The hottest new hunk in Hollywood reveals the boy behind the buzz


by Bob Strauss

Matt Damon is no genius; he just looks like one to Hollywood right now.

An unassuming, easygoing kid from Boston, he's currently headlining The Rainmaker, Francis Ford Coppola's star-laden, John Grisham-penned legal drama about an ingenious, if unconventional, young lawyer striving to beat overwhelming odds.

In December, he stars alongside lifelong friend Ben Affleck (Chasing Amy) in buzz film Good Will Hunting, which they cowrote. Directed by Gus Van Sant (Drugstore Cowboy) and featuring Robin Williams, the movie is based on one of Damon's Harvard drama exercises and tells the story of a troubled young working-class man with the mathematical gifts of Einstein.

And that's just a warm-up. He just finished Steven Spielberg's World War II epic Saving Private Ryan. (The movie stars Tom Hanks, but it's Damon who plays Private Ryan.) He's about to start work on Rounders, set in the underground world of professional New York card players, for noir director John Dahl (Red Rock West). And then he segues into The Talented Mr. Ripley, directed by The English Patient's Anthony Minghella.

Top-flight directors. High-profile roles. His smiling face on the cover of the December Vanity Fair (atop the line "Matt Damon Rocks"). Not bad for a kid whose previous work consisted of bit roles in the likes of School Ties, Geronimo: An American Legend and Courage Under Fire.

But Damon is not the type to take his winning streak for granted. He knows luck plays as big a part in his good fortune as hard work and talent. And he's also smart enough to make his own luck--perhaps the most valuable skill of all in show business.

The Interview

How have you kept your ego from blasting through the top of your head?

Knowing that I am the greatest guy in the world really makes it simple. [Laughs.] No, seriously, it's family. I've got a great family who keeps me in line. And I'm the youngest of two, so being a little brother, I've gotten my ass kicked my entire life. And it doesn't stop, even now. I'm 27, and my brother Kyle is 30. I don't think I could ever get away with misbehaving.

A little pride at this point would be acceptable, though.

I couldn't have had a more amazing year of experiences if I'd dreamed them up. I think Francis' taking a chance on me was a huge factor in getting Good Will Hunting rushed into production. And because we were doing Good Will in Boston, when Steven Spielberg was shooting Amistad there, Robin went over to see him and dragged me along.
So, I met Steven, who had seen me in Courage Under Fire but didn't realize I had lost 40 pounds for that job and didn't always look like a skeletal junkie. A week later, I got the Private Ryan part. It's been serendipity, really. I'm just on a roll.

It must be kind of daunting to get what you've wanted your whole life in such a big way.

It's very scary. Honestly, the anxiety level is very high. No one has bought a ticket for a movie yet. But either way, I'm happy with my work. I gave it my all, so if it doesn't work, I have no regrets.

That sounds suspiciously like the moral of Good Will Hunting.

Yeah, it's about engaging in life, going out and living every day. That's a philosophy I've always had about acting. There are a lot of times when I look back on things I've done--when I really tried my best--and they're embarrassing. Hey, that happens. But I think the worst thing in life is to look at yourself and say, What if? What if I'd just taken that opportunity more seriously?

Is it true you and Ben Affleck wrote Good Will just to give yourselves some decent roles to play?

Yeah. We couldn't get arrested. We were living out in Eagle Rock [a suburb of Los Angeles]. It was a pretty desolate place, and we were out there for a couple of years. We were frustrated, because all we got to look at were the scripts everyone on the short list passes on, then it's you and everyone else brawling for these meager table scraps.
We finally said, Why not just make our own movie? We'll raise the money on our own, and it doesn't matter if nobody sees it, 'cause when we're feeling bad, we can put this videocassette in and say, That's a contribution that we made to this field that we love.

But then your agent read the script, turned it over to his literary department, and in four days, you had a Hollywood bidding war going.

Yeah, he read it out of a feeling of total obligation--and probably, dread. But he really liked it. The only thing that mattered to Ben and I was that we were in it. We were offered a lot of money to bow out, obviously, but that wasn't something we were interested in doing.

What is it about you and Ben? Childhood friends rarely go into the same profession together, and it's probably unprecedented for them to actually do something like sell a screenplay and costar in the movie.

From a very early age, we wanted to do it. One of the reasons we're so tight is we always had a lot in common, a lot of similar interests and sensibilities. Writing the script was very easy with him. Ben and I just had this reservoir of common knowledge we could draw on.

You guys have been friends with a pack of rising young actors: Matthew McConaughey, Joaquin Phoenix, Chris O'Donnell, Rory Cochrane and Cole Hauser. What brought you all together?

Well, we haven't all hung out together in a long time. But it's a group of people who are really fine young actors and have the same goal: to be the best actors they can be. Plus, they're just a fun bunch of guys.

And there's no resentment when one of you does better than the others?

None at all. When Ben and I heard that Matthew got A Time to Kill, we were just psyched. It really was a feeling of vindication, like, See? We're in the right place, we're doing the right thing.

Tell me about your girlfriend and Good Will costar, Minnie Driver?

She is a delightful lady, you bet. A real woman.

Have you two ever compared notes on massive weight changes for movies? I mean, Courage Under Fire, Circle of Friends?

[Laughs.] We did talk about it, actually. Although it's obviously not the healthiest thing to do, I just respect somebody who will go that extra mile and make that much of a sacrifice for their work.

What was the most memorable thing about The Rainmaker?

Watching Francis and his pursuit of truthful moments. Like, if I had to knock on a door and wait for a character to open it, he would have somebody who wasn't even in that scene open the door. His point was to always be available for anything, and that created this vibe of spontaneity on the set.

You're one of the chosen few who can compare working for Coppola and Spielberg.

Well, they're both geniuses. Francis indulges the actors a lot more, whereas with Steven, it's about his movie. But Steven's very inclusive. He'll get the actors together and say, "See, here's what we're gonna do. It's gonna be a really cool shot." It's kinda like being in a group of kids who stole their father's camera and have to get it all in this one scene.
Since Private Ryan is the guy behind enemy lines who needs to be saved, I guess you missed some of the cooler action, huh?
It's bittersweet. Steven said to me, "Y'know, the best stuff I've ever shot in my life was the D-Day scene." I'm like, "Wow, that must have been great for Tom Hanks. Too bad I wasn't there."

You come off like an average guy, yet your life has been anything but. You studied at Harvard, and your mother is a professor of child development, who raised you in a communal home shared with five other families.

Yeah, that was during pretty formative years, junior high and high school. It was a great way to be raised, especially for an actor. Lots of different perspectives, just surrounded by lots of positive human beings.

And though your parents divorced when you were two, you've kept close ties with your father?

Yeah. My dad had this Leave It to Beaver idea of how life should be, and it just didn't work out. But he took us out to dinner on what would have been our parents' 25th wedding anniversary. So, we go out--Mom, me, Kyle and him--and he's like, "Ah, great. Nuclear family's finally together again." Then the waiter asks if we'd like wine, and Dad goes, "Of course! It's our 25th anniversary." The waiter announces it to the whole restaurant, and Dad has to say, "Wait, wait! We've been divorced for 19 years!" The whole place just goes silent. Oh, it was good.

One last family question: Are you secretly related to the Wahlbergs, or is there something in the Boston water that's responsible for the resemblance between you and Marky Mark?

No, no, we're not related. But it's a good year for young actors from Boston, isn't it?