31
March
2009
They were close childhood friends, collaborated on the script for 1997’s Good Will Hunting and then won Oscars for it. And even after Hollywood success and “ballooning” families, Ben Affleck says his friendship with Damon” has not only gotten stronger, with shared vacations, but they’re planning another movie together.
“It’s cool,” Affleck, 36, told PEOPLE of his and Damon’s enduring bond, which includes mixing and mingling with their wives and kids. Affleck has two daughters with wife Jennifer Garner, while Damon, also 36, has two daughters with wife Luciana Barroso.
“We went on vacation last summer,” says Affleck, who plays a congressman opposite Russell Crowe in the new thriller State of Play. “It’s nice. It always has been. He’s got his family ballooning, and we’re doing okay – it’s nice.”
With the two having never veered from their shared Boston upbringing, Affleck observes, “I think it would be the same for anybody. You’re friends when you are young, you have a certain life. Then in your 20s you have a different life. In your 30s you get married and have families.”
Satisfying Friendships
Given such a perspective, Affleck adds, “It’s a different kind of satisfaction being around your friends, the friends you grew up with. They have kids, have barbecues and that kind of deal. That is really satisfying, too. It’s one of the nice things about having friends for a long time.”
Equally nice is that, with recent arrival Seraphina Rose joining daughter Violet, 3, at home, Affleck says, “I am very lucky. I feel blessed to look around and see that I’ve got a healthy family and a job. Especially nowadays, you really feel very good.”
When it comes to being a dad, he’s mastered many of the duties – including how to mash bananas properly – that his wife was once worried would require supervision.
“I’m in a pretty good zone right now,” says PEOPLE’s 2002 Sexiest Man Alive. “I say that, and I’ll go home to find everything exploded, [but] so far, so good.”
All in all, he says, “I really am happy with what I’m doing now. In fact, I’ve never been at a place where I’ve felt better about going to work every day. I’m more engaged and very, very happy … I’ve really gotten comfortable with the things that are important to me.”
Time to Re-Team
In terms of professional projects, though they’ve costarred and shared cameos in various films and collaborated as producers on different projects, Affleck and Damon haven’t been paired together on screen for five years. Affleck says the timing now feels right to re-team once again.
“Supposedly we’re doing this thing next year” once their busy schedules dovetail, Affleck said. For his part, Damon has to complete three films – including a fourth turn as Jason Bourne – while Affleck, who received warm reviews for his 2007 directorial effort Gone Baby Gone, will be directing and starring in The Town, which Variety reports is an adaptation of the Chuck Hogan novel The Prince of Thieves.
“Matt is always pretty busy but claiming that he’s going to try and slow it down a little bit,” says his buddy. “He doesn’t mind taking a year to wait. I would love to, it’s great, and we’re both busy. Matt lives in Miami, so it’s hard to get a chance to see him. If we work together it’s an excuse to hang out.”
Source: People
Damon working on fourth Bourne film with director Paul Greengrass
20
March
2009
Actor Matt Damon is confirming that he and director Paul Greengrass are working on a fourth installment of the Jason Bourne film series.
In an interview with Parade magazine, Damon says the two are trying to work around their busy schedules to team up for a third time — Greengrass directed the second and third Bourne films after the first one, The Bourne Identity (2002), which was helmed by Doug Liman.
“We’re working on it. This time it would be from an original script rather than a book by Robert Ludlum,” Damon said in the article published Tuesday online.
George Nolfi, who co-wrote 2007’s Bourne Ultimatum screenplay, has been hired by Universal Studios to craft an original story for the fourth film.
Damon became a global star in his titular role as the CIA operative with no previous memories, who begins to understand who he was.
The franchise grew as Greengrass, who directed United 93, took over The Bourne Supremacy in 2004 and The Bourne Ultimatum.
In the article, Damon admits to feeling his age and wonders how he will be doing the Bourne films’ trademark fast and physical fighting scenes.
“When I did the first movie I was 29 years old,” notes the actor. “I am 37 now. After a tough fighting scene, the next day you wake up and feel your body more.”
He’s currently in South Africa filming The Human Factor, directed by Clint Eastwood and also starring Morgan Freeman. The movie examines Nelson Mandela’s first term as president of South Africa.
Source: CBC News
Damon too old to play Bourne again?
20
March
2009
Does Matt Damon think he’s too old to play Jason Bourne again in a possible fourth instalment of the Bourne action films?
“Listen, when I did the first movie, I was 29 years old,” the actor, who first appeared in The Bourne Identity in 2002, tells Parade.com. “I am 37 now, and after a tough fighting scene, the next day you wake up and feel your body more. That’s just the way it is.”
However, Matt isn’t ruling out another return to the tough action hero after the box office hits of its two sequels, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.
