Offseason Plans, Wildcard Preview & Matt Damon on Brady, Affleck Bromance & Career Odyssey | EP 174

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27:19Try KFC,$5 bowls today. Actually, right now. Don't even wait till later today. Go to your KFC. Now. We are so fucking lucky to have you, brother. We're going to have some fun with this one. Oh, man. I'm fired up to be here. I actually, like, for some reason, my Instagram thinks that you're the only thing I ever want to watch. Oh, man. That's too good, man. I've seen so much of your stuff just recommended to me. So this is cool. Our guest today is an actor, writer, and producer from Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is a two-time Golden Globe winner, three-time Critic Choice winner, and an Academy Award winner.

27:57He is also the 2007 People's Sexiest Man Alive. You know him from Good Will Hunting, The Martian, The Ocean's Franchises, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Bored Franchises, Saving Private Ryan, The Departed, Foreign In First, Furjaring, Air Oppenheimer. Gosh dang, I was running out of movies. Here we go. And his new movie, The Rip, is on Netflix starting January 16th. 92 %ers, please welcome. Well, how about this? How about them apples? It's Matt Damon! thank you guys that was awesome jason thank you i feel like i should run out of the locker room and go hit somebody let's fucking go that's that's all we're good at either doing that ourselves or motivating people to do it it's all we know dude you're absolute iconic brother and we can't thank you enough for for spending some time the rip is unbelievable man it is it is thank you guys i'm fired up that you guys saw you guys are the first people to see it so this is that's great news that's great for me to hear yeah we've we haven't shown many people at all it hasn't come out yet so and this is the first interview i'm doing for it so this is very very cool all right i live a fucking dumb life man dude that this movie this movie is ridiculous man it had to be on the edge of my seat the entire time and it's it's based off of uh a lot of the facts are based off the true story yeah yeah yeah it starts with a true story and then we take dramatic license from there but but uh you know there are these this this program in Miami where, where, you know, they take tips to go get money.

29:26That's kind of, uh, they seize money that's got from by like ill gotten gains, you know, like drug money and stuff like that. And so they'll hit these houses. They have dogs that, that don't smell for drugs. They just smell for money. And they have these teams that go, um, seize, seize this stuff. And, and one of the rules down there is you got to count it on site, you know, just to make sure that none of it ends up in anybody's pocket and that everybody's on the up and up. And so they count it and they're very, very serious about it. And, um, and, and there was one of these ones that they went on where they were expecting to find a couple hundred grand and there was over$20 million in the walls of his house.

30:03And so that's kind of where our movies about that. Like it's about this team of people, but you already know there are rumblings that there might be some corruption or there might be some bad apples who are working with people outside. And then they go in and they find this$20 million and they know it's cartel money. So they're like, Oh my God, they're going to come back for it. And so they, they're, it turns into that kind of, you know, like a thriller where they're, where they're, where they're, they know they got to, they got to stay on site, but they know that the site is kind of compromised.

30:31Yeah, absolutely. When do you first get pissed about this or is this, are you at the point now that this is your baby? Like how did you get involved with this? So Ben and I have a studio like now artists equity and, and, um, and so we're small, but we, but we're kind of a full service studio. And so people are starting to become aware of that and coming to us with projects. And this came to us through Joe Conahan, who he directed NARC a long time ago, a movie, The Grey. He's directed a bunch of movies. Yeah. Ben did Smoke and Aces with him, actually, about 15 or 20 years ago. So we've known Joe for a really long time.

31:03And he just sent this over to us. And we read it. And we were like, this is great. Well, we'd love to make it. And then as we kind of were working on it with Joe, we were kind of like, well, why don't we just all do it together? There we go. We're all old friends. and we were like this would be really fun and and um and so that that's kind of how how this one came to pass yeah it's fantastic and the way it all comes together at the end and the armored vehicle and like you guys that is like cinema dude it's so fucking cool man you gotta say you in the movie you convince uh ben to go after a large sum of money well you guys think it's a smaller sum of money it ends up being larger what's the dumbest thing as lifelong friends you've convinced ben to doing your friendship oh my god that's a great question man i got our whole life is a stupid we were like 14 and 16 years old and we were going to new york auditioning taking the bus and going down there literally the journey would take us seven hours to get there we'd walk in and we called it getting okay thanks because you'd do an audition you do the best you could And the person would just go, okay, thanks.

32:12And five minutes you're out the door and you're back on the bus going like, I don't think that went too well. You know? So our whole life has been, I mean, if you, the odds of it working out were, were so long against and working out for both of us. Like I don't, I mean, God, we've done so much stupid shit in our lives, but the whole idea was kind of dumb to begin with. I think that's, yeah. I mean, it's amazing really. At what point did you guys realize that, like, what was your first big break that you knew we were going to be able to do this? Well, it's tough to say big break because I think we thought every break, like the first, like we got a TJ Maxx commercial and we were like, this is it, man.

32:52Let's go. No, look at that. And then, you know, and then we started to get little parts and we started to get bigger parts. But we were getting told by casting directors and stuff. we'd go in and read and they'd go, you're not right for this, but you should keep going. So we were getting kind of signals that, that, that we were in the right, you know, area code. But then like when we sold Good Will Hunting, when we sold a screenplay that we, we thought that was absolutely it. And we were like broke a year later, you know? Really? Yeah. After that. Yeah. We, we, I mean, not broke, broke. I mean, but like here I'll put, I mean, I guess, So we sold the screenplay for 600 grand, right?

33:37Which was just so much more money than either of us had ever considered. It was like, which we split, right? And then, but after taxes and agent lawyer and all that stuff. No, I get it. Yeah. So now, now we're down under 150 each. And the first thing we did was buy brand new Jeep Grand Cherokees. Oh yeah, baby. Oh yeah. Now we had, and we were renting this place in LA, you know, like we, you know it didn't take long for us to be like dude we got to get another job you know we can't just survive on that let me ask just for reference do you know what goodwill hunting has grossed in its like time when it came out i think it was like 220 something in the theater but i have no idea what it did after that like they because they relicense it and they you know that's one of them that's just continued because it's just such an amazing film actually with our with our studio you know, that's one of the things where we really fight for is reversion rights.

