There are really two types of actors in Hollywood today: the Celebrity, who knows very little about
real performance or technique, and simply lives for the fame; then, there is the True Actor, who shies away from lime-light and tabloids – who only feels comfortable in public as “someone else.”
Matt Damon is the latter. His face rarely, if ever, appears in magazines whose covers we scan at the supermarket checkout lines. His wife (
Luciana Barroso) is no one you have ever heard of; and, though his looks and physique are ripe for playing the leading man, his choice of roles is not always obvious. He has played the “little brother” role, condescended upon, in the
Ocean’s Trilogy, the beguiling mole in
The Departed, a Siamese twin in
Stuck On You and everything in between. Here is a look back at Matt Damon’s 13 best roles.
Loveable, yet buffoonish. We all know he is hiding something. His airy persona, and hysterical voice-overs hint at a knife-in-the-back that isn’t revealed until the end – and even then, the lies continue.
He may not be the best singer, but see above for a review of his comedic chops. Damon plays a straight man posing gay to get into the Manhattan Gay Men’s Chorus and his attempt at the act is hilarious. His quips and retorts to Jack steal the show, and his very brief romance with Grace is memorable.
It’s rarely acknowledged, but Damon is one of the funniest actors out there, and this role is one of his best. Furthermore, his comic chemistry with Brad Pitt and George Clooney is enough to have me sitting through another three of these films.
The sheer surprise of seeing Damon in this movie, and as such a strange character, is what won us over for the role. This lower-budget, semi-funny, teen comedy is well outside Matt Damon’s normal repertoire, but for some reason, he agreed to appear as the metal-rocker “ex”-boyfriend of Kristin Kreuk. The role is barely more than a three-minute cameo (which he apparently did because he happened to be in Prague filming The Brothers Grimm), but hey, we’ll take it.
It is a known fact that Matt Damon and friend Ben Affleck are close with director Kevin Smith. Even though this gig was little more than a favor to Smith, Damon’s role as a fallen angel works so well for his chemistry with Affleck, and easy with the unexpectedly profound dialogue. Also, those broken wings are pretty cool, too.
Fresh off the success of Good Will Hunting, Damon once again played the eponymous title-character in this canon of the War Film genre. We never meet him until the last act of the film, but the innocence and good-hearted will of his character has us rooting for his rescue and vindicates the mission of the squad that saves him.
Under the skilled hand of the late Anthony Minghella, Damon’s subtle performance of the sad and twisted Tom Ripley somehow seems to justify his murderous fate. We see an empty, lonely man who yearns for the fast-paced, upper-crust life of others – even if it means killing to get it. Damon slowly draws us in and connects us to this corrupted, perverted take on the American Dream.
Anytime this Boston native returns home is good news to us. Damon knows the ins-and-outs of his city, and the seedy underworld too. As a slick Irish Mafioso who infiltrates the Boston Police squad, he gives fellow on-scene titans Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio a real run for their money. That charming face is one that will kill you.
A perfect compliment to his Jason Bourne character, Woodman is the flip side of the coin: an agent of the corporate sphere. Damon portrays a man whose idealism transforms into greed and a hunger for power. And a powerful scene of paternal loss and pain really moved us. This intelligent, complex role is the perfect fit for Damon.
This film has reached cult status in part because of the intelligence and tact of Damon’s character. He seems to embody a sort of Everyman, and when he (the underdog) unlocks the hidden tick of his seemingly undefeatable nemesis, we all feel a sense of accomplishment and motivation. McDermott takes the game of poker apart like a simple children’s puzzle.
Before the stature that Good Willing Hunting would bring to him, Damon already showed stunning commitment to the project by losing 40 pounds for the role. Furthermore, his performance so impressed director Steven Spielberg that he later hired him as Private Ryan for Saving Private Ryan.
A more realistic, and badass, James Bond, this is the secret agent we all want to be: resourceful as hell, able to kill you with one hand, and a danger to all those sexy ladies of Europe. After losing his memory, and being chased around several nations, Bourne is on a mission to free himself. This is what backpacking through a continent should be.
When the character you are playing was written by yourself for yourself, it is hard not to pull it off successfully. However, what can be said for Will Hunting (and Damon’s portrayal of him) is the depth of emotion, and complexity of background we see. Though this role may not of won him an acting Oscar, in our opinion, it is one of his best.
