As reported byVariety, starMatt Damonrecently revealed that at one point, he “fell into a depression” midway through filming an unnamed movie that he realized was a “losing effort.” While promoting his upcoming filmOppenheimeronJake’s Takes, theAirstar opened up about experiencing depression while working on a film that didn’t end up being what the actor had hoped.
Damon said, “Without naming any particular movies…sometimes you find yourself in a movie that you know, perhaps, might not be what you had hoped it would be, and you’re still making it.”
The Last Duelstar continued, “And I remember halfway through production and you’ve still got months to go and you’ve taken your family somewhere, you know, and you’ve inconvenienced them, and I remember my wife pulling me up because I fell into a depression about like, what have I done?”
Damon went on to note that at the time, “She just said, ‘We’re here now.’ You know, and it was like…I do pride myself, in a large part because of her, at being a professional actor and what being a professional actor means is you go and you do the 15-hour day and give it absolutely everything, even in what you know is going to be a losing effort. And if you can do that with the best possible attitude, then you’re a pro, and she really helped me with that.”
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Matt Damon Has Previously Opened Up About Working on Films That He Knew Weren’t Going To Be Successful
While Damon clearly didn’t have a positive experience filming the movie, he did not name the title of the film. Still, the actor has previously opened up about working on movies that he knew weren’t going to be successful. This includes films like Zhang Yimou’sThe Great Wall, a 2016 action movie that saw Damon play William Garin, a European mercenary who teams up with imperial Chinese forces to combat an alien attack.
The Great Wallreceived criticism for whitewashing and was accused of having a white savior narrative. While the film had a $150 million production budget, it was considered a box office bomb, and didn’t make more than $50 million in the US.
Back in 2021, while speaking about working onThe Great Wallwith theWTFpodcast, Damon said, “I was like, this is exactly how disasters happen. It doesn’t cohere. It doesn’t work as a movie.”
TheFord v Ferraristar added, “I came to consider that the definition of a professional actor; knowing you’re in a turkey and going, ‘OK, I’ve got four more months. It’s the up at dawn siege on Hamburger Hill. I am definitely going to die here, but I’m doing it.’ That’s as shitty as you can feel creatively, I think. I hope to never have that feeling again.”
In the upcoming Christopher Nolan filmOppenheimer, Damon plays Manhattan Project director Leslie Groves. The upcoming historical epic follows American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy) and his work on the atomic bomb.