34:36Like Ben called me a couple of years ago and he goes, you know, the town just got re-licensed for 35 million bucks. Um, cause it, which just means that he made a great movie and people are still watching it. Um, and he, you know, he, at the time, like that movie made a fortune. It made, it did all this stuff, but he, he was on a flat salary and he didn't, you know, I don't even think he made a million bucks for that movie. And he wrote it, directed it, start you know start in it crazy yeah one of those things so but it's like you know our view was like look if if you do something like that as as one of the real contributors to it then like if there's money kind of in perpetuity then you should you should be a part of that so hell yeah yeah yeah sounds fair seriously though speaking of uh movies you guys have been in uh when was the first movie you guys worked on together was it was a field of dreams uh we there were yeah we were extras in field of dreams that was that was one but i think even before that there was a movie um that diane keaton and liam neeson starred in uh that a little movie called the good mother and that shot uh in boston and ben and i and casey his little brother we were all extras in that and I think there's still a shot in that movie of Liam Neeson walking past us.

35:55Ben and I, I don't think you've hit puberty yet. We're like five, one. And Liam's a big dude. He's like six, five, six, six. And then we walk past him on, on, on a street at one point. So that might've been the first moment we were, we were actually on screen together. We got to find that one. I don't know. I don't know where it is. I just remember going to the movie and Ben and I were like, we're in it. We're in it. We made it. That's so cool, man. Well, while we're talking movies, you're in something else that's coming up too. We got The Rip coming up, but we also have The Odyssey? Yeah. Is that correct?

36:29Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, July. Are you Odysseus? Who are you in The Odyssey? Yeah, I'm Odysseus. Yeah. There we go. All right. All right. I had a beard like yours for like a year. I think I've seen the pictures. You were getting pretty yoked up in some of the pictures I saw too, circulating the internet. Yeah, I was in really good shape. I lost a lot of weight. like he said he he wanted me like lean but strong lean but yeah lean but strong and so i like it's a weird thing i i uh i don't want to bore the shit out of you but like i know none of this is boring at all literally like stopped eating just because of this other thing i did with my doctor stopped eating gluten and i lost like i used to walk around it between 185 and 200 yeah and and and I did that whole movie at 167.

37:19Holy cow. And I haven't been that light since high school. Like, yeah, yeah. So it was a lot of training and a really strict diet. I was going to say, so when you get, you get asked by the director or whoever asked, uh, you know, to be at that size and strength and that lean belt, do you then like go out and source a trainer that gets you to that point? Or do you already have somebody in mind? Well, I had somebody, but it's just, you know, yeah, trainers are like, what are we doing? And they can kind of do anything, you know, and it's just knowing, it's just having kind of a clear goal and setting it.

37:53It felt actually more, it's like when I do that or when I do like the Jason Bourne movies or whatever, it feels almost like a season in a, I would imagine what that feels like for you guys where you're preparing, you know, it's like just part of your day. It's part of your job, right? And it's like, yeah, and you get really routinized about it and really and kind of build your day around all that stuff. And yeah, yeah, that's that's that's kind of the physical side of getting ready. Have you had gluten since? I haven't. I'm staying strong. I'm done. I'm done. I'm gluten free. Everything. I found a gluten free beer.

38:31Nice. There we go. How about it? All right. It's been so long since I've had gluten. I can't tell if it's good or not. So that's that's that's a good sign. It's working. It's working. Well, the trailer for The Odyssey got over 121.4 million views in the first 24 hours. More than double Oppenheimer got, which was pretty successful. What do you think has so many people psyched up about this film? Wow. Well, I think for, I mean, obviously Chris, you know, you know, Chris Nolan, um, you know, I think everybody feels, I mean, I, I'm, I'm a fan too. I just love the movies that he makes and, and, um, and also, you know, just the way, you know, the, the way he insists on shooting them, you know, on this one was 100 % on IMAX.

39:18It was the first movie that was ever done all on IMAX. okay like imax cameras are really loud like it sounds like a blender like a cuisinart in your face when this camera's closed really yeah yeah and that's why so there's never been these dialogues like we couldn't have this conversation with a normal imax camera because you wouldn't be able to hear us yeah but they built this giant thing around the imax for those dialogue scenes and and like a system of mirrors so you could look at you know so your eyeline would be close to the camera and you could talk to the other actor and like the amount of work that went into figuring out how to do because he wanted to do it 100 percent IMAX um and he did it so it's like really ambitious kind of ideas that he has and like on the technical side and then just there were locations that we went that we shot in where I would get there and I'd just start laughing I'd be like nobody has any business shooting here like but like of course he wants to shoot here yeah that makes that tracks you know um but we do he has such a great crew like his crew is so badass and and everybody just maxed out on that movie and and you know and and we made all of our days we actually finished ahead of schedule like we it was just a it was an awesome experience that's awesome i haven't seen it yet you know i mean i've seen the trailer like you have but that's about it is that the way so how how far before the theatrical release do you guys get to watch it Like, is there, or do you try and like wait until that moment?

40:49No, it depends. There are some, a lot of directors, you know, if I'm doing a movie with Ben, I'm in the editing room with him the whole time. And, and there are some directors who, you know, who, who like to work that way. Chris has a process that's very, you know, he's, he's, he's screening the movie all the time to, to people outside the business. He's trying, he's very, he's grinding away at it. And so I'll see it probably in a couple of months. um you know um before it's done i mean clint eastwood like i remember clint eastwood showed me i did two movies with clint and that was just he he screened it for me like a week before the premiere but like it wasn't like he was gonna take notes he's like i hope you like it you know and so people have all different ways of working and and it's a director's medium really right like they really are the boss and, and, you know, but it can feel it, or I look at it like a partnership, but you're the, I'm the junior partner.

