“Matt Damon (and Tracey!) LIVE in Madison”

23:38I don't know what it is, whether what they wear or how they act or what, I don't know. But you've always been to me a really famous actor as opposed to some big flashy celebrity. But you have all the fame of a celebrity, but people think of you as a - Right, you're not a TikToker. Right. Well, I'm trying. Are you trying? Are you trying? Brian, you working on it? I mean, to get my kids... I'm not. Oh, no. Are you out of your mind? No. Sean, he is. I am. Are you? Yeah, I do things like that stupid thing. Or I do like a chair. No. Then I have to get on TikTok and follow you. But my kids won't let me get on TikTok.

24:19Why? Because they're like, Dad, you're lame. You can't get on TikTok, really. Yeah, yeah. We were going through that about the dad lame thing, and Jason was worried. I accused him of looking like cool dad tonight. Yeah, I got a terrible outfit on today. No, no, no, you look great. No, yeah, what'd you call me? Rock and roll dad. Rock and roll.

24:40With this ridiculous hair, I need to get cut. I look like Chrissy Hine. I have that going, too, because I have to go. I have this thing I have to do in L.A. tomorrow for the next movie. It's like one of the hair and makeup tests. You have an excuse. They tell you not to cut your hair or shave for a month. Right, but you don't have to wear this ridiculous denim outfit. I don't. I don't. We're at the end of the tour. I'm down to loose ends, you know? Short ends. I want to do it because I like that topic about you being an actor, not just like a personality because it's true. And you went to Harvard, but did you only went for one year?

25:12Did you go for four years or what? I went for five years. But I got, yeah, I got credit for three of them. You know, what would happen with, I'd get to like wherever I was in a semester, if I got a job, I'd take the acting job and then, you know, and then go away and then come back. And take a leave of absence and go away and come back. And there was one semester, I mean, I was three weeks away and I said, can I just finish? I'm just about done. I just have to take my finals. And they said, you can do it if you take your finals at the exact moment they're offered in Cambridge. And I'm like, well, I can't shut a movie down for three hours, four different times.

25:48Like I'm number nine on the call sheet. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Back then, yeah, I wasn't. I was just like... Was it hard? What? Like... The school? Just humor him. Humor him. No, but I just... From what I've been told... Was Harvard hard? Well, this is why I asked, because I have heard that people say, you'd be surprised, college in general is not as difficult as a high-level high school program. Like, if you take AAP classes or whatever, I don't want to have a high school diploma. Just bear with me. Like, the general ed in college is not as difficult as it can be in high school because it's voluntary school and they're not really grinding you.

26:37You're trying to... You're disciplining yourself. Voluntary school. No, no, yeah. It's so fun watching his brain work and how he thinks about stuff. It's amazing. Was it difficult? I mean, it depends. For me, it was always if I liked the class, it wasn't difficult. because it's kind of like, you know, if you have the job you love, you never really are working. People go, well, you work such long hours, and you go, no, I mean, I'm... But aren't those first two years you have to take general ed? You have to take the... It's the second two years where you get to say, well, now I want to be, you know, this person.

27:12They had core requirements, right? So you had to, no matter what you were studying, they wanted to make sure you took a lot of different classes across the other... And this will all be on the syllabus, so you guys, you'll be able to see for yourself. I mean, obviously it was hard. I didn't finish, so, you know. Did not finish. Did not graduate? You didn't graduate? No, no, no. If I were to ever... I'm still on a leave of absence, guys, okay? All right. Don't... This ain't over yet, okay? Don't count me out. I would be a senior if I went back. You're so close. You want to go back? No. I'll go with you.

27:46All right. Let's see. We go back and, like, do this and kind of, like, teach or something, and then they just give us diplomas. Yeah, we get a degree in hosting. I got a, you know, have you ever done a commencement speech? I did the commencement speech at MIT. Yeah, they don't ask me for that stuff. Six years ago. You could, and they're supposed to give you, you know, Ben, I know he did one at Brown, and Ben got a diploma from Brown. Tracy, that's Ben Affleck. Yeah.

28:16But the great thing about that was that John Krasinski went to Brown and is very proud of that, and studied and worked really hard for four years and got a diploma, and Ben called him and said, I was in Rhode Island for 45 minutes, and I got it. I love that. And when I gave the commencement thing at MIT, they don't give you even, like, an honorary diploma. They're like, it's MIT. Like, no, you don't get one. So if you don't even ballot your parking. And I'm like, that's cool. No school in this city gives me a diploma, so it's fine. Hang on. Bear with me for one more second. If you give a commencement speech, you get a diploma from that?

