Good Job Hunting
There's no shortage of roles for the actor, nor of demands on him by the entertainment media. On one day alone, he did 94 interviews.
You've been working constantly -- from Stuck on You, opening this week, to The Brothers Grimm and The Bourne Supremacy. And Ocean's 12 starts filming after Bourne. Is it hard to go from one character to another without a break?
On paper it looks more schizophrenic than it really is. Each project is a kind of stand-alone event that takes roughly six months.
Still, you can't have much time for anything else.
For certain chunks of time, I kind of go off the grid. But when I'm not working, I'm really not working.
Do you need to take on as much as possible while the spotlight is shining?
These projects are all really good; I couldn't turn them down. Before The Bourne Identity [2002], I was in some trouble by industry [box office] standards, but I've never taken a job for money. I expect [success] will go away someday, but I'm pretty calm about that. In the meantime, I just want to do good movies.
But you must dread the pre-release publicity -- sitting in a room to face a parade of reporters.
In terms of the ways I'd like to spend a few days off, it's not on top of my list. For domestic television, you probably end up doing 100 [interviews]. The most I ever did in one day was 94. You find an answer to a question that's the right answer, but you end up feeling like a fake because you say the same thing 90 times in a row.
Can you walk through your hometown of Cambridge without being accosted?
Yeah, I can do that, but there's no reason for me to; once they ended rent control in Cambridge, everybody I knew moved out. I'd more likely be walking down a street in Somerville or Medford.
Your career and Ben Affleck's are invariably compared. Is that irritating?
It doesn't affect Ben and me personally. He's my best friend. It was probably more annoying at first, because there was just so much when [Good Will Hunting] came out. When Ben's name is mentioned now it's with Jennifer [Lopez's]. She's kind of gotten me off the hook.
You spent most of the last six months filming The Brothers Grimm in Europe. What's America look like from there?
It's not good. People don't understand why we don't understand we're part of the world and not the center of it. The perception is we're bullies.
And Governor Schwarzenegger?
You would think that the humiliation factor alone would keep us from electing him. Then I figure, why not? We're careening down this path to extinction -- just make Arnold president.
So we won't see a Senator Damon someday?
I'm so disillusioned with politics now, I can't imagine wanting to join that field.
