Random Fascinating Things Most People Don't Know About Matt Damon (16 items)

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  (#11) He Was Supposed To Play The Christian Bale Role In The Fighter But Dropped Out

  Damon was originally cast to play Dicky Eklund opposite fellow-Boston native Mark Wahlberg in the Oscar-winning film The Fighter. After Damon left the production, Bale was cast, and went on to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Damon says he has no regrets with his decision, and that Bale was right for the part.
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  (#4) His Brother Kyle Inspired One Of The Most Famous Scenes From Good Will Hunting

  Matt’s brother Kyle visited a physicist on the MIT campus one day. While walking down the school's Infinite Corridor, which is lined with blackboards, Kyle, an artist, picked up a piece of a chalk and wrote an elaborate, totally fake, equation.

  As Matt said in his 2016 commencement speech at MIT, no one erased the bogus equation for months. Kyle was so stunned by these blackboards, he told his brother, “you guys, listen to this... They’ve got blackboards running down the hall! Because these kids are so smart they just need to, you know, drop everything and solve problems!”
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  (#3) He Had To Take Medication For A Year And A Half After His Dramatic Weight Loss For Courage Under Fire

  Damon lost 40 pounds with extreme diet and exercise for the role of Specialist Ilario in Courage Under Fire (1996). His character, a solder experiencing the devastating after effects of war, becomes addicted to heroin. Damon's health suffered from the weight loss; he had to take medication for a year and a half to correct the stress he put on his adrenal gland. Despite the trauma, it was worth it in the end. Matt's commitment and method style of acting caught the eye of Francis Ford Coppola, who cast the actor in the lead role of his 1997 legal drama The Rainmaker.
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  (#14) He Thinks The Most Important Aspect In Selecting A Movie Is The Quality Of The Director

  There are several factors for an actor to consider when deciding whether or not to sign on for a film: location, story, character, money, co-stars, etc. For Damon, it's all about the director. He told The Guardian in 2015, “That’s all that matters in film. The rest of it is utter bullsh*t. A mediocre director will ruin a great piece of material.” He speaks from experience, claiming to have worked with mediocre directors in the past.

  Damon has worked with some the most renowned directors in American cinema: Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Gus Van Sant, Steven Soderbergh, Christopher Nolan, the Coen Brothers, and Clint Eastwood.
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  (#16) He's All In For A Sequel To Rounders

  Damon's 1998 poker movie Rounders is often credited with starting the Texas Hold'em boom that began in the late '90s and is alive and well 19 years later. In an interview with Rich Eisen, Damon talked about a potential sequel to the film that would concentrate on online gambling:

  "[Brian] Koppelman and [David] Levien, who wrote it, they have a really good idea for a Rounders story, and that would be an interesting thing because of what’s happened in poker. Now, with the online [game], these guys and gals who are playing, this young generation, they start playing when they’re in their adolescence. They’re looking at 10 hands at a time, playing for real money online. By the time they’re 21, they’ve seen millions and millions and millions of hands…It’s now gone into deep game theory. It’s at a whole other level. It’s just a very, very different game."
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  (#13) Manchester By The Sea Was Written For Him To Direct, And At One Point He Was Attached To Star

  Oscar-winning drama Manchester by the Sea took several twists and turns before landing on the big screen. Originally, Damon and John Krasinki approached Kenneth Lonergan to write the script for Damon to direct and Krasinki to star. Lonergan labored over the script for three yeas, during which time Krasinki's schedule changed and Damon had to drop out because of previous commitments.

  Yet it all seemed to work out in the end. Lonergan took over behind the camera and won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Damon stayed on as producer and cast childhood friend Casey Affleck in the lead. Affleck won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2017 for his performance.

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