at at his uh what would he feel like he didn't have it? like would he want more because he wasn't quite sure if he was happy.
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Yeah. And and and I remember Terry Gilliam telling me like Terry Gilliam gave him after they did The Fisher King and Robin's brilliant in that movieing and Terry gave him a report card at the end and it was and it had all these
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different things like creativity, you know, energy, all this stuff, you know, hey, hey, hey, late night phone calls. F cuz Robin would get home and he would call and it and and he was a ruminator. He was a ruminator
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and he and and there were things we went back and and and did another pickup of a thing and we shot it 15 times already and Ben and I knew we had it. Gus knew we had it.
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Yeah. Um and he just and I think that's might be the comedy background where it's like I'm going to refine this joke.
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Yeah. There's always a joke. There's always something more that I can grab in there. and and he and he had this this like you know he was like into fatigable like the guy just had so much energy that and so
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we went over budget in film. I remember every day at lunch we would send out to Kodak they'd come back with more film because we were burning through a lot of film really just for him to feel Yeah.
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like we got it. Yeah. You know, I mean, Ben and I knew like I mean, even like the last line of the movie that was not written. He was just supposed to come out and read a letter and and and and it was just supposed the
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camera was supposed to sit on him for as long as he wanted as he thought about this boy driving out of town and he's on his way.
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You know, he's going to go see about the girl. and and Robin, we left the camera rolling and and we were shooting up at him and uh and I was I was right next to the camera cuz every time he came out
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when he when he when he opened up the letter, I said it so that he could hear my voice.
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Mhm. And so Gus and I, the director, was And you were standing by camera by camera.
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And he wasn't meant to look at me, but just so he could hear me. and and he must have done 15 takes and he'd put the envelope back and he'd put it back in the mailbox and then he'd go in and we'd still be rolling and
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then he'd come back out and he did, you know, a few without saying anything and then he just started improvising lines and on like the ninth line he opened the door and he looked and he read the letter and he said, "Son of a he
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stole my line." And I grabbed Gus. Like I mean it's like you know when you a piece of dialogue falls from heaven and you know and and you just know and but Robin went back in and he did it five six more
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times he came back and I remember Ben wasn't on set that day for some reason or maybe he couldn't fit up where we were and so he was back and I just couldn't couldn't get to him fast enough to tell him you're not going
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to believe what he said. Listen and bend the second he heard it like that's it. Yeah. like he knew like that's the but but Robin must have known because it came out of him.
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But like when that line comes out of me if ever I'm lucky enough to come up with something on the spot that just comes out in the moment and it works. I know it and now I'm now I'm a dog with a
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bone. You know what I mean? I'm not going to go start trying. That is the thing I love about improv, I have to say, is it's like so many ideas are flung around and they're a lot of them are jewels and they're just thrown
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for free. Yeah. Like it's like here's 10 more and you're like whoa whoa these are like let me pick these up. Like each one could be interesting but like when you're with like an incredible improviser it's like I have a
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million of these right like these these are ne these are never going to go away.
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That's what see I when I wrote I wrote a a movie that uh not many people saw called Promised Land with John Krinski.
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And John and I joke about it because John's like Ben. He's got a supercomput on board. His he goes really fast. And I'm much more I don't know. I got a I got a Commodore 56 or whatever. So, my
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processing chip isn't isn't quite as fast. And so, John would would would throw out a line of dialogue. We'd be sitting in the kitchen writing and he'd throw out a line of dialogue. And my face would do something like this.
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And John would read that as he hates it. Uhhuh. And then he'd give me another one and then another and then and now he's given me five lines of dialogue. And I'm And I just go I'm like, "Stop."
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I'm still on the first one, John. I think the first one's really good. Now I got to think about all these other ones because I think they're really good, too. Just, you know, give me a minute. Um, and and I think we, you
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know, Yeah, you're right. They're like jewels that are falling on the ground. And I'm like somebody who wants to pick up each one and go like, let's we're going to we're going to put this thing together like a Swiss watch.
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And that's why I think sometimes it's it's always like I mean, it's it's interesting to watch people be able to be okay with this that speed and stillness. It's what like film actors do so well is they allow things to just
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stay and when you're coming up and like in from a comedy perspective like speed is where you get your self-esteem to everything and you just have to sometimes just like stop. You just have to just stop it.
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With that in mind, what was it like to work with Phil Hoffman who like what an incredible actor.