41:48Right. So I want to give every good idea that I want to, I want to be as helpful as possible. But at the end of the day, it's, it's their name on the movie. It really is there, you know, they're the ones who were really kind of ruthlessly judged. Um, I mean, I know actors are too, but, but in, in our world, it's really about the director. that's awesome man yeah man all right well do you want to give us some boston sports maybe let's do it baby all right what do you think about that i i'm i i'm a little nervous about the chargers i mean they're you know i you know i love players over there man they got all players they really do they got some really great players but so do we and and i love i love vrabel man oh my god i love that guy good one you guys got a good one unbelievable i can't This will be the battle of the minds between him and Harbaugh, man.

42:35Yeah. It really will, man. Both of those guys, I got so much respect for both of those guys. And obviously, have you ran into Braves before? No, I've never met him. I've never met him. A legend, dude. I've blown my voice out cheering for him like over the years. But I've never met him. And, you know, he just seems awesome. And the way he deals, it's like he took all of the best of Belichick and he's putting it through the filter of himself. And it's like, you know, everybody loves the guy. And Drake May is unbelievable, you know. He seems to have that Tom thing where he just doesn't get rattled.

43:13He's got this ability to kind of feel comfortable. And almost Tom was unbelievable at dictating the tempo of a game. Like every game that I felt like I played against him, it just felt like he always had like we were going at his pace. Right. And Drake kind of has that feel to him, especially when he's clicking. you know yeah yeah yeah and he's what 23 you know so he's just just gonna get better so i mean i can't believe we got this lucky in new england to have you guys had a three-year playoff drought and all of a sudden you got another franchise quarterback it's nuts it's i feel terrible it's like people in green bay where they go from brett farve to aaron rogers and you're like come on when does that happen but um but no it's it it's it's it's unbelievable and and given that my whole childhood we sucked so bad like the patriots were just i mean that was our childhood we grew up we grew up in cleveland so oh right yeah right man they still they're still not doing very good but they got some great players over there though they do just how about miles garrett man unbelievable heck of a year heck of a year that's the last guy i'm trying to block i'll tell you what he's the physically probably the most gifted football player i've ever played football against he's really oh my gosh Matt when you line up against him it feels like you're going up against a power ranger like some like some unearthly like yeah mighty morphing like dude I'm just like I get in front of him just like man this guy knows that the coach is not about to put me in a position to block this dude please coach that's amazing how about Aaron Donald he was the other one right that that's the one Jason got a got a good Aaron Aaron was the hardest guy I had to block i didn't really ever have to block miles like that and even aaron luckily we were double teamed most of the time so i didn't have to block him one-on-one but aaron just didn't have he had his own physical traits which were very good like he was incredibly strong and explosive miles has all that but then he also has the length just a savviness bigger size person yeah it's right it's kind of crazy when you think about both of those guys playing at the same time they were the two most gifted defensive players I played against for sure.

45:24And I think another thing that it feels like Miles has done better with this year, Aaron also had this mentality where he just was relentless. No matter what you did, he would not stop. He kept going. He ever got tired. He was like mad at you the entire time. Like, what are you mad at me about? I didn't do anything. I'm just trying to do my job. But he was like pissed. It feels like Miles feels like he was more of that this year. Like there was a relentlessness to miles that I think you felt all season long from him. And with those traits and that mentality, he saw an incredible season from him for sure.

45:59But I do want to ask you this. How do you think the Patriots will do in the playoffs? Is it like in New England? Is it are you guys so spoiled that it's like if they don't win the Super Bowl, you guys are going to be upset? No, no, no, no. OK, all right. Good. Not at all. I mean, this is a new this is a new team. Right. And I think I think this is like found money for us. Right. I feel like it's like gravy. You guys busted up in the wall. You thought I'd a quarterback. $20 million quarterback sitting in the wall. You broke in and took the sledgehammer and they would drink May. Yeah. No, and I don't know.

46:35Personally, I can't speak for everybody in New England, but look, if we get bounced in the first round, I still think this is a massive year for us, right? It's like, okay, so the future is really bright for us. with the coach that we have, with the organization, like with Bob Crapp and with the way that whole thing is set up and with that quarterback. I mean, I feel like we're in a really good spot. Obviously, we want to see them go as far as they can, but nobody's going to be like, you know, this is bullshit if they don't. You know what I mean? It's like nobody was expecting them to be there.

47:07I mean, we were expecting to kind of run into this Buffalo wall for years, right? And that wall is still there, by the way. That team will be, that team's still very, he's unbelievable. And so it's fun. It'll be competitive. I was talking to a buddy of mine. It was like, this year has been so much fun because there are like 10 teams who could win the Superbowl. And you'd be like, I'm not surprised. You know, it really is, man. It's so fun. You know, it's so wide open when you had those like new England dynasties or Kansas city dynasties. It's not fun for anybody else. It's only fun for us. Well done.

47:42Well done with that. But every time I thought the whole year, like the Patriots, it feels like they're a few pieces away. I'm like, ah, they don't really have the kind of level of talent you think they need. But every week they find a way to win. And I'm with you. The more I watch Drake May, the more I'm just so impressed with his tempo. He makes everything look easy. Like when he's back there and he throws the ball. It's the simplest decision he had to make. Right. It's like, why is this game so easy? Yeah, that's right. It feels it's like inevitable. It's like, oh, obviously that was going to happen.

48:18You know, yeah, it's it shouldn't be that. It shouldn't look that easy. No. Well, speaking of Patriot quarterbacks, Ben, obviously, friend of the show, he was on here talking about the greatest moment of his life other than the birth of his children was running routes with Brady. I can't believe he got to do that. I can't believe he got to do that. And the way he told the story was iconic. I mean, I got mad. I was like, you're going to fuck up his timing. You're so slow. like don't play catch with Brady unless you're just standing still like don't do that but yeah no I can't I'm jealous he got to do that I was gonna say what's your what's your best or your favorite Boston sports moment well mine's super personal because I because I the my best Boston sports moment actually was was uh in 1999 at the celebrity at the all-star game I did the hitting challenge thing but then that night they let us onto the field to take batting practice at midnight and i and my dad was a pitcher he was a left-handed pitcher and and he uh and we were taking batting practice he was trying to get he wanted me to hit the ball he wasn't trying to strike me out but i hit one off the green monster off my dad which was like and i literally it happened and we both looked at each other and i was like i'll never need therapy in my life i'll just go back to this moment that's it we're good oh that's so But in terms of the great teams, like I like there are so many, you know, so many unbelievable moments.