28:50Yes, an honorary doctorate. I got one of those too. Do you have to have a high school diploma before you leave? By the way, asking for a friend. I'm just asking for a friend. No, no, no. If you've got something they want to hear so badly that you're considered an expert and you get an honorary... I'm screwed. For God's sake. All right, so listen. You mentioned Ben. I don't think I know this answer. When did you meet Ben Affleck? When and how? uh i was because we always associate you too i was 10 and he was eight and uh really oh and we lived two blocks from each other and uh and i didn't know that yeah yeah we grew up together and that's why it's so weird because we didn't have anybody in our families in show business we didn't have any boston isn't a show business town you know it was not not really you know and uh and we and we just had this weird obsession and we were we were probably grew up 200 yards away from each other and met each other and and just like out on the street like playing yeah we used to play little league together we used to play you know he was a little younger than me but when he got to high school i was a junior and he was a freshman and that's when we really started hanging and then we you know we got agents he had an agent he had been on an after school special he had been on a he was like the big star of our school yeah yeah yeah was he like was he like a big shot in high when he had the after school special when he arrived at the high school it was like and i had to set him straight because i i was the lord of that theater department and and i and he likes to tell this story apparently i went up to him like first day and like pulled him up and was like hey you know it's different here in the theater yeah that was great right away yeah you're not gonna you're not gonna get by on your looks that's hilarious we were both like five two what were some of the theater things like do you still love theater do you want to do theater do you do theater i actually yeah i did i did a ton of theater in high school and college um and uh We had an extraordinary, amazing, amazing, amazing teacher.

31:12And it was, I mean, just from that school, me and Ben and Casey, his brother. And I mean, there's just a ton of people who came out of that program. Sean Hader, who's just got nominated for an Oscar for CODA. She's the director of CODA. She went through that program. Like, there are a lot of really, because we just had this unbelievable teacher. But I was going to say, because when I went to see you. Don't leave it. Don't keep it there. keep talking when when i went to see you on broadway and i had done i had done a play in london 20 years ago and with casey affleck actually and and and i went to uh you know 10 years later or whatever which is probably 10 years ago when was it when yeah 2010 2010 today was his promises promises promises and so So we...

32:03Vote for applause, Matt. It was... And obviously, he was amazing. Very sweet. No, it was awesome. And we see it, and we were totally into it. It was deep into the run, though. And we went backstage, and I have never seen a more... It made me never want to do theater again. Yeah, exactly. I looked at you, and you were just like, I'm... I was like, hey, what's going on? Hi. Scott, he just had his hand around. He was just holding you up. You were like, eight shows a week. who would do this? You were so tired. It was awful. And you still had like a month and a half to go. Yeah, it was at the finish line.

32:39But you were so nice to come, A, and B, to see the show, and B, you wore those, I sent you a long time ago, as a birthday gift, T-shirts with my picture on it. Oh, that's right. And you wore it to the show. That's right. Oh, my God. That's right. And I forgot that. I totally forgot about that. And it had holes in it, and you're like, I sleep in it. Because I did, because you know those shirts that you wash so many times? They're like, they're better than, so that was my Sean Hayes shirt. Yeah. Didn't it say something? What did you write? There was some great, it was really funny. I can't believe I can't remember this.

33:13I probably wore it 600 times. No, no, you were so sweet. And I, too, get better the more you wash me, I guess. Would you, what about, have you ever done musicals? No, you haven't. Yes, really? Of course. Hang on. Oh, my God, in high school? Pippin? I was pimpin' No way Fuck yeah What? Yeah I totally Every man has a season Everybody has its time Show me a reason And I'll soon show you a rhyme Oh my god I literally I sing that to my daughter To drive her Really? I do With the choreography we did It was like Let's see it Here we go It was literally like A thought of six, seven, eight It was this bad It was like Rivers belong Where they can ramble Eagles belong That was literally the choreography.

34:04See, that's my kryptonite. I can't sing in the shower even. I mean, I would kill. I can't sing either. That sounded pretty good. That sounded really good. Jason just admitted today that he hasn't danced since when? What happened? I had a fourth grade dance, and I made my sister teach me a dance step all night until, like, midnight, and it was this one.

