‘He looks swell in a Speedo,’ and other celebrity thoughts about Matt Damon
From George Clooney to Tina Fey, Hollywood's finest weighed in for a 'GQ' feature.
A lot of very famous people, and some sort-of-famous people, were assembled by GQ to participate in a meditation on a very important Boston star. On Monday, the magazine published “The Encyclopedia of Matt Damon,” which reads like an oral history of “the most liked man in Hollywood,” as told by “those people who like him a lot.” It is, mostly, a like-fest.The participants include legends like Martin Scorsese and Michael Douglas, former co-stars like Julia Stiles, Alicia Vikander, and George Clooney, and Damon’s fellow Boston bros: Ben Affleck, John Krasinski, and Bill Simmons all make appearances. They all follow a universal theme: Matt Damon is well-liked.The entire GQ feature is worth a read in its entirety, but here are some highlights.Matt Damon has a face made for makeup:
Scarlett Johansson (co-star, We Bought a Zoo): The most amazing gift about Matt’s physical appearance is that he can walk into the hair-and-makeup trailer looking like someone who slept directly on his face for seven hours and emerge a bona fide movie star. He has a great makeup artist.
George Clooney: He looks swell in a Speedo.
Matt Damon’s lifelong friendship with Ben Affleck can best be summed up with a metaphor about sweaters:
Tina Fey (creator, 30 Rock): People would be like, [Matt and Ben] are so cute!” And I’d be like, “They’re J.Crew sweaters. When you see all the colors next to each other, they look cute, but when you get one home, you’re like, ‘Damn, I just got an orange sweater.’ ” But now that is withdrawn. In person, Matt holds up.
Damon: Ben is the orange sweater.
Wherever there’s Matt, there’s Ben—but, also, wherever there’s Ben, there’s his little bro Casey. Casey wasn’t the best roommate:
Damon: Casey moved in with us [when he was 19]. He would walk in the room, and I’m like, “Is that my shirt?” It got so bad with the Affleck brothers that I was at the point where I wanted to label all of my stuff, ’cause it would just f—ing show up in Casey’s drawer. And if it’s there long enough, then it’s like some version of squatters’ rights, where suddenly he’s like, “No, dude, this is mine. You saw me. I’ve been wearing this since December.” Like, that doesn’t mean it’s yours! Just because you washed it doesn’t mean it’s yours.
Good Will Hunting is iconic on many levels, but Bill Simmons·—fellow Bostonian, sports personality, and host of HBO’s Any Given Wednesday—explained why it’s so influential to him personally:
Simmons: I was dating this girl who moved to Chicago, and I was living in Boston. I was making, like, $200 a week writing a column and bartending, and it cost somewhere between $300 and $450 to fly to Chicago. So I went to see Good Will Hunting in Cambridge by myself. And at the end, he goes to see about a girl, and I was like, “You know what? I like her, but I don’t know if I’d go to see about a girl.” We broke up within 12 hours. And my next girlfriend was my wife. That’s why I always defend Matt Damon.
When the “I’m F—ing Matt Damon” sketch aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2008, it led to an opportunity for Ben Affleck, one that he calls “a high point” of his career:
Ben Affleck: As soon as I saw “I’m F—ing Matt Damon,” I knew I would be doing “I’m F—ing Ben Affleck.” So I called Jimmy, and they were already putting it together. Having Josh Groban yelling out, “I’m f—ing Beeeeen. I’m f—ing Ben Affleck!” remains a high point of my career and life.
And we’ll end with John Krasinski reflecting on the first time he ever met Damon:
John Krasinski (co-writer, Promised Land): The day I met him was the scene in The Adjustment Bureau where he kisses my wife [Emily Blunt] in a very big way. And so when I went up to him, he turned to me, and the first thing he ever said to me was, “Hey, man. I was just totally tonguing your girl.” And I went, “Oh, okay. Cool.” And he saw my face and he just cratered. He said, “Oh, my God. I am so sorry. I am so sorry.”
This celebration of Matt Damon and his quirks comes just in time for the release of Jason Bourne this summer. It’s out in theaters July 29. Maybe go see it—we hear Damon’s quite likeable.
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