49:46And yeah. And Brady gave us. Oh, my God. Him alone. That guy just gave us 20 years of him. So we were, you know, we don't deserve Drake, May. We'll take him. That's so iconic, man. Have you ever gotten any working with Brady? Have you met Tom? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know him. I've I met him a bunch over the years. And like, yeah, he's, he, he, he just, I don't know to me for you guys, cause you, you guys excel at that championship level. And to me, it always strikes me across anything that you do. It's always the people who do the extra work, the extra thing. Like I remember the year after we went, New England went 18 and one and we lost to the giants in the Superbowl.

50:28And I had dinner with Tom and a bunch of guys and you know, they, they brought a bottle of red wine around and everyone's getting a glass of red wine. And Tom's like, no. And I looked at him and I was like, really? I'm like, it's May. Like your camp starts in like two months. And he was like, no, like he was just like, he was in that, like, I'm, I'm my life. I'm going to live my commitment to this thing. You know what I mean? And he just had that insane discipline. And, and, uh, I took my nephew to a game once down in Miami. We were living down there and my nephew played football. It was played, you know, in the, in the, in the little, uh, Pembroke Pines league down in Miami.

51:04and I took him and I was like Tom I'm bringing my nephew and he was nine at the time and and we get to the you know we're we're down on the field everybody's warming up and he's like am I gonna get to meet Tom and I'm like probably not now maybe after the game like look he's he's about to go to work you know Troy this is a real you know he's working right now this is serious sure enough Tom comes running over he's like already sweating he's just warmed up my nephew's sitting on the on the bench and he's he's sitting at the end of the bench and Tom runs up to him and gets in his face and he's like you're gonna root for me today troy looking up at him and he just can't talk and he just nods he just nods and tom goes tom goes gets in his face like they're both nine years old and goes we're gonna kill these guys

51:58he couldn't have meant it more either i was unbelievable and then he runs off the locker I was like, that was the greatest thing I've ever seen. But it was like two nine-year-olds talking to each other. Hell yeah. We're going to fucking smoke. Yeah, literally. I mean, there might have been an F-bomb in there. For sure. You got to make sure he feels it. You got to make sure. Yeah, he's got to know. How do you rank your Boston sports fandoms by the sport? Sox, Pats, Celtics, Bruins? That's tough. I would definitely say Red Sox kind of for, for me growing up, that was the thing. Like that was the, definitely, um, the top and the sport I played the most.

52:38Um, and then basketball, I played a lot too. So, so if you, you know, if you had asked me, uh, when I was growing up, I would have said baseball, basketball, football, hockey. But when I look at, I just, because I guess braid everybody, we just bought into that. like everybody got so caught up in like oh you get wrapped in it i'm sure yeah we got said if i actually think of what i spent more time watching like the last 20 years probably football yeah yeah not including football who's your favorite uh boston sports athlete like who who's your guy from growing up that you're like that's my like travis's is carlos by erga from the cleveland shout out to carlos man yeah i got carlton fisk hey he was he was uh let's go yeah yeah it was a big part of like we wrote the whole scene in goodwill hunting about him and and uh there's a whole kind of reference to him in that movie and there was a whole team you know in 77 78 those guys like i you know i used to go through you know we have batting practice and i go through all their stances from each side of the play like i just knew you know that those are my guys all of them man go to the game get the get the program start to keep score in the back man yeah it's just the best well let me ask you this where's you mentioned the green monster i i was fortunate to like go get a tour at that ballpark when i was uh visiting boston in high school for some reason what where's the best place to sit in that stadium like it's such an i it's like that and Wrigley Field are like the two baseball stadiums that are the most iconic.

54:16What's the best seat in the stadium, you think? There are a lot of them, actually, depending on – I mean, now, like, what they've done now by putting seats up on the Green Monster, like, that's insane up there. I went to – I sat in kind of the last box next to those seats a couple years ago when I went up, and that was absolutely crazy. I was fortunate enough. I went to when they were doing the one-game wildcard playoff scenarios. Boston actually played the Yankees at Fenway. I was there. They won 1-0. I was actually sitting up on the green monster. No way. You sat on the green monster? I sat on the green monster and literally saw a line drive come probably 10 feet from or 10 yards from me.

55:04And when it hit that monster, dude, it fell like a dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Boom, and everybody's going nuts, dude. It was – Boston's an unbelievable sports town, man. Did they leave you alone up there in the monster? Yeah, it wasn't too bad. Some of the Air Force had some fun with me, but – Yeah. Yeah, it was all of that, dude. I'm here for it, man. What's up, Travis? What are you doing here, bro? Yeah, exactly. There we go. You already know. It was epic, dude. I'm here for the chatter anyway. All day, baby. How much do you hate Jason and the Eagles for beating the Pats and us? Super Bowl 52. Come on.

55:38Well, I well, congratulations, Jay. I still don't understand why he didn't put Malcolm Butler in the game. I will never understand that. It's a fair question. Like I because I think because we punt that game. I don't know if we might have. It was a high scoring game. Tom Tommy threw for like five hundred and something yards. Nobody ever done that performance. Yeah, it was just unreal. And like we just needed to stop you. Like we never stopped you, Jason. It's one of the best Super Bowls ever, man. I think we punted once, and I think that was the only punt, if I remember correctly. I wonder, actually, I'll bet you, I'll tell you what, man.