34:31And I just... And so I got to the dance with my girlfriend, Amy Keating, and I did that for about four or five songs, and then she stopped in the middle of the sixth song and said, is that the only step you know? And she left the dance floor. And I've never danced since. Now, the follow-up to that is I ran into a friend of mine who, 10 years later, 15 years later, we were in the class together with Amy and we were talking about her and he said, you know, I heard she got a brain tumor and I said, oh my God, is she okay? He says, I don't know but I hear she may have not made it and I was like, oh God, no, no cut to, I get an email from Amy Keating about five years later saying hey, just wanted to reach out I hear you think I'm dead and she said She said, so I've made a documentary that says Jason Bateman thinks I'm dead.

35:31No way. Oh, my God. And I'd like to interview you for the end of the documentary. Would you come meet me at the auditorium where I left the stage at our elementary school. She remembered. So I can interview you. And I was like, yeah. And I sat down for an interview. And I think it's on YouTube, this documentary. What? Oh, my God. Jason Bateman thinks I'm dead by Amy Kinney. True story. How have we never heard about this? I've never heard that. I've not told that story. No. What the fuck are you talking about? I've got many stories. All right, ready? Here we go. Oh God. I wanna start at the beginning.

36:12No, I wanted to, I know you probably had, first of all, I have to state the obvious, which is you're one of the biggest fucking stars on the planet, right? It's true. And I know that's not important to you. and I know the art and the craft of it is more important than any of that but it's just so cool it's just so cool right and we're all such fans and I love you and I've been such a fan as well and I mean how hard did we laugh he did this episode of Will and Grace where he played this guy that was the funniest by the way I have a quick story you don't know this story he played this guy who was actually pretended to be gay so he could sing in the gay man's chorus because they were going to Europe and he wanted the free trip to Europe.

36:56Right. It was such a... It was so stupid. It was so funny, though. Did you sing on the show? Yeah, he did. We all, in the chorus, we all sang. But the whole idea was that Sean, he figures it out. Yeah, I'm like, you're straight. I know you're straight. And so he tries to in me. Right. Instead, yeah. Right. But the show was like 10 years deep. Like, and I had never done a sitcom and I couldn't believe, like, So fun. Because they were so locked in, and the writers were so locked in. Amazing writers, yeah. Like, that table, like, you'd sit around, the first draft comes in, we read it, it's hysterical, and then, like, there's, like, ten of you, and you guys just start going, and you make it better and better and better, and, like, it was just so fun.

37:42And I couldn't believe how, by that point, because you'd put all the work in for ten years, how little you guys worked. I was like, holy shit. It's amazing. It was criminal. Well, James Burroughs, who's one of the greatest directors of all time, he directed every episode of Cheers, every episode of Will and Grace. He directed Friends. Taxi. Taxi, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, all these things. But anyway, he's what got me like this, right? So now, and I got spoiled at such a young age, so now when I'm on a set, I'm like, what's taking so long, you know? But you're so sweet because I remember, you don't know this, I think.

38:13Or maybe you do. But during that episode, you were so kind and worried, like you didn't, nobody was attending to your hair or something and you had a baseball hat on all day. So you took it off and I think you were afraid to like ask for help. So in the episode, you can see the line where his hat is. By the way, there it is today. I have the same line. If I'm left to my own devices, I'm just completely useless. You're like, well, I'm fine. To build on that real quick, the kindness that you have is so authentic and sincere and organic and we are in such a permissive business for bad behavior. And then if you're super famous, they let you get away with even worse stuff.

38:54What is it that keeps you from behaving badly beyond just your own natural instinct? Was your mom or your dad real good at saying, things are starting to really take off for you, son, keep your shit together? Or did you have a Ben that would beat the crap out of you like you did with him? And Matt, let me just say before you answer that, Jason wants to know, why aren't you giving in to your desire to be shitty to people? because he finds it really hard to bury it. And how do you bury it? Is it similar to how he buries it? Go ahead. Yeah, man, I don't know. I never had an impulse to do that. I don't know why.

39:33I think I just was lucky. I think I had a great parents, a great big brother, and a great foundation. And I honestly, you guys all know. But you must have lost it at some point. I think the experience of getting famous is weird, right? And that, I always reflected back on that after I kind of got through that first two years. Like, whoa, that was crazy. And you're working with people and you're seeing people that are more famous than you coming up. The way they're acting, which for the most part is not great. And how did you think, like, you know, well, I guess I got to be a dickhead. I've been really, really lucky.