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What was it like to be Cuz your character is really you have to square off with him in this way that is I mean he's so intimidating.
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He's so good in that movie. He's just I mean he's good. He was he was he was great in everything but holy he's talk about a role where you come in and I mean he that scene the scene where he
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comes back where I kill him in town to Mr. Ripley. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert.
Speaker A
Um spoiler alert. Odyssey it's a long trip. He he I loved him because he you know we'd re we'd rehearsed there was a whole month of rehearsal and and we got to know each other and and um and uh but I
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hated him so much that day. Yeah. You know what I mean? And he but because that's how he really it's like he like built the energy for that scene. It was like like like a Marvel superhero coming out of him
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and and sucked me right into it. And we had this day of working where and we liked each other. Yeah.
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You know what I mean? But that was not Yeah. That wasn't in the room.
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Yeah. And um and uh I just remember it's that I' I've said I I say it all the time because it really is the truth. When when when you're working with a great actor, they're great enough for both of
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you. And it's like it's like just just paddle into the wave and stand up and that's it. and and you just get transported and and that was what he was I mean he was just phenomenal. Phenomenal.
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Yeah, he's he's he's incredible. And his theater company was great. I I used to go and see them.
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Did you ever do anything like did you do a lot of theater in New York when you were No, no, I was working already. And the last play I did, in fact, Phil was there. We we did he I think he was doing
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Jesus Hop the A train or he was directing it. I can't remember. We were all over and then Gwyneith was doing Proof and Casey Affleck and I were and Summer were doing uh this is our youth and we
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were all in the West End in the same summer and none of us saw each other's plays because we were on the same schedule but we were all it was like the the Ripley reunion kind of right and I
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think Jude was like doing something that summer too but we were all um Do you ever get a I'm sure you get offered all the time. Do you ever want to do something on Broadway?
Speaker A
I've thought a lot about it. Uh it's the schedule that that until until my my youngest is a freshman and once she's out of the nest um I would definitely uh do do it. Um it's just it's just not a great schedule for
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parenting. A crazy schedule and I all the all the SNL ladies are on Broadway this summer.
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Like they're all Dra is in Rocky Horror and Anna's in Schmegadun. Amaya's doing Omar right now. I'm like watching them all do it and I we've had a bunch of um Broadway actors on here. I just I I
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having the hardest part of your day be the end of your day every day, sometimes twice a day, is brutal.
Speaker A
Yeah. So hard. And I remember even this is 20ome years ago doing that play and I love that play and I love Kenny Lteran. Um but that this elation coming off stage when things went went when it was like oh my
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god that was was something and then that would last like 5 minutes and then I'd go I have to do this twice tomorrow and and I remember thinking why didn't someone just film that?
Speaker A
You guys are making this so unnecessarily difficult. We could be in the we could be done we could be in Toronto we could show be at the festival. What is happening? Um, yeah, but uh but yeah, I mean I you know
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Cheeto's doing is doing proof right now. Saw that and he's fantastic. But how fun were those Oceans movies? By the way, speaking of Cheetel, that looks like I mean what a boondoggle.
Speaker A
How fun for Steven Soderberg. Yeah, he was the one that had to make them and you guys were like having cappuccino and he was like, "Can we roll?" I mean, God, they look so fun.
Speaker A
They look so fun. They were really fun and and it was just a wonderful group of of people and we and and the group change, you know, it's like as the movies went along, you know, then suddenly, you know, people were married,
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people had babies, you know, we were loaning diapers to each other, you know what I mean? It was just a nice uh kind of run of life for us.
Speaker A
Yeah. You mentioned Clooney. We have a fun thing with I don't know if you remember us and Clooney and you because what a what a Hollywood thing I just said. We have a fun thing. Me, you, and Clooney. I know, but when we when we
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poked fun at him at the Golden Globes, he's got a great as do you great sense of humor about himself.
Speaker A
Um, do you know this that he made stationary? Yeah. Okay. So, not the first time he's done this, by the way. And I've told I've said this to his face. I'm not talking behind his back. I don't like pranks. I don't
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with pranks. I'm not a prank guy either. I don't. It makes me stressed. I He loves them enough for all of us, though.