56:16We might have punted, if we punted at all, we punted once probably. That's probably got to be the record for the least punts in a Super Bowl. It was the highest scoring game, and then I think we broke that record again when we played Travis in the Super Bowl. I think that was the only other one that got higher scoring or something like that. But Tom's day, that was his best Super Bowl of his career. Yeah, the Patriots did that punt. The Patriots didn't. Yeah, the punters were – both punters were having a Coke and some popcorn on the sideline that game. Yeah. It's a fair question. He never answered it, though.

56:51So I always wondered about that. There was something personal. There was something weird because it's like, why does a guy play 99 % of the snaps and then you tell him while the national anthem's playing that he's not playing? Especially a player of that caliber, man. And then you've got to switch everybody around to different positions like that they haven't played. It's like they're suddenly in a preseason. You've been practicing for it for the past two weeks? Yeah. There's something weird about it, man. I could never figure that out. I think he got in trouble for like missing a meeting or something like that, didn't he?

57:19There was something leading up to it. Fuck that meeting. I know. I agree. I agree. But this is kind of like, tell me what I missed. It's also the thing. It's the Patriot way, though. You can't be missing meetings. Yeah, but then maybe after the first quarter when you can't stop their offense, Maybe you're like, okay, you learned your lesson. Get in there. Or maybe after the first half, okay, now I've really, you know, I've proved my point. But like, will you never put the dude in? It really is actually, I think, more selfish not to play the best guy because like everybody else wants to win. By the way, the Patriots way is do your job, right?

57:55The Patriots way is you got 53 guys who gave up absolutely everything. They gave it, they sacrificed everything. And that's your whole thing. And so like, what does it say? If like you have an ax to grind with somebody that you're not going to play him? Like, it's just. Exactly. It's, yeah, to your point, it's kind of selfish. It feels weird. Yeah. It definitely feels like. Ego. Ego is the enemy of everything. That's my, that's my, it really is. Like it's certainly in my line of work. Like if, if you can't just like your allegiance has to be to the best idea. Like you're all, you're all a lesser part of the thing you're making.

58:30And, and you got to put that first. And if you do that, if everyone does that, it's going to be everything's going to work out. Have you felt like you've been able to do that your whole career? Or do you get to a point where you've been through that enough where it's like, all right, selfishly, I want to go in. I feel like this is the best thing. But in order for this to work out the best, we really need to operate together in a different. No, I never feel like those things are like mutually exclusive. I never feel, I always feel like my best interest is aligned with making the thing that we're making as, as good as we can make it.

59:04And, and, and that it requires everybody to have that attitude. And so like when I, when I hear stories, I've never, I don't think I've ever been on a set where somebody was really misbehaving or anything like that was happening. I hear those stories. I'm like mystified by those stories. I'm like, man, the fuck was that person doing? Like, like, you know what I mean? Like, sure. It's all about like, just trying to make the thing as good as you can make it. and it's a collaborative project oh yeah be a good teammate man yeah exactly exactly and with a director who is the director it's like a benevolent dictatorship like the director basically yeah 51 yeah exactly yeah 51 coach andy andy reads the director this is bullshit travis shut up got it yeah exactly there you go but if you really like that guy right you know or woman if you really like that you have right then that's that's a perfect deal because, because you're, because you're never going to be misaligned with them because you kind of see things the same way.

1:00:03Yeah, absolutely. That's cool to hear. It kind of translates into, into your line of work and your world too, man. I think like the, the older I get, the more crossover there is kind of in all this stuff about like how you approach stuff. And it makes me think about how to talk to my kids about that and like whatever they want to do, you know, these, these things will, will kind of bear bearing across all, you know, all of these different kind of disciplines because they kind of work for everything. Yeah. Hey, is it too, are you, are you, have you announced Trav if you're going to keep playing?

1:00:35Is there a still, are you, is that a big secret at this point? Do you take time at this point? Yeah. I think I'm just going to take some time, let it, let it kind of fizzle out, let everything happen, get away from the game. First time I've not had a job in January in a long time. So I'm going to go ahead and enjoy, you know, hanging out with some family and putting my feet up, watching some football, seeing how this crazy, anybody can win it type of season plays out. But yeah, I'm just trying to figure it all out myself. And I'll do that with the family and friends. And, you know. No, yeah, yeah.

1:01:10No, it's a big decision. I remember Michael Strahan years ago came over to watch the Super Bowl and he was thinking about retiring and we're the same age. And I was like, come on, man, we're in our prime. You're, you know, And he was like, look, it takes a lot to get ready. You know, there's a lot of work that goes into it. And, you know, he was telling me on that, kept pushing, kept pushing. Finally, he turns to me, he goes, Matt, I get in 35 car accidents a week.

1:01:40And he's the one doing that. Well, yeah. So, yeah, he's initiating them. Yeah. But that's a real consideration. Like, you know, and it's easy to sit at home, enjoy watching you guys play and be like, why don't they play another season yes i mean when when you get the call when you're 45 like philip rivers baby god how good was that you're never out of it for him everyone loved it dude we all wanted him to go and fucking get him into the playoffs or at least put up some dubs and um yeah man that shit was epic he did a good job as a great i thought he did do a really good job and as a granddad man i was like unbelievable like insane yeah with his high school team watching I thought playing the game was awesome to watch, but then even his comments after the game about just like not being afraid and like facing things.

1:02:28Like I just think it was – Yeah, having that courage, yeah. Man, he's such a – just the pinnacle of what a quarterback and like a football player is. So it was awesome to see him back out there. It is also cool to see guys. Like you guys get so much better at your job. It's such a weird thing because you guys get better at your job, but your skills, you know, decline as you age. Mentally, you keep going this way. Yeah. Yeah. Fortunately, the physical aspects start going down. When he got out there, he looked like he hadn't missed a beat. Like he, the game was slow for him. He was like, no, I know what this app, I've seen that before.