40:06Oh, good. I have not witnessed a lot of bad behavior. Really? In fact, I started out, I was working with, I had, like, Denzel. and Robin Williams and Tom Hanks and these people who were like so... And nobody was bigger than them, right? And they were so classy and professional and kind and good and like... Important first examples. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it just really set the tone. I always say, if you can't find the asshole on the set, it's probably you. You're the asshole. Yeah, yeah. So... Wait, you mentioned your big brother. How many siblings do you have? Just one. Just one. How much older is he than you?

40:44Three years older. Are you guys still really tight? Oh, yeah, yeah. What sort of, without getting specific, what line of work is he in? He's an artist. No way. Yeah. Well, like painter? Painter and a sculptor. Wow. Yeah. Can I buy some of his stuff? You certainly could, yes. Wow, really? I would love to see that. We'll talk afterwards. Okay, great. How funny, and I don't know this either, so were your parents in the arts or no? No, no. My mom's a professor of early childhood education. Wow. Yeah. And my dad was, when I was a kid, he was a stockbroker. He taught school. He did all kinds of jobs until he finally built a company and became really successful and retired early.

41:23But it was interesting because my mom did what she loved and didn't get paid anything. And my dad only did what he did just to make sure that we were provided for. And he never enjoyed his work. And so it was a great lesson, I think, for my brother and me to go like, you know, because both of them were saying from two different sides of the coin, like, follow what you love to do. Yeah, that's awesome. And so it's probably great to have a brother who's an artist, even though he's not an actor or a director or a writer or whatever, but because he's an artist, you guys can talk a similar language and relate as creative people.

41:56Yeah, I love, I mean, I really trust his judgment and his opinions. And I mean, you guys know, like when you're working, I mean, it's like you have a little core group of people that you show your stuff to and you're like, am I crazy or is this working? or am I crazy? Is Lucy straight with you? Will she tell you when you suck? Yes. And she's been actually, for me, really the best bellwether. Tracy, Lucy is... Tell Tracy who Lucy is. Tracy, Lucy's my wife. By the way, speaking of Tracy, I didn't know... I was standing next to Tracy in the wings trying to hide. I didn't know it was Tracy. Oh, really?

42:29And then I'm sitting there and I'm like, what'd they say? You know? And I'm just... Because there's, you know, ten people back there and I figure they're all working on the show, and suddenly you announce, and she goes blasting out. I'm like, oh, shit, that was Tracy. Well, I was totally starstruck, but I better. That's a thing. Okay, so I want to talk about, you know, I know you're so sick of talking about typed questions. That's amazing, by the way. That's harder than you worked on that episode of Willing. Without a doubt.

43:02It's so true. And I made so much money. Sean is so organized. One of the things we're finding on this tour is Sean is, it's insane. So the other night we got back, we were in New York and we got back after the show and we all had dinner like in our room. And it's us and a bunch of people and our friends. And so everybody's got food. There are like eight or ten of us. The food arrives. We start eating. Sean's finished in, I don't know, legitimately 90 seconds, maybe two minutes. And everybody else is just starting their food. And he stands up and he clears his plate. and then he starts clearing all the loose ends and then he starts clearing plate.

43:37And you're like, no, no, no, I'm not done yet. Still chewing. He's just cleaning. Now, this is a hotel room. There are people who are going to come and clean it anyway, but no, he's cleaning it. My wife does this exact same thing. It drives me crazy. It's bonkers. I'm like, why are you bussing the table? I'm eating my food. He likes order. He doesn't like chaos. He likes things done tight in a proper way. we're being driven here in a tour bus and he's got Waze open to make sure the driver is on the right route and so we keep going every 30 seconds we go how much longer Sean and he's like three minutes I'm starting a new app it's not called Waze it's called Gaze it's much faster it's much faster with a more handsome font We'll be right back.

44:36And now back to the show. All right, so now I know you're sick of talking about Good Will Hunting, and just bear with me here because I, you know, because I have every single one of your movies. Like, it's crazy. But talk about, you know, what I love about this story, about how it happened, because so many people ask, how do I start? Where do I, like, what did you do? How did you get your start? And you just fucking did it. Like, you just, you're like, well, I want to work, so maybe I should just write my own thing, right? Yeah, and then won an Oscar for that script. Yeah, I mean, it worked out.

