Matt Damon vowed to his wife that he would take some time off from Hollywood with only one stipulation – if he got an offer from Christoper Nolan, he would take it.
The 52-year-old actor admitted that after the promise was made to Luciana Barroso, he received a call from the esteemed director with an opportunity to join the cast of the widely anticipated “Oppenheimer,” which, true to his word, he accepted.
“This is going to sound made up, but it’s actually true,” Damon began. “I had — not to get too personal — negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off,” he said during a panel discussion with Nolan and his “Oppenheimer” co-stars Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. for Entertainment Weekly.
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Oscar-winner Matt Damon “negotiated extensively” with his wife to take a break from his acting career unless he received a call from “Oppenheimer” director. (Getty Images)
After appearing in Nolan’s film “Interstellar,” Damon revealed the director “put me on ice for a couple movies” and that he wasn’t “in the rotation” during casting.
However, the one exception Damon and his wife agreed to was if the “Oppenheimer” director called him for the role.
“I actually negotiated in couples therapy — this is a true story — the one caveat to my taking time off was if Chris Nolan called. This is without knowing whether or not he was working on anything, because he never tells you. He just calls you out of the blue. And so, it was a moment in my household.”
To which Nolan responded, “[It’s] a fun way to do it.”
Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh attend the “Oppenheimer” U.K. Premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on July 13, 2023 in London. (Getty Images)
However, he added that at times his method makes it harder to create plans with actors.
“But it means that it’s very difficult to call you to go out to dinner or something. Because every time you answer the phone it’s like, what’s it going to be?”
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Oscar-winner Damon portrayed Gen. Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret program led by Murphy’s character Oppenheimer that designed and developed the first atomic bomb during World War II.
Damon told Fox News Digital how he prepared to take on the role.
“I started researching and thinking about playing this character,” he began.
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“It was really amazing learning about what they did and how they did it… Gen. Groves was a brilliant guy and not well-liked at all by the scientists because there was this constant tension between the military and the scientists… There was this real tension that I think the script… covered really very, very well.”
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Meanwhile, Damon previously opened up about how his wife helped him when he “fell into a depression” on the set of a movie.
Matt Damon previously opened up about how his wife helped him when he “fell into a depression” on the set of a movie. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Image)
“I think, without naming any particular movies, that 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 “Oppenheimer” star said during an interview on “Jake’s Takes.”
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He continued, “Halfway through production… you’ve still got months to go… you’ve taken your family somewhere, and you’ve inconvenienced them.”
From left to right, Luciana Barroso, Alexia Barroso, Stella Damon, Isabella Damon and Matt Damon attend the Amazon Studios’ World Premiere of “AIR.” (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
“And I remember my wife pulling me up because I fell into a depression about, like, what have I done?”
“And she just said, ‘We’re here now,’” Damon recalled. “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.”
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Damon shares four daughters with his wife of 17 years — Isabella, Stella, Gia and Alexia. Alexia is from Barroso’s previous relationship.
