BORN AGAIN ‘THIS IS A FILM TO HELP US HEAL’
Matt Damon is 50. Logically it makes sense. Hext year marks 25 years since he introduced himself to the world as a triple threat screenwriter-producer-lead actor on Good Will Hunting. He won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar together with his long-term collaborator Ben Affleck for it, while his performance as a genius working-class janitor (which also got a Best Actor nomination), particularly in scenes with Robin Williams, was both complex and supremely natural.
Damon has been a major movie star ever since. But still, we have to double and triple check when we realise he is into his sixth decade and more than a quarter of a century into a career that has seen his films take in almost $7bn at the box office.
“Believe me, I did too, man. It’s a weird feeling,” he says. “I do reflect on it a lot. I feel incredibly blessed to have the life I’ve had and the career that I’ve had. On the other hand, I can’t believe it’s been that long.”
A quick skim through his CV confirms his longevity and adaptability – and that he’s worked with many of the greatest directors on the planet.
In 1998, he was the titular star of Steven Spielberg’s , while the following. Three years later, he confirmed himself as a major action hero as kicked off a franchise that modernised the genre, he’d later stand shoulder to shoulder with Morgan Freeman’s Nelson Mandela when he played South Africa’s wholesome rugby union captain Francois Pienaar in the Clint Eastwood-directed (scooping another Oscar nomination), play Liberace’s lover in Steven Soderbergh’s , starred as a mob mole in Martin Scorsese’s before delivering a Golden Globe-winning performance full of heart in Ridley Scott’s acclaimed .