45:12Yeah. The only reason I'd love for you to just talk, yeah, exactly, for you to tell it is because there are... Nice first step at. Yeah, it worked out. There are so many people who want to, you know, so many young people starting out that love this story, that need to hear this story. I mean, I think we were, A, desperate. We were unemployed, struggling actors. And it just became clear that we were going to have to wait forever until we got a shot. And I remember it was that movie, Primal Fear. I don't know if you... Audition for it. Yeah. I swear to God, I auditioned for it. Right. Ed Norton and Richard Gere.

45:44Edward, you know, brilliant actor. You know, my age, Edward got the part and was great. I think he got nominated for an Oscar for the movie. So that script came along and Ben and I looked at it and we were like, that's the best role. I'm like, why isn't a movie star taking this role? This is an unbelievable role. Like, why isn't, like, at the time, it was like Ethan Hawke or Robert Sean Lennar, all the guys from Dead Poets. I'm like, why aren't those guys jumping all over this? This thing is amazing. And I bought, I paid for a dialect coach because remember, he switches these two. I would have killed for him to get a dialect coach.

46:19But this was like, with money, I didn't have because I was like, this is it. You know what I mean? To prepare for the audition. To prepare for the audition. Because he switches from Southern to Normal or Normal to Southern? Yeah, exactly. It's like a Jekyll and Hyde thing. Did you say Southern to Normal? No. Oh, God. Standard, maybe Standard. That plays well in Wisconsin, okay? What's that? Wisconsin's not Southern? What's that? Wisconsin's... I said it plays well because you just called them Normal. No, no, they're... They're... They're all really nervous for you right now. Right. I think I got canceled in minute five.

47:04I know. And I just poured cement over it. Yeah. Everybody's nervous at every moment. That's the best. You guys, us. I'm terrified for you, buddy. I've got to be honest. I started... But he does... Does he go into Southern? The country just got cut in half. You can't... You can only go to half the country now. Where do you guys shoot Ozark?

47:35Southern Atlanta.

47:39So he has a southern accent. So you had to switch between Ozark and normal. Yeah. So, yeah. Oh, God bless him. But the idea was that there are two distinctive voices that come from this guy. Both perfectly good voices. Yes. Yes. Two excellent, distinctive voices because he's playing and having a mental health problem. He's saying he's schizophrenic, and then there's a whole thing. But it's an actor's dream because it's a really showcasing part for whoever got it. And Edward won the part. But Ben and I realized then, we were like, But if it, you know, what are the odds of another movie coming down where, you know, and then it's like it gets kicked down and there's 10 ,000 of us like rabid hyenas going for it.

48:29And like, what are the chances, A, another one's going to come in the next five years? And B, that even if it does, we'll be the ones to get it. We'll get called back. We'll get close. Remember, oh, you don't remember auditions. Yes, I do. You were like a star for the whole. You were a fucking star when you were like eight. And I was watching you like, that guy, I could do that. I could do that.

48:51But, yeah, so that kind of started us thinking about writing, about going, like, well, let's write our own parts. You want something done, you got to do it yourself? Yeah. Because you were dying to be an actor, not a writer. Right, right. We were writing just literally to give ourselves jobs. Because you win an Oscar for writing. That's amazing. I know. It's weird. I've never gotten any award of any kind for acting. Now, what about... What about... Wait, is that true? Is that true? Is that true? I got, the Empire Magazine gave me an award in like 2007. And I went and picked up the award. Yeah.

49:25I was like, guys, like in high school, we had the Massachusetts High School Drama Festival and they would give awards. I was in every one of those plays. Killing It never got an award. I was like, oh man. Is it true that you have not received an award for acting? Yeah. Are you kidding me? You've been nominated a shit ton of times, I'll bet. Yeah? Yeah. Good Lord. I got a Golden Globe you got a Golden Globe well that's something for The Martian right they gave it to me thank you they gave it to me in the category of musical or comedy no way no way by the way it's one of my favorite movies of all time it's so good wait are you still on Good Will Hunting I want to talk to Matt about a couple movies.

50:17Can I do this one thing and then I'll hand it off to you? Okay. Tell me your name again. So listen, so George Clooney was on a podcast, okay? And he just was describing this amazing moment when you took Ocean's 12 to the Cannes Film Festival. Do you know the story? Oh, yeah. And so you guys rode on this yacht for the press and Brad Pitt says he wants to climb to the top and take his shirt off and jump off the top. And George was like, oh my God, Brad Pitt takes his shirt off and it's like something Michelangelo carved. His body was just perfect. And then he says, he looks over at Matt and Matt goes, and you take off your shirt and it's something like the Pillsbury Doughboy Car.