Speaker A
He does. Yeah. He loves them and and and I'm like, "Don't do your weird pranks on me." And he's like, "Oh, okay." And anyway, Tina and I hosted the Golden Globes. We made a joke that now that you
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were in TV, you were basically a garbage person cuz you were there for just TV and you weren't in the movie section anymore. And you, of course, laughed and played along with it. George Clooney made stationary pretending he was you
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and sent us like a strongly worded letter saying that would really hurt our feelings.
Speaker A
Really, really hurt my feelings. Now, did he tell you he was going to do it? Okay, got it.
Speaker A
No, the No, the way I found out, and by the way, the only the only reason I found out was cuz you guys sent me some like fruit bastard or something, and I was like I was so bewildered.
Speaker A
We were like, "We think this is a prank." That's right. Yeah. You were on our just in case it's not a real fruit basket.
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But, and then I called one I think I called Tina. I was like, "What the fuck?" Cuz she lived right down the street from me at that time. We were I was on the Upper West Side. And uh and
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then we you know we put it together pretty quickly. Yeah. It was Clooney's doings. But um but but yeah, I guess Soderberg is the one that has to make what was such a well-crafted movie movies.
Speaker A
That's him. I mean I've done I think 10 movies with Yeah. Yeah. I I I I will do the phone book with Steven Soderberg. I I absolutely love working with him. And what do you love about working with him?
Speaker A
Well, he's just he's he's it's like he sees the matrix. Yeah. like really I mean by the time so when we did behind the candalabra in 2012 so good he but the Stephen would I'd get to work we'd we'd shoot a scene I'd go home at
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like 5:00 because Stephen operates the camera is the editor um is the cinematographer um and the director and I'd go home and the kids were little and uh you know we'd bathe them we'd we'd give him dinner, read him a story, put
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him to sleep. I'd come downstairs by like 8 7:30 or 8:00 and on my iPad there was a new delivery and I'd open it up and it was the scene we shot that day fully scored as it was going to appear
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in the movie when it came out nine months later. Holy Yeah. So for Michael and me wow to to you know you're you're you're playing this relationship which is this kind of dysfunctional relationship. It kind of descent into like drugs and you know and
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and it unfolds over time and so to to to calibrate the performance is difficult but not when you can watch yeah what you here's the scene that's going to happen after this and here's the scene that just happened before
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this. I know. And then Stephen's like, "All right, I'm starting on Michael's face and we're you you know exactly where you are at all times." Oh my god, that feels really comforting.
Speaker A
It's unbelievable. It's like, and I always say like the only excuse an actor has. And it's a legitimate excuse if if if you suck in a movie is I didn't know what movie I was in.
Speaker A
Yeah, that's a totally fair like if the director just couldn't communicate the tone and didn't, you know, couldn't It's very easy to to be in the wrong movie. Like here's another Soderberg story like I did this movie with him, The Informant.
Speaker A
Mhm. Great movie. And yeah, I I love that one. And and and we shot a scene where my character had to apologize to the entire town.
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Basically, he stood up in court and we had the we had the um the transcript of what he said and those were my lines.
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And so we're in Illinois, uh I think it was Springfield, Illinois, in the courthouse he was actually in. and the the entire cast is there because they're all sitting in the gallery and they're the people that I need to apologize to.
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And so I stand up and I I start this apology and I get I get legitimately choked up. I don't mean to. I'm trying not to. and and I get through it and Steven's is kind of shooting a wide shot
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on the other side and I hear cut and he walks over and I'm sitting at the defense table and he kind of he comes up and he goes, "No." And I'm like, "No." So, you. No. I go, "That just
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happened, man. That was real. Like, what?" He goes, he goes, "Yeah, yeah, no, no, you're in the wrong movie." And I went, "Oh, okay. Get me in the right movie." And he sits there and he thinks for a second and he goes,
Speaker A
do it like an awards acceptance speech. Oh, incredible direction. Yeah, because it was like, yeah, this guy, this was this guy's moment. It wasn't I I'm I'm admitting my It was everyone's here for me.
Speaker A
Yes, that's right. Like, this is incredible. This is like wow. Yeah. Right. And I think that's what I said, like wow.
Speaker A
You know, and and it's like so interesting now both scenes in a vacuum also like, you know, it's it makes sense that like I had a real emotion like I really felt something. Isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing?
Speaker A
It's connected to the part of me. This is that's how this is supposed to go.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah. But not if you're in the wrong movie. Mhm. Okay. And so Christopher Nolan, um, The Odyssey, we're talking about it.
