Matt Damon Says Oppenheimer The Only Movie His Wife Would Let Him Make
Matt Damon values nothing more than time with his wife and four daughters—except Christopher Nolan. The Massachusettes-born actor recently dropped a bombshell revelation during an Entertainment Weekly interview with the Oppenheimer cast. In a clip posted to TikTok, Damon tells EW that prior to filming Oppenheimer, he promised his wife he would take a break from acting, with the only exception being if director Christopher Nolan asked him to be in a movie.
“I had — not to get too personal — negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off. I had been in Interstellar, and then Chris put me on ice for a couple of movies, so I wasn’t in the rotation, but I actually negotiated in couples therapy — this is a true story — the one caveat to my taking time off was if Chris Nolan called,” Matt Damon said during the interview.
The actor admitted that he made the exception for Nolan with no knowledge whatsoever of what—if any—projects the director was working on at the time. That’s because, as Matt Damon describes it, Christopher Nolan has a habit of keeping his upcoming projects a secret until he’s ready to start casting.
Then, he randomly calls actors to ask about their availability. When Nolan contacted Damon out of the blue to ask him to be in Oppenheimer it was, as Matt tells it, “a moment” in his house.
The actor admitted that he made the exception for Nolan with no knowledge whatsoever of what—if any—projects the director was working on at the time.
We can only assume, given his wife’s insistence that he spend more time at home, that calling it “a moment,” is severely downplaying the way the scene really played out. Matt Damon’s confession that he and his wife attend couples therapy isn’t necessarily an indication that there is any turmoil in their relationship.
Many healthy couples attend joint counseling simply to strengthen their communication and work out their day-to-day issues—but it stands to reason she wouldn’t be “negotiating” as Damon put it, more time with her husband if there weren’t some things they needed to work out.
When you look at it from that perspective, “I’ll only do it if Chris calls,” becomes less of a testament to Christopher Nolan’s unparalleled genius and more a declaration from Matt Damon to his wife that, to put it bluntly, she’s not his top priority.
That’s not to say that Christopher Nolan isn’t one of the most talented directors working today because he absolutely is. Memento in particular, stands as a triumph of non-linear narrative in mainstream American cinema.
“I had — not to get too personal — negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off. I had been in Interstellar, and then Chris put me on ice for a couple of movies, so I wasn’t in the rotation, but I actually negotiated in couples therapy — this is a true story — the one caveat to my taking time off was if Chris Nolan called.”
Matt Damon
On the other hand, it’s hard not to imagine that Matt Damon’s wife, Luciana Barroso feels differently about Matt’s decision to cut his hiatus short for Christopher Nolan than his chuckling co-stars. In the clip, it’s clear that actors Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., and surprisingly even Emily Blunt see Matt Damon’s confession as a “What’re you gonna do? Boys will be boys!” situation based on the way they laugh with him.
Robert Downey Jr. even makes a joke about how even “modern psychology” makes exceptions for Christopher Nolan.
Even Nolan seems to get a chuckle out of the notion that Matt Damon chose him over his own family. The entire exchange is clearly meant to showcase just how important an artist Christopher Nolan is but instead comes off as an actor being cavalier about brushing his spouse off because work called.
Matt Damon in Oppenheimer
The 52-year-old actor plays General Leslie Groves, the military officer who oversaw the Manhattan Project in Oppenheimer, which opens Friday, July 21. No word yet on whether Matt Damon is still planning on taking a break from acting now that the film has been completed.
Not that he has much of a choice with the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.