50:57Right? Wow. Well, you're probably bulking up for a part. Clearly, clearly I was preparing for something. That was my question. We've all seen Ripley. We've all seen, you know how to get it down. I can get it down if I have to. But, I mean, that shot's fired by Clooney. I mean listen Clooney was so scared of getting his picture taken next to Brad with his shirt off that he didn't even jump off the boat so and later and I and he told me later he's like I knew you were going to get hit by the because the paparazzi took pictures and it's like you know it's uh Brad and the whale jumping off and uh and and we were in the middle of the Mediterranean out of this boat I couldn't see it those lenses are so ridiculous and I didn't even know how they knew we were on that boat.

51:45But George somehow knew. He's got like a spider sense or something. He was just like, nah. I wasn't going to risk it. So you do, and you do know how to get it down and get in shape because the fucking Bourne movies. That's crazy.

52:05I think the first time I met you was years ago was at Krasinski's house. And I came in the door and I don't know if you remember this. I came in the door and you picked me up. You grabbed me around the waist and picked me up. You'd had a few.

52:20But then... At John's? At John's. That's weird. Yeah, at John's. JK, you guys. That's John Krasinski. Bravo. And I think I geeked out on you at that time. The Bourne movies, to me, I have seen all... Well, the four that you've done. I can't even count how many times Born Ultimatum is the second one? The third one Born Supremacy Born Supremacy to me is one of the most perfect films it's got everything it's got drama, it's got action you're so fucking good people say you're doing an action movie doing what you do it's intensity from the moment you start it's just super intense and you're in it and you're just kicking dudes asses and strangling them and shit.

53:13All the while acting like, I'm not sure how I know how to do this. I mean, like, that's... You're a weapon and you don't even know it. Right. What? Yeah, exactly. What was that experience like? Because that, to me, is it. And would you ever go through that training process again? Yeah, though, on the last one, I remember I was 45 on the last one and... It hurt. Yeah, people would go, like, my age would come up and go, hey, man, how did you get... And I go, not worth it. Right. Yeah. What about what Liam Neeson is doing? Every single film he's doing is more intense than the next. And he's not 45.

53:49No, no. He's great. I mean, I don't know. I mean, some people. Good for him. Even when you were younger, even when you were in your 30s, and you're doing Supremacy, and you're doing all this crazy shit. And Supremacy was directed by Paul Greengrass, who's an incredible director. That's why they all work. I mean, it's always the director. What was that? Yeah. Yeah, but you're giving him a lot of credit, but you deserve so much. What was that process like for you? Were you beat up every day? No, I mean, they make it, you know, look, they're the Tom Cruises of the world who do their stunts, like literally hang off a plane and do that.

54:23Yeah. I remember I had dinner with him once, and it was after he did the one where he ran around the building. Oh, yeah, Abu Dhabi. Yeah, Abu Dhabi. And Dubai. Dubai, yeah. And he's 1 ,500 feet up on a cable running around the building. Yeah, that's crazy. And I go, can you tell me how that happened? And he goes, yeah. I mean, he's a really intense guy. You know, he's like, yeah, I'll tell you how it happened. He's like, so. I go, all right, all right. And I'm in. I'm like, okay. And he goes, so I go to the scene. He goes, I've been thinking about this shot for 15 years. And I go, wow, really?

54:54And he goes, yeah. He goes, I knew it. He goes, and so I go to the safety guy. I go, here's what I'm going to do. And I lay it all out. Safety guy goes, you can't do that. It's too dangerous. You can't do that. So I get a new safety guy. That's the beginning, the beginning of his story. And I just go, stop. Like, that's where we're different. Right. When the safety guy says no, I'm like, oh, safety guy says it's not a good idea. Do you have any long-lasting injuries from all of that? No, no, no. Are you serious? No, no. It's all, I mean, little nicks and cuts and stuff from those fight scenes, but nothing, you know, they're pulling their punches.

55:34In fact, on the first movie, The Born Identity, I fight this guy in an apartment. Nicky Node was his name. In Paris. In Paris. Yeah, now I know. Why are you telling me stuff I know, Matt? Sorry. Sorry. Nicky had been a professional kickboxer, and he was an actor and a stuntman. And so I went to him before we shot, and I said, look, I'm really sorry. I'd been boxing and doing all this stuff to get ready, but I go, I'm going to accidentally hit you. I mean, I just know I am, and I'm really sorry in advance. And for every time I hit you, I'll give you a bottle of champagne. And Nicky goes, this is good, yes.