Speaker A
You're back with him again. You've made three films with him. So we do this thing where we we talk to somebody before our guest comes in and talk well behind their back. And I talked I got to talk to Christopher and
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um uh intimidate. I was a little intimidated to be honest. He's very intimidating. um uh wore a suit, drank tea, um and uh is so good at directing and just such an a formidable artist and like really such a like the director of
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this decade in in in so many ways. And you know this because you've worked with him so many times, but he's asking a lot of you and you just said earlier like that's the part that you're realizing, oh, I'm not going to complain about
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this. I'm actually going to I'm going to decide that this is going to be the most like fulfilling incredible experience, but it is still a physical experience.
Speaker A
Like it still means that you have to get in probably the best shape of your life.
Speaker A
And as a person of similar age, it's like it's it's one thing running and punching in in born in your 30s. It's way different to be getting jacked in your 50s. It's really hard.
Speaker A
It was a it's just a complete complete lifestyle change, right? So everything goes away.
Speaker A
There's no planning it like I any other time I tried to do something like that, it was always like well my time my workouts and my thing and this was like no just everything.
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Yeah. Just put your feet on put foot on the gas and that's it. And that's the only way to do it and eat a little less.
Speaker A
But no like no gluten. No, no gluten, which changed my life. Are you still no gluten?
Speaker A
Still no gluten. You don't have any desire for it anymore? Because of the because of the um because of what it does to me.
Speaker A
Yeah. Like I I didn't realize the level to which I I didn't know. Well Well, it's funny you say that cuz I feel like our generation like a lot of food allergies and stuff or whatever or sensitivities. We didn't really have
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that. Like we didn't talk about that. we didn't talk about it and I didn't realize the level to which it was affecting me and affecting my like like it's completely changed my life these last couple years of not of of not
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eating it and so that's made it like it's a bummer like I'm I'm a big fan of bread but and beer and you know what I mean like I I so you know pasta and pizza and all that stuff but but
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how I feel is just so much better. Yeah. Incredible. Okay. And then um uh sleep.
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What's your sleep situation? Do you Do you sleep? Yeah. I mean, we Do you love to sleep? I do. You got teenagers in the house.
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But, you know, like once you had kids, did you ever sleep well again? No.
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Like all the like It wasn't until they got older like we It was this huge stretch where I didn't sleep for I felt like for like 10 years.
Speaker A
Yeah. I feel like I' like I've been a lighter sleeper. But on this on this movie there was we like me and the PAS we had this kind of joke called the Odyssey 5. If you could get five hours,
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like you were thrilled. Um that's tough. Yeah, that's not a lot of sleep. That's not a lot of sleep. But it but it was enough.
Speaker A
Yeah, it was enough. I get it. I just But I did realized that five is the cut off cuz there were some four nights.
Speaker A
There were some no nights. I had two nights where I did not sleep because you were working. No, because I I I got home and I was like overly tired and then just did that thing where I'm just sitting there and I missed the
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window and now I'm panicking because And you were like tomorrow I literally have to like lift a rock through the mud.
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Yeah. Like like every day I have to do sprints tomorrow. All day. It seemed like so hard.
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It was hard. It was hard for everybody though. That's what made it That's what made it wonderful.
Speaker A
It's funny you talk about other departments because Chris's question for you. He had a question for you um which was basically like um why haven't you directed? He said um and I quote um you would be an amazing director.
Speaker A
You'd probably be better than me. He lies in interviews. That's his that's his that's a lovely thing to say. Uh that's not true but a very lovely thing to say. Um I almost directed a couple things. I almost directed that movie
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Promised Land. in 2012, but I ran long on another movie and I I would have had to come down home, put my bags down and leave again.
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And so I uh I I I bowed out and then called Gus Vans who then stepped in and directed it. So um so as a producer I made the movie better, right?
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Um, and then uh another movie that John Krosinski and I commissioned uh Kenny to write, Manchester by the Sea, and I was going to direct it. And then as the script as it started to come in, I was
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like, Kenny, this you got to do it. Um, and I was going to play the part and we were about to start shooting, but like we were behind. We couldn't get the the production office open. We were like
Speaker A
five weeks out. And I called Kenny and I was like, I'm putting you in a position to fail here. Like, let's take a breath.
Speaker A
And I didn't have anything for two years or I'm sorry, I had work for two years and and Kenny was ready to go and I was like, "All right, the only person I'm giving this role to is Casey." Cuz we'd
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all done the play together in London and we're all friends. Uh and and I'm like, "This is this is the best role that I've seen." Yeah.