“We’re working on it,” he says. “This time it would be from an original script rather than a book by Robert Ludlum. But the director, Paul Greengrass, is busy and I am too, so we’ll see what happens.”
Source: Yahoo! News
Matt Damon’s rugby injury
20
March
2009
Matt Damon has injured himself whilst on set during filming for a new movie set in South Africa.
‘The Human Factor’ is a biopic about the life of former SA president Nelson Mandela, which includes the prestigious event in which the country won the Rugby World Cup.
This milestone came in 1995, just after the first democratic election following the notorious apartheid era, with captain Francois Pienaar leading his team to victory before being presented with the trophy by Mandela.
‘Bourne Supremacy’ star Damon plays Pienaar in this true story, and despite having received extensive rugby training in preparation for the movie, apparently sprained his leg when he kicked the ground instead of hoofing the ball during filming.
“Matt has undergone months of rugby training for the role, with some famous players, but has had difficulty getting the technique right,” explains a source in The Sun.
‘The Human Factor’ is being directed by Clint Eastwood and set for release in the US in December 2009
Source: IAfrica.Com
Matt Damon: Oscar Voters Are Not Always Right
13
March
2009
MATT DAMON insists the Oscars are no indication of whether films are good or not – even though he’s a past winner.
The Bourne Supremacy star picked up a Best Screenplay Oscar in 1998 for Good Will Hunting, a film which also earned him a Best Actor nomination – but he’s sceptical about the way the Academy picks its winners.
He tells Parade.com, “I think that the best way to judge movies is, like, 10 years after they’re released. I think they should actually do the awards that way.
“I think they should have done the Academy Awards this year for movies from 1998. I think it’s better to look at a movie and then step back and look at it again. I don’t think that the awards necessarily get it right. I think they get it wrong more often than they get it right.”
It’s not the first time the actor has questioned the validity of the Oscars – he campaigned for director Martin Scorsese to win his first Academy Award three years ago (06), insisting the prizegiving would be a “farce” if the moviemaker was overlooked for The Departed.
He said, “Marty’s such a great, great director. He really wants it (Oscar) and he hasn’t made that a secret. He’s been upfront about saying it would really mean a lot to him.
“He never felt that Hollywood had validated his work because his work is centred around the east coast and New York and that somehow threatened the establishment or something. But it demeans the Oscars more than it demeans Marty that he doesn’t have one, to be honest with you. Once he receives his (Oscar), then everyone who has one, their award is validated.”
Scorsese won his first Best Director Oscar for The Departed. It was the sixth time he had been nominated for the award.
Source: Contact Music
Newly blond Matt Damon films Mandela movie in South Africa
13
March
2009
Marching across a bridge in Cape Town at the head of a group of rugby players a blond Matt Damon is almost unrecognizable from his persona in the Bourne film series.
The scene was from his new movie The Human Factor, which examines Nelson Mandela’s attempts to unify the country after apartheid by focusing on the South African rugby team’s 1995 World Cup triumph.
Matt plays South African rugby captain Francois Pienaar in the film, which is directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Morgan Freeman as South Africa’s first black president. Both stars swatted up on rugby for the film, with Matt going so far as to join a local team’s training sessions in preparation.
The film is based on the book Playing The Enemy: Nelson Mandela And The Game That Made A Nation by British journalist John Carlin. Its screen adaptation was the brainchild of Morgan, who bought the film rights to the work
Source: Hello Magazine
Damon gets pedaling on South Africa bike trek
11
March
2009
Matt Damon cycled off on the 68-mile Cape Argus bike trek on Sunday in South Africa.
The Bourne Identity star joined brother Kyle and former rugby captain Francois Pienaar among the 35,000 riders attempting the grueling bike challenge.
Damon will be playing Pienaar in Clint Eastwood’s new movie The Human Factor, about the South African Springboks’ Rugby World Cup win in 1995.
The movie star and his team hit the road with the words ‘MAD’ and ‘Are you crazy enough?’ printed on their cycling jerseys.
Source: News Channel 9 WSYR
*The Toronto Sun has a great slideshow of Matt biking pics:
http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/celebrities/2009/03/09/8684711.html
Actor Matt Damon moved by plight of Zimbabwean refugees in camps
3
March
2009
MUSINA, South Africa – An emotional Matt Damon listened to a Zimbabwean woman describe how she was raped while pregnant on a perilous journey across the border into South Africa.
The Hollywood actor visited refugee centres in Musina on the South African border with Zimbabwe as part of his work with the human rights organization he started with a number of other celebrities.
An estimated three million Zimbabweans have fled the economic collapse and dire humanitarian conditions in their country for South Africa.
Damon said in an interview Tuesday that he was “shocked and saddened” by the plight of the people he had spoken to. He said conditions were “untenable” and called on international and regional leaders to take action.
Source: Brandon Sun