1:02:58I know what they're going to do. It felt like he was in control. Yeah. Yeah, totally. So that was really, that was really cool. I've always thought that's a tough part of, of, you know, the, the, the athlete's life is, is, um, I talked to a baseball player once who was kind of a journeyman, second baseman and he was retired. He was like 37 and he was retiring and I said, what happened? And he was like, well, he's like, look, my bread and butter was a 95 mile an hour fastball. And he goes, someone threw me a 95 mile an hour fastball. My eyes got big and I swung and I was late. And I looked at the catcher and the catcher looked at me and then I looked at the pitcher and he goes, and he gave me another one and I was late again.

1:03:37He struck me out on three pitches. He goes, and then, you know, with all the analytics, they're all looking at you. He goes, within two weeks, I was out of the league. like everybody was throwing this fastball. And he goes, the sad thing for me is that I, I, he goes, I know more about hitting now. He goes, if you, if you put my 37 year old brain in my 21 year old body, I'd be in the hall of fame. Yeah. It's crazy to imagine like that, but you're, yeah, that's a crazy thing. Cause I was, I was about his age and I was like, I'm just getting into the meat of my career now. Like this is, this is getting more and more fun.

1:04:12And that's, that's, it's a tough decision, man. It's a tough decision. So I feel for you, whatever you make is going to be the right decision though. Like we said earlier, man, this is a silly life I get to live brother. So whether, whether, whether I'm coming back on the field or not, man, I'm, I'm, I'm still living it to the fullest, man. Well, and you guys, this is great too. This whole forum and everything that you guys made here is like, it's like, see, there's a lot, you know, it was like, well, like Stray Ann said to me years ago you know like he he had he there was another life after that he that he was excited about too so yeah and straight man he's been a awesome dude to me since i've been in the league and helped me uh numerous off seasons uh trying to figure things out so shout out to straight yeah always looking out man thank you to our partner hbo max the pit is back with a brand new season tomorrow january 8th at 9 p.m eastern all righty here's the deal it's starring emmy award winner Noah Wiley.

1:05:07The quickly acclaimed HBO Max series follows a real-time shift with 15 high-stake hours told across 15 must-see episodes. How about it? One episode for every hour. That sounds pretty intense. Yeah, and they're extra-long shifts. Normally shifts only last 12 hours. But for the doctors and nurses on The Pit, the work never stops. Look at you, knowing hospital hours. Don't miss The Pit season two premiering tomorrow night on hbo max thank you to our sponsor all state checking all state first could save you hundreds on car insurance that's smart not checking the reviews before you try a new restaurant not so smart yeah did you know a tasting menu means you literally get one bite per course yeah checking first is smart so check all state first for a quote they could save you hundreds you're in good hands with all state potential savings vary subject to terms conditions and availability all state north american insurance company and affiliates north brook illinois all right now thank you to our sponsor starbucks jason you know that morning chaos you got your protein shake in one hand you got your coffee in the other you're trying not to spill everything before your workout yeah starbucks just fixed that whole situation boy did they meet your partner in crime.

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1:07:50Swole. Yeah. I mean, listen, I can get on board with this morning routine very easily. Let's go ahead and get into this last segment. It's called We Gotta Ask, but you don't have to answer. You can tell us to fuck off. You were talking about your kids earlier as a fellow father of four girls. What is your piece? What is your best piece of girl dad advice for Jason over here? Man, I got nothing. I got nothing for you. You're in it. You're in it. I heard before we started, I heard the kids in the back. I was like, oh, my God. You know, I do. I do have to say that, you know, there was a you guys went to eat or at least your wife did at a restaurant in Montana.

1:08:31Ming Tsai is the chef there and Ming's a friend of mine. And he told me this was the greatest thing. He goes, Jason Kelsey's wife is a rock star.

1:08:43he literally was like she came in he goes she's got like an eighth eight month old on one arm she's got a toddler here she had she had four kids hanging off her he was like she is a boss it was like it was very very cool so i don't think i need to give you any advice because it sounds like you married the right woman and she's a boss you know she is a boss and she's got to deal with me too a fifth kid she doesn't even yeah i unfortunately missed that because i to do Monday Night Football, but I heard she's phenomenal. She's incredible with the kids. The only bit of advice, whenever I get asked that question too, and my first thing I tell people with advice with kids is don't listen to any advice anybody else can.

1:09:22Yeah, you got to figure it out. They're all so different. I don't know how you feel about yours, but the moment one comes out, they're like more sensitive. This one's a little bit more like rambunctious. Like every single one of them is like their own person. And it's like right away. Yeah. The moment they start talking, it feels like they're different, man. I used to have the, I used to be a real, you know, in that nature nurture argument, I, I, but I'm now on this like nature, like that's a thing, you know, like your kids show up like that spirit, that soul is there and it's going to do what it's going to do.

1:09:56And, and, and the nurture part is very important. You're going to be appalled. Helping with that. But, but they really are who they are like right away. And, and, and it's, that's like a bit of profound. and they, and as they grow older, you still see in their infant face, you still see them as their, you know, it's the only thing I'd say, an old friend of mine said when my, when my 19 year old was probably 18 months said, don't blink, don't blink. And then that, and that is, that shit is real. My daughter broke her collarbone and, and, uh, this morning she was getting ready for school. She's 17 and she asked me to brush her hair.

1:10:35And so I, I brushed her hair and I, man, it was like, I hadn't brushed her hair. I don't know, eight, nine years, you know what I mean? But, but you're at that stage now where it's like, you get them ready. It's like, you're brushing, they're lined up and you're like, right. And, and those, and it's the great, and I don't remember the last time that, I don't remember when I brushed her hair for the last time. It just kind of happened. And then life kind of kept going. And the changes are so incremental that like, you don't realize until, until I, I ran the hairbrush through her hair and it's the same, like all of it.

1:11:10It's, you know what I mean? And it, it buckled me, man. It's like, so, so don't blink. Okay. I like that. I like that a lot. All right. Um, you mentioned, uh, just a second ago about how, you know, an athlete learns more and they actually know more. They wish they knew more when they were younger as an actor, writer, producer, is there something, you know, now that you really wish you knew when you were, Oh my God. Yeah. I mean, it's the same as like, it's like, it's for me, how would, I would love to go back and remake all the movies again. You know what I mean? And, and, uh, like, I remember, you know, working with Steven Spielberg early on in my career and going like, I don't know enough about filmmaking to be next to this man right now.