56:18So by the end of the day, I owed the dude a case of champagne. But he had been used to fighting professionally. So he was like, it did not hurt at all. He was fine, you know what I mean? He was so happy. He was thirsty, he was leaning into it. He was like, great. He was like, anytime you want to do a fight scene, I'm in. I want to know another favorite movie that I love that you're in is The Departed. Oh, yeah. Which I love. Yes. It's crazy how many movies you've been in at your age, and none of them suck. Yeah. No, some of them suck. No, no, no. No, no. It's got to be bad to suck. Some of them were not as great as the others because the others are like 11s.

57:00But the amount of work you've done and the quality that you've maintained is just stunning. You really deserve to really have pride in that. Thank you. It's true. Thank you. It's true. I want to ask about The Departed because I did a movie with Jack Nicholson as well called The Bucket List. Sure. Yeah. Sure. And the first, not as much applause. but the first day of the bucket list we were in this like Bentley or something and they took the windshield out to put the camera in and I didn't know, it was the first day and Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson are sitting in the back and I'm sitting in the passenger seat in the front and in your mind you're like should I break the ice with a joke, should I not I don't know these guys yet, it's only the first day of shooting so Idiot goes um all right i'm gonna go for it maybe someday when you make it big you can sit in the front

58:03silence silence nothing crickets nothing crickets they're literally looking at their lines and they just go no oh that's it and then the last the last one was we now we're like a month or two in the thing and I'm like, well, now they're my pals, right? And so I'm sitting in, you know, little video village. Tracy, video village is a thing where you can watch playback and it's like off of the set. How fun is it that he can look at Tracy while he does it?

58:37So I'm sitting there and I thought, oh, gosh, now would be the perfect time to play a game, right? Because we're waiting while they're lighting the scene. It's going to take like a half hour or whatever. So I say to Morgan and Jack and Rob Reiner Who's directing it and some crew guys who are sitting around I go hey guys I got a great idea let's play a game Let's go around the room and name the movie You're embarrassed to say You've never seen Embarrassed to say you've never seen I go I'll go first I've never seen The Godfather That was the end of the game Because next half hour everyone's like Hey this guy's never You've never seen The Fuckin' What And I'm like is somebody else going to go Like nobody else I know where you're going with this Departed but Departed is certainly one of those movies that you don't really you're not allowed to say you're a fan of movies if you have not seen that movie that's such a great movie what was that experience like how did you come about that part we were making Ocean's 12 this is true Brad Pitt is a pretty prolific producer and I don't know if you guys know, but he produced that movie.

59:49And he, yeah, he just came up, it's the weirdest thing. Because every actor's dream is to work with Marty Scorsese, right? And we were sitting there. Tracy, that's the guy who directed the movie. Among others. And we were literally this is the worst, this is like, how many names am I going to drop that I have to pick up. You're allowed. We were at George Clooney's house in Italy. We figured you knew him. And Lucy and I, it was before we were married, so this is 2004, I think, because we got married in 2005, and we were sitting there at the pool, and Brad Pitt walked over. Sounds like a very nice weekend, Matt.

1:00:38Look, we were working, okay? Sure, sure. It was hard. Rehearsing. It was really hard. and Brad kind of put his towel down and sat down on the chair and next to us and goes, hey, Matty, you want to do a movie with Martin Scorsese? No way. I swear to God that's what he said. And I was like, yeah. And he was like, no, I'm actually serious. Wow. I'm like, what are you actually talking about? Drop the script on your towel right then? Yeah, and he goes... And then the script went... whoop.

1:01:14Yeah. Page one. Did you, did you at any point say, well, hang on a second, Brad, why aren't you playing this part? He, he felt like he had aged out of it. Really? Because the guy goes through the police academy, and he just, he's just unbelievably generous, and he goes, no, I think it'd be better if you did it. He goes, Leo's going to play this one role. How old is Brad Pitt? Brad is, I don't know. I think, I'm 51, and I think Brad's 58. I think he's like 56 or something. 57? Yeah, something like that. He looks incredible, first of all. Guys, he looks awful. He looks terrible. I love me some Brad Pitt.