Speaker A
In a long time. Um and uh but uh but we were able to we were able to get it financed with Casey and and he stole that Oscar from you.
Speaker A
That's how he returned the favor. He took your say I gave it to him.
Speaker A
I'm sure he wouldn't mind that, right? Yeah. Not at all. After after ripping his heart open in that performance.
Speaker A
Yeah. I allowed you to have it. I allowed you. Um, okay. Lightning round as we end. You have four girls. You have you you've talked so much about how great it is.
Speaker A
Like, you know, do you know the the fact the research shows that like the more daughters you have, the longer you live?
Speaker A
Did you know that? I believe it. I've never heard that before. Yeah. There's um research that says like you get like a year or something added to your life with each daughter. That's great.
Speaker A
And mothers lose a year for each child they have. So, congrats. Yes, of course. The dads get Yes.
Speaker A
Doesn't matter. The dads get all the years right? And the mothers wither away like that sounds totally fair.
Speaker A
Um, no, but um having having all these women in your life, in your house, like and and all like I'm What's the biggest joy? Speaking about joy, what's the biggest joy about watching them get older and grow up and
Speaker A
become real people in the world? What's Wow. I mean, they're they're just incredible. I I mean, they're they're all they're so different um um and so different from one another. And are they like launching into the world now in different ways? Like they're
Speaker A
Yeah. My um uh you know, I've got one about to turn 28, one who just turned 20.
Speaker A
Um and then we still have two in the nest uh 17 almost 18 and uh and 15.
Speaker A
Yeah. Um they're just they're just amazing. They're my favorite people. Yeah. You know, and I feel very lucky that that you know, I grew up with just a brother and it was just a side of the the human
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experience that I just didn't have access to and and I and I and I got that in the in you know that next chapter of my life and it's it's just been beautiful.
Speaker A
Okay. and your comfort watch. what uh what are you like what you know I was thinking about I was like wow when Matt's like changing the channels and watching movies there must be a lot of times where you're like I was in that I
Speaker A
work with that person you know like I almost got that part there's a lot of movies that you've been in and a lot of movies that you know a lot about or that you've produced or that so what is a
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comfort watch one that you can watch where you can check out and be like if it's on I'm watching it usually Will Ferrell's movies I you know like in our house You kind of can't go wrong with him.
Speaker A
Like he we we've we've watched uh you know Step Brothers and Tallaladega Knights and all you know again and again and again.
Speaker A
Yeah. Um Blades of Glory too. Oh my god. Cuz you know and Will Speck is a great friend of ours. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker A
Will's great. That is one of the that that's definitely in the pantheon of Oh my god, that movie. How fun and dumb that movie is.
Speaker A
It's so genius. Okay. And water. How do we fix it? Oh my gosh. Love.
Speaker A
And this is a speed round. But I mean, I' I've been reading the work you're doing. It's incredible. What What should we be doing? What What can we do?
Speaker A
You could go check out water.org and and you can donate directly or uh there's this new we have uh get blue, which we launched this summer, which is if you see anything that says get blue on it if
Speaker A
it's uh or if you know there there's there's hood hoodies and t-shirts at the Gap that say get blue. There are you can go to Starbucks and get a blue matcha or or a coconut refresher and proceeds from that will go to water.org to the
Speaker A
work we're doing. And we've we've reached 92 million people so far. Um you know which is which is really something because had we we do it through micro finance through these small microloans and had we stayed with drilling wells uh
Speaker A
it would have taken us 600 years to get to where we are right now. So it's uh it's scaling it's a sustainable solution and uh there's a lot more to be done.
Speaker A
It's amazing. Talk about the Odyssey, man. Yeah, that's a that's a big one. That 600 years is too long. Okay, so um uh last question I ask everybody.
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Anything you're watching right now that's making you laugh? Video. Um a scene from a show.
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I literally last night. Okay, great. So, my kids are watching this thing called Love Island.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah. The teens are obsessed. I couldn't do it. I mean, I can't do I I get too much um embarrassment.
Speaker A
Yeah, I couldn't. But but before and we literally sat down. We had some friends visiting then they have a teenage daughter and and they're staying with us and so the kids at dinner were like we're going to watch this thing. So we
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sat down and it didn't come on till 9. And so we're flicking and there's something called Temptation Island.
