Matt Damon and girlfriend Luciana Barroso ? fresh from a stay in Italy, where Damon was filming Oceans Twelve ? watch the Boston Red Sox shut out the Oakland As 11-0 Tuesday at Fenway Park. Damon's next film, The Bourne Supremacy, hits theaters July 23.

Matt Damon Helpless at Stopping Bennifer
Tuesday Jul 13, 2004 3:00pm EST
By Stephen M. Silverman
people.cmo


CREDIT: RENI VAN MAREN/SUNSHINE/ZUMA

Watching the train wreck that was the Ben Affleck-Jennifer Lopez engagement, the actor's friend Matt Damon says, "It was one of those weird situations where there was absolutely nothing you could do."

Damon, 33, tells Playboy magazine in its August issue that the perception in some quarters that Bennifer was really nothing but a publicity stunt was wrong. "What (those cynics) never understood was that Ben is too smart not to know that being in that relationship was the worst thing for his career. He stayed in it because he loved her ... he was actually embarrassed by the attention."

Damon, whose new movie The Bourne Supremacy opens July 23, says that, as a pal of Affleck's, all he was left to do was "support your friend, support the relationship and talk sh-- about the people who are writing things."

Of his own relationship with interior director Luciana Barroso, Damon says, "I'm very happy. ... Casey Affleck, Ben's brother, is about to have a baby, and I saw how everything changed with my brother (Kyle, 37) when his kids came. I want a family someday (though) the long-distance thing is tough."

Damon also admits that his first star crush was on Cosby Show star Lisa Bonet ("an absolute knockout") and that he and Affleck both "smoke like freight trains," yet he also claims that neither of them has an addictive personality.

As for Affleck's stint in rehab for what was said to have been a drinking problem, Damon says, "Ben made a choice to do something that was extremely preemptive. ... To label him (as an addict) is wrong and just easy and judgmental. He's much more complicated."

Matt Damon: "J.Lo and I Got Along"
imdb.com

Matt Damon has hit out at reports he hated best friend Ben Affleck's former fiancee Jennifer Lopez , insisting the pair got on "great". Ben and Jen's relationship - which ended in January - was tarnished by claims long-term pal Damon disapproved of Affleck's choice of partner. But the Bourne Identity star insists he never fell out with either Affleck or Lopez over their relationship. He says, "She was great. I spent four or five afternoons and dinners with them and she was fantastic. She really loved him and he really loved her." Damon adds of his friendship with Affleck - which dates back to their childhoods in Massachusetts - "It's a very old relationship so it's not really conducive of the kind of tabloid stories that want a rocky relationship."

people.com

DISSOLVED: The marriage of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and his wife, Skylar, is over, according to a statement on the band's Web site. "Lars and Skylar Ulrich are getting divorced after seven years of marriage," it reads. "The couple have been quietly going through divorce proceedings and separated since March. They will share custody of their two children." The couple currently can be seen in happier days as part of the new Metallica documentary, Some Kind of Monster. The New York Post reports that Skylar, who dated Matt Damon, was said to be the inspiration for the Minnie Driver's inspirational character in Good Will Hunting.

Wow, I never knew that she was with Lars. Lars is such a creapie icky guy....

Damon: I've Never Voted
imdb.com

Shamefaced Matt Damon has confessed he has never voted, even though best pal Ben Affleck is a leading celebrity Democrat. While Affleck makes plans to hit the campaign trail with Democrat presidential hopeful John Kerry , Damon reveals he always felt his vote meant nothing. The actor says, "My reasoning has always been - and this is the worst thing to say - that because I'm from Massachusetts, everyone I would have ever voted for didn't need my vote. That's changing now because of where we're going in this country (America)." Damon insists he'll be the among the first Bostonians registering to vote in November . He adds, "I'll vote for John Kerry. The last election I had this feeling everyone was just going toward the middle and it's the same thing no matter what, and it turned out to be the most politically critical moment in my lifetime."

Damon says it's just luck that he's hot & Affleck's not
By HENRY CABOT BECK
DAILY NEWS WRITER


Damon's at Sea: The star returns in sequel 'The Bourne Supremacy.'


He has had unexpected successes and major flops, but Matt Damon is bouncing back again.

Unlike his buddy Ben Affleck, Damon has managed to follow up their screenwriting Oscar for "Good Will Hunting" without dressing up in red tights ("Daredevil") blowing up asteroids ("Armageddon") or making horrible movies with his fiancee.

But Damon won't criticize his friend's choices, nor is he trying to be the anti-Ben.

"There's not enough reaction time for me to lay back and watch Ben's mistakes and learn from them," says Damon, 33.

"After 'Good Will Hunting' I did 'Saving Private Ryan' [1998] and he did 'Armageddon' [1998]. Either of us could have been offered the other role, but the [perception] was, once 'Good Will Hunting' came out, that I was the genius and Ben was the dolt.

"That he went on to do the big glitzy movie and I was in the big classy movie - that was more luck than anything.

"But I think now, especially with 'Gigli' [2003] and 'Jersey Girl' [2004] not doing that well, and because he just got unlucky and ended up in the crosshairs of those tabloid magazines, he got screwed."

Damon is willing to take some of the heat for the sad state of the Ben and Matt Show. Take "The