1:01:53I saw, I know, I really do. He's such a nice guy. He's so cool. He's such a nice guy. And he's so handsome. And I know. It's hard to not look at him. It's so hard not to look at him. So we were, like, right before the pandemic, we were at, we were in Los Angeles. We were at a Bon Iver concert.

1:02:16And so, and I know those, I like Wisconsin, so I know those guys. Justin Vernon, Sean Carey, and all those guys. And so, so anyway, we were hanging out before the show and just chit-chatting. And then Brad came in to sit down. and he sits down and I go, we're talking for a second, and I said, you know, Brad, I was thinking, you know what movie has aged really well? And he said, what? I said, Benjamin Button.

1:02:45That's a great line. It's a great joke, right? It's a great joke. It's a great joke. And he paused for a second, and then he started laughing. He's like, and I was like, I'm not ripping on the movie. It's a perfectly constructed joke. And he was great about it. Yeah, that movie is so... Yeah, he's somebody who, because we started working together 20 years ago on Oceans and it was just mystifying like how because he's been the most famous guy you know and even Jerry Weintraub our producers I was with Elvis every generation has one guy Brad's the guy and it's true just the effect that he has on people but I've never seen an effect like that but with so he doesn't do anything to court it He doesn't do anything to...

1:03:31He's the most regular guys from Missouri. He just couldn't be... He couldn't be more normal, Jason. Yeah. He's really normal. Really normal. He fights... He pushes down the instinct to be shitty to people. He actually said... He elicited for me at that same thing after the show. He said, hey, man, I just want to say... We'd done this little show on Netflix called Flaked, and he goes, hey, man... Hold for applause. No, it's a little... But he goes, man, I just want to say, I just, I loved your show so much, man. I watched the whole thing. I was so shocked. And I was like, really? He goes, oh, I just loved it.

1:04:06And he gave me a big hug. And I said, thanks, man. And then we go to the door to go out. I said, well, I'll see you guys later. I walk outside and I slid down the wall. I went, oh, my God. Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah. Who do you think he thought? In front of my girlfriend. She's like, this is great. Who do you think he thought you were? Are you mistaken for I want to introduce everybody to the real Jason He's finally showed up Well speaking of normal Matthew Damon You're one of the most normal people I've ever known Thank you for being here that time Oh my god That was fast I know Thank you. Thank you.

1:04:59Let him hear it. Thanks, guys. Wow. Wow.

1:05:07You guys. Isn't that amazing? You guys came for us, and that's what's important. I'm kidding. You guys came for us, and Matt was so nice to be here. Thank you guys so much for coming. We, um, go ahead. No, you go ahead. No, I was going to say, we said everything, I've said everything there, and I would repeat it a thousand times. I love that man. He's the kind, like, all talking about kindness and everything. And it is kind of, by the way, I could have asked him a thousand questions about The Martian because I love The Martian. Yeah. But I just love him, and he's so talented. He's so talented and so normal and so kind and generous and always just warm to people.

1:05:48Yeah, he's just one of those. I do think it's interesting, though, you know, when he did The Talented Mr. Ripley, which is about a gay... What's that? Who, me? Harry Cubs. No, no, this is it. We're not doing a bye? No, no, not yet. He did... I know, usually this is where Sean starts wrapping up and his brain breaks trying to work his way to a bye. And you can feel it. No, I'm doing it right now. I just feel talented Mr. Ripley. I was going to say, in The Talented Mr. Ripley, he plays a gay con man, and that's about the time he started hanging out with me. And I was sitting here, I was trying to think of a bite, I was thinking, boy, he's so nice.

1:06:25You put your hand in the cage that he's in, he'd never take a bite out of it. And I'm like, no, no, no. It's just terrible. It's terrible. It's too sweaty. It's too sweaty. We are thinking about getting rid of the bite. Yeah, what do you guys think? The bite, it's so cringy. She's like, yeah, both of them. It's so cringy. What about if, like, I'm trying to... So listen, if you want to pick on anybody after this show, So these three said they want us to get rid of it. But I'm pitching, but what about if we just change it to some, I'm pitching these guys and we change it to a see ya, right? And then we can find a C in some, but we can't think of any more buys.

1:07:02Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. He keeps pitching the see ya. Well, like it's Italian. I know, but let's vote on it right now. So buy. Bye.

1:07:17And. Or see ya. I didn't pitch it very well. Well, so you know it's one one. Bye! Thank you, Madison. Thank you, Madison.

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