Speaker A
Oh yeah. And so and so I guess so we look at the little thing and I'm like you guys want to give this a shot for an hour before Love Island comes on? And I mean it was it did not disappoint.
Speaker A
Am I wrong that Temptation Island is if you make out or have sex, you're out.
Speaker A
No, I from what I could understand. Okay, that's called Too Hot to Something. I watched I watched episode one of season two last night and it was they introduced these four couples. So I watched season Yeah. four unmarried
Speaker A
couples travel to a tropical island to have their fidelity tested. Wait, so they bring in people? They bring in hot singles.
Speaker A
It was so funny. So they they bring in the you know the hot singles and all the guys come in and like rip their shirts off and they're like you made a mistake bringing her here bro.
Speaker A
I don't know how long it'll last. I we we did make it through an episode. Um but it was it was really funny.
Speaker A
And my friend, she was she was she's visiting with her daughter and we were howling. But um but it's these four couples and you're like and you know and the kids are like trying to they're taking bets on which couples are going
Speaker A
to make it and I'm like you know guys I I doubt if they all just were faithful to each other. There wouldn't be much of a show. So I have a feeling I have a feeling someone's going to
Speaker A
buckle see some cracks in the veneer. Also, the acting exercise of having to come in and be so confident.
Speaker A
I'm breaking you guys up. I know. I know. It's unbelievable. The women and the men, they're just, you've never seen more confident people.
Speaker A
Couples get all, you know, they do these in-depth interviews and then, you know, where where they're where it's just like, you know, he's had a problem with Fidelity in the past, but this time it's going to be this time he's going to prove it by
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going to Temptation Island. And like you see these guys like they get split up into seps. So the the the four guys who are in the couples, they get split up from their partner and they go into a
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house with these, you know, 10 gorgeous women. Yeah. Some honeypotss over there. Like you see these guys start to crack within 30 seconds. They're like, well, I mean, I didn't know it was going to be like this.
Speaker A
I mean, what is a man supposed to do? Exactly. And it's also the the they're they're like they're all in their 20s and they're all like you know you know I mean this I mean she really means a lot
Speaker A
to me. We've been together for 15 months and it's like I mean after 6 months I mean I had my lapse and I was unfaithful to her but since then I've been and you're just like this is a
Speaker A
disaster. I don't know if I'll hang in there. I made it through one episode. We had some laughs but I love that the kid your kids were like I don't know. They seem pretty in love and you're like, I have a feeling
Speaker A
someone's gonna fall. Just from a writing perspective, I can tell you we're gonna need some a little more conflict.
Speaker A
It would be so sad, too, for that casting. And they're like, good news is you got Temptation Island. Oh my god.
Speaker A
Exciting. Bad news is you're not coming in to tempt any of the people. Why not? We just thought it would be better if you were the lady that worked at the island.
Speaker A
Well, Matt, thank you so much for coming and doing this. is such a blast and congrats on this incredible movie and all the work you do and um thanks so much for being here.
Speaker A
I appreciate it. Thanks guys. Well, thank you so much Matt Damon, hometown hero of mine, uh Boston boy done good. Thank you for coming and what a pleasure to talk to you and um your work is incredible. So uh congrats on
Speaker A
that and keep doing it. And um for this polar plunge, you know, Matt talked very briefly about uh something that he created uh a global nonprofit uh at water.org, but what it really is is um an incredible organization founded by
Speaker A
himself and Gary White and they provide microloans to, you know, make sure that there's clean water and proper sanitation all over the world. So, it's pretty awesome. I mean, sometimes on these plunges I talk about, oh, I don't
Speaker A
know, a song I'm listening to, or I could use this plunge to um, you know, goof around uh about um, The Martian, but no, I want to just remind you to go uh, donate time, energy, or money to
Speaker A
water.org and um, go see the Odyssey. I mean, the Odyssey doesn't need me to pump it. Everyone in the world is going to go see it. Okay, thanks for listening. Give a good hang. Okay, bye.
Speaker A
You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss Berman, and me, Amy Polar. The show is produced by The Ringer, and Paperkite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Cat Spalain, Kaia McMullen, and Aia Xenerys.
Speaker A
For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Levelvel, and Jenna Weiss Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.
Topics:Matt DamonAmy PoehlerGood HangChristopher NolanThe Odysseyfilm adaptationprofessional relationshipsfilmmakingacting preparationmovie interview
