Matt Damon, the actor known for his roles in movies like The Martian and Oppenheimer, has revealed the one project that got away. Though he says that his replacement actually did an “amazing” job, Damon candidly admits that he “loved the script” and did research on it, as it was based on a true story.
Damon recently sat down with USA Today to talk about his latest project. The action thriller The Rip, co-starring Ben Affleck, sees the Interstellar actor playing a law enforcement agent who comes upon a lot of money, and with his partner, they’re forced to determine who’s loyal and who’s not.
The interview had Damon and Affleck revisiting their careers and the legacy they have built in almost three decades in the industry. When asked about the movie he wishes he would have made, Damon mentions the 2008 Oscar-winning biopic, Milk:
“I was supposed to do Milk with Gus [Van Sant]. Then Sean [Penn] had something happen to his schedule and he had to push the movie, which made it a conflict for me, so I got recast with Josh Brolin.
“I loved the script, and I’d already done research on it. But as much as I wanted to be in that, it was probably better served by Josh. He was amazing. It was a moment in my 30s when I was like, ‘That must’ve happened for a reason.’ So I was sanguine about it at the end.”
Ultimately, the role went to Josh Brolin, earning him a nomination at the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Gus Van Sant’s biopic based on the iconic activist also garnered nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, and actually won in the categories Best Actor (Penn) and Best Original Screenplay (Dustin Lance Black).
Matt Damon Reunites With Ben Affleck for Netflix’s ‘The Rip’
Damon and Affleck’s most famous collaboration was the one film that earned them an Academy Award. The duo won an Oscar in the Best Original Screenplay category for their work in 1997’s Good Will Hunting. Ever since, they have worked together multiple times, with Netflix backing their latest collaboration.
When asked about what they think of each other’s body of work, they have nothing but praise. Affleck admits he’s a fan of Damon’s career, and mentions some of his favorite titles: “Matt in Stillwater is incredible. The Informant! isn’t always talked about, and The Good Shepherd is a really exquisite movie. It’s a very subtle, very quiet but really piercing examination of the intelligence service in American history. I find it really beautiful. I’m a fan.” Damon also shared some of his favorite performances by Affleck:
“Ben’s got a bunch of them, but the movie he put out right as COVID hit, The Way Back – that was a great performance… I’ve always been his biggest fan because we were each other’s biggest fans when we didn’t have any other fans in the world.
“But I do think this happens in middle age, as we get more life under our belts, that there’s just been another level up for him this last decade. Like The Last Duel, which we wrote and nobody saw, but he’s incredible in that movie. The Tender Bar, going all the way up through Air – he’s just on a tear right now.”
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
