Today – 8 October 2020 – marks Matt Damon’s 50th Birthday. Throughout the last half century, Damon has forged a unique path through the industry, developing his mark not only as a writer and actor, but also as a producer.
Damon found what many have described as an “overnight success” with 1997’s Good Will Hunting. The film tells the story of a young working-class genius working as a janitor at MIT – and is later discovered by a university professor. In addition to playing the leading role in the film, Damon also wrote the script, which he began while studying at Harvard.
Damon and his equally famous co-star Ben Affleck went on to win the Academy Award for Best Screenplay the following year. While accepting the award they gave one of the greatest acceptance speeches in Oscar history, running out of time and randomly shouting the names of those they wanted to thank. (If you need cheering up during isolation, it’s on YouTube and it is a great watch.)
Damon’s success continued for the rest of the 90’s after he starred in 1998’s five-time Oscar winning WW2 classic, Saving Private Ryan, in which he plays the aforementioned Ryan. Although he only featured towards the end of the film, this smaller role gave Damon the ability to work under cinematic legend Steven Spielberg, and act alongside Tom Hanks. Damon finished the 90’s with the lesser known but equally interesting Rounders (1998) where he starred alongside Edward Norton as a young reformed ex-poker player who restarts his habit to pay off loan sharks.
The 2000’s saw Damon’s career escalate further still as he starred in two huge blockbuster franchises. Firstly, the Oceans trilogy, a series of heist films which saw Damon rubbing shoulders with Brad Pitt and George Clooney. The first film, Oceans 11 was based on the film Rat Pack (1960) which starred Frank Sinatra. Secondly, and arguably Damon’s biggest success, the Bourne trilogy follows Jason Bourne (Matt) who wakes up on a ship, riddled with bullets and suffering from amnesia. These suspenseful thrillers will have you permanently glued to the edge of your seat, however, be warned: every time you think you understand what’s going on; trust me you don’t; get ready for a curveball.
The noughties also saw Damon try his hand at producing for the first time. Project Greenlight is a TV series produced by Damon that saw him give back to the industry by finding young, unknown-but-talented film makers and giving them a break by helping to fund their initial projects.
Throughout his career Damon has shown great versatility. In 2015’s The Martian he plays the funny yet believable Mark Watney – an Astronaut left abandoned and for dead on Mars. This performance is of note due to Damon spending almost the entire film on his own! A stellar solo performance, reminiscent of Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours (2010) where James Franco gives an equally lonely performance as a man who becomes trapped in a canyon (avoid if you are squeamish).
Image Credit: Today Show
Finally, it would be remiss not to mention Damon’s philanthropy. Alongside co-stars Brad Pitt and George Clooney, Damon founded the Not on Our Watch project – a charity which helps focus global attention and resources to atrocities such as the human rights violations in Darfur, Sudan. He is also a spokesperson for Feeding America, a hunger relief organisation.
At 50 years old Damon remains a giant of the industry and will no doubt go on to have further success over the next 50 years. Happy birthday Matt!
By Toby Louch
Feature image: Entertainment Tonight