1:11:53Like I have so many questions and I don't know what the right questions are yet. And so I remember just following him around and just, I remember everything that guy ever said to me because I was trying to bank it because I knew it was going to come in handy. And then as, you know, in the intervening 30 years or whatever, I've, I, I, things that he said have come back as I've kind of learned them and go, Oh man, that's what he was talking about. You know? So those kinds of things, I, I really got lucky in that I got to work with some amazing people and I'd love to be able to go back through that process and work with even if i could just work with the people that i've already worked with again um there's so much i didn't know and and uh and that's kind of the fun thing about making movies it's like it's it's it's always a different job the challenges of a day are always different and uh and it's always fun battle of the unknown well uh you're talking about uh some of your previous movies um friend of the show george clooney told that don't listen to anything that guy says everyone you guys are in talks with another oceans movie oh okay i thought he was gonna play some fucking practical joke on me i love that that's immediately where it goes he's just and he'll do the long ones that just go for you know it's he set it up nine years ago um no yeah well they're yeah they're talking about it um you know i don't know we'll see uh you know these things there's always they're always talking about it's a it's a it's a weird business you never know how things will coalesce and um i mean i'd love i'd love that group of guys and obviously we're we're down a few now uh you know um we've lost a couple over the years but like the there's a lot of love in that group for sure so yeah if we can get our shit together that'd be a lot of fun hell yeah we have a clip here from school ties where you play a football player oh yeah would would you mind breaking this play down for us Sure.

1:13:45Oh, yeah. Oh, let's go. Yeah! Come on. No bar, baby. Let's go. Run your ass off for me. It said block your ass off for me. Yeah. Watch what Brendan Fraser does to me. Dude, look at Brendan Fraser. I really wanted to score the touchdown. Let's go! But he's the good player. So guess what, Matt? Oh, no! Yeah! Yeah! that's a textbook team player baby this is like this is legendary dude yeah not only could i not do the cut block he actually had to throw me in to the right position yeah yeah that was the first uh first feature film that i had a big role in and ben's in that movie too that was a good it was ben ben uh ben affleck's in that Cole Hauser's in that.

1:14:40Oh, wow. Brendan, Chris O'Donnell's in there. Like, there's a really, there's a hell of a group of guys. But we were all 20 years old. That's crazy. That was awesome. When you made the movie air, did you get a chance to meet Mike? No. Ben went down and talked to Mike. And I was supposed to go, but my kids had something that day. So I stayed here. And Ben went down to meet Mike. and because this was before we made the deal to do it because we knew that if if mike didn't wasn't down with it then you know you guys wanted to respect that a respected and v like there there would be no like we'd put all this work into a movie and then if if jordan came out and was like that's bullshit like the movie's just dead no i hear you so but we want we we wanted his his blessing even though you know he wasn't going to be a part of it it wasn't hit you know we but Ben went down and talked to him and, and, and a lot came out of that meeting.

1:15:36In fact, he gave us kind of people who were more instrumental than we understood from the original script we read. So we rewrote it. The biggest thing he said was, um, cause Ben asked him about his, his, uh, his parents. And he was like, you know, what, you know, what, what role did your dad play? What do you need? And, and, and Mike said, he got, he was like, um, my dad was a great guy and he goes my mom runs shit really yeah and Ben was like really and he was like yeah my mom runs shit and Ben was like oh shit I talked to you right for sure he's like you want to try to call my mother he's like no like yeah and and Ben was like okay well who should play your mother and before he got mother out Mike was like Viola Davis wow so just do it right away Ben called me up from Florida where he was meeting with them.

1:16:29And he was like, dude, good news, bad news. I'm like, what? He's like, but we got Mike's blessing. He's like, he's like, we got to rewrite the entire script because it's all about, it's all about his mother. And I go, okay, you know, great. And he, and he goes, oh, I go, what's the bad news? And he goes, there's only one actor who, and I was like, who? And he's like, Viola Davis. And I'm like, all right, you want me to call, we got to call American treasure Viola Davis. Listen, we can't make this movie unless you make it with us. So that was, there was a great young writer on that, on that project.

1:17:01And, and he, we kind of rebuilt the whole thing around her character and try to make a role that was worthy of, you know, Viola. That's awesome. Very cool. Very cool. Is there anybody that you've worked with? You worked with a lot of acting legends, but is there anyone that you were starstruck with on set? Yeah. I mean, I think that's happened a lot of times to me. but I went on, on Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks said something to all of us. I actually, I asked him about a, he did this movie a long time ago called Nothing in Common and Jackie Gleason played his father. And Jackie Gleason was like this, you know, bigger than life, you know, star of the honeymooners and all this.

1:17:45And, and I asked him, Tom about it. And, and Tom said, I asked him if he was nervous. And Tom goes, you know what? He stopped and he goes, I made the decision not to be nervous. I made the decision not to be intimidated by, and it was, it was really good advice. I was like 25 or 26 and it was, and it was like, you know, you got to just approach the work, you know, and you got to approach people kind of as they are, you know what I mean? It was just like a very, it was very helpful in the sense that, you know, I think I could have been intimidated by a lot of the people that I am – because I'm a fan of theirs.

1:18:24I'm a fan. And I still feel that way about a lot of people I work with. But it's more like it's better to appreciate them for the work that they do, but leave the rest of the shit at the door so that you can actually get some work done. Oh, yeah. That's awesome advice, man. Shout out to Tom Hanks, man. I'm going to start using that advice. The man with one red shoe, baby. Let's go. Yeah. the money pit we always end the segment by asking everyone what was their welcome to hollywood moment the story you just told us was pretty fucking iconic early in your career but uh was there ever a moment that was just like holy shit i'm doing this or um could it be good could be bad could be just uh you know yeah i think that the biggest like the one i think about all the time was when Good Will Hunting, when we, you know, it was such a, like a roller coaster from, from writing it to selling it to, you know, developing it to going and the turnaround to getting picked up at another studio.

