Matt Damon: Award-Winning Actor Is Just An Ordinary Dad Amid Upcoming Movie Release
Actor Matt Damon may be an award-winning movie star, but the doting dad says that while at home, he’s just an ordinary guy who helps his daughter learn to drive.
People reports that Damon, 44, recently spoke with USA Today about his domestic life, and although he has millions of fans across the world, at home he is just “dad.”
“My oldest daughter just got her license yesterday. She would drive last year just to school every morning. We’d get in the car and drive.”
Damon has always kept things private when it comes to his family, which includes his wife, Luciana Barroso Damon, and four children, who range in age from 4 to 16. It’s not an easy task to keep your family life private, especially if you’re an in-demand leading actor. Damon attributes keeping his loved ones’ lives’ private due to sheer luck.
“I attribute a lot of it to luck. [Paparazzi] shoot me every day coming out of the gym. [But] married guy with kids, it’s not that exciting.”
Meanwhile, USA Today reports that Damon is anticipating the release of his new movie, The Martian, which hits theaters in October. Damon stars as Mark Watney, an astronaut and the only human on Mars. Of course, being a lone person in scenes makes it difficult to rehearse with others, but the multi-talented Damon explained that it wasn’t as hard as it seems.
“I just rehearsed in my house, basically. By the time I showed up (on the set), I had the entire script committed to memory just from having done it so many hundreds of times. The first day we shot I did the first monologue, it’s like a couple of pages, and Ridley said ‘cut!’ He just looked at me and goes, ‘We should do two movies at once.'”
Although Damon’s character is considered a “jack of all trades,” he indicates that it doesn’t follow him over into the domestic front. Damon joked that his wife teases him about having a big brother who can repair just about anything, while Damon himself admits he is “useless” when it comes to things like hitting nails into the wall and other chores around the home.
Another challenge Damon faced when acting by himself in scenes is worrying about keeping the audience entertained. Although other movies depicting a sole person in scenes have left people captivated, such as the award-winning films 127 Hours and Castaway, Damon, ever the perfectionist of his art, wants to make sure that he can connect with viewers.
Regardless, it doesn’t seem like Matt Damon has anything to worry about. The Martian was met with rave reviews from viewers at the Toronto International Film Festival, with Vanity Fair claiming that the role may land Damon another Oscar.
[Photos Courtesy of Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images & Handout/Getty Images]