1:19:23There's all this stuff that the first day we were shooting and we were actually rolling film and the movie was getting made. And, and it was a scene between Stellan Skarsgård and Robin Williams. Ben and I weren't even in the scene, but we went to watch. and when they called action and those two like heavyweight actors amazing actors started talking started saying the shit that we wrote like we just just tears coming down and i think that was like that was that was definitely a kind of an amazing moment uh because it was like this is real like even if nothing happens with this movie like we got it made we're doing it we were like we were like rocky in the first one where it's like we didn't even want the belt we just wanted to go 15 rounds and be and still be there and so that was kind of the moment where we were like this movie is actually going to happen that's awesome fucking iconic if you had any advice for somebody that was looking into getting into writing or acting or what would your advice be like what's what's the best way to get started or learn or yeah i don't know well it's like a trade so it's It's to do it, you know?

1:20:32And so find really good people to study under and try to apprentice yourself too. And, you know, if you want to write screenplays, I'd go probably online now. You can probably get every screenplay. Just read. Just read, you know, read 10 of them a week and just start by osmosis. You'll start to understand kind of the form. Read the movies that you like and see what they look like in script form and then read movies even that you don't like very much and see what they look like. And, um, and, and that's kind of how I, that's kind of how we did it. We, we kind of backed into writing because, um, because we were unemployed, nobody wanted us.

1:21:10And so we were like, we better write our own thing. And we were kind of able to do that because we'd read so many hundreds of scripts and, and then seeing those movies get made and seeing what became of them and seeing, we had seen what got cut out and, and, and what survived and what worked on the page and what worked on the screen and all that stuff. So yeah, the more you can expose yourself to it and be around other people who are interested in it and, and, you know, make it, make it a focus for, for your time and energy, then, you know, the better, the better shot you have. It's a brutal business though.

1:21:41You know, I wouldn't, you know, my old answer to that was always like, I would just, I just tell people don't do it. No, honestly, because every single person told us not to do it. Like everybody, there was nobody in my life who said, yeah, this is good. You should do this. Like it's, it was a suicide mission basically, you know, like you're not going to make any money. You're not going to, you know, you're just going to go out and get beaten down by the world. It's like a, you know, in the first hundred times you go audition, you usually just get rejected and it's humiliating. And it's like, you know, you gotta have, you gotta really, really, really want.

1:22:17Do you think the landscape has changed at all from when you were trying to come up? Totally, totally, totally different business. Like I don't, I don't know what to, I have trouble cause I don't know where the business is going. And so I don't know what to tell, but, but the things that matter still matter. Like if you love acting, if you love writing, then, then it's, it doesn't matter where the business is going. You're going to find your place in the business. But, um, but, but yeah, just, just doing it as much as you can. Like it really is. It's, it's a trade. Like people try to put all this hocus pocus around it, but it's like, you know being a carpenter like you know can you build a house right so it's just start start working on that and and uh and eventually you'll be able to get out put in man yeah yeah absolutely brother thank you for the wisdom thank you for the stories here we go appreciate the time man thank you guys man and thank you thank you for the rip man on netflix january 16th everybody go check it out matt david thank you guys i really appreciate it you guys are awesome bro thank you Thank you for coming on, brother.

1:23:18Thank you for having me, man. This is awesome. I really do watch you guys a lot. Like, for a dude who's supposed to have a job. We appreciate it, man. Sorry for taking up your real space. No. I am going to get recommended this on my fucking phone. It's going to be great. All righty, everybody. That wraps up this episode of New Hyde. Thank you so much to Matt Damon. Yeah. This is absurd that we get to talk to an individual of his thatcher. And we will take full advantage of it. Make sure you subscribe to the New Heights channel on YouTube and follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:23:56You can listen to new episodes of New Heights ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Once again, New Heights, a Wondery show brought to you by Intuit TurboTax. Don't forget to do your taxes, ladies and gentlemen. You can make it a whole lot easier by doing it with Intuit TurboTax. Follow the show on all social media at new height show with one S for fun clips throughout the week. We got a bunch of them for you, man, Matt Damon. Thank you so much. Thank you to the new heights production, the team for making this thing a fun ride for all of us. And thank you to the 92 % for tuning in.

1:24:28Hope you guys enjoyed it. We'll see you next week.

1:24:39All righty. I don't know. Brown cat. I don't know. Brown cat. Unique New York. Did you hear that? Unique New York. Did you hear that? Did you just rip it? Yeah. You heard it? I thought that was you, yeah. Yeah. I was holding it in the entire Matt Damon interview. Not going to lie. You're a respectable man. Yeah. Talking to a fucking manager. You should have tried it. You should have saw if he was broke.

1:25:05Do I smell something through my... Do you guys smell that? Why do I taste that? You hear how wet it is. What is it about a good? It's like foggy. I'm going to ask you a question. The air got foggy. I'm going to ask you a question, Matt. Have you ever Dutch ovened yourself?

1:25:27Is that? That's a thing for sure. I mean, a thing. I've done it multiple times just to see where I'm at. You do it as an experiment? Yeah. You do it. All right, here, let me check. Oh, wow. I mean, it's my brand. Let me check the old exit, see how we're doing here. I got no problem with my brand. Wow, that is pungent. So does it mean anything if it's like different? I feel like I can tell my protein intake based on how my farts smell. Ooh, does it get more sour, the more protein? It gets more like dense. like if you're eating too much protein like your body isn't properly uh like harnessing and utilizing to build muscle if you start eating too much protein then it almost feels like there's like a change in the atmospheric pressure with your fart like it's like there's more molecules in the area you see you know i'm saying like there's a pressure that is in there like you are like wow that is thick that's when you know you're eating too much protein all right so i can sometimes gauge it if i'm trying to see like oh did i eat the right amount of protein then you fart and then you're like oh yeah i'm definitely way too much protein that's basically water that's steam i got steam coming on my ass right now yeah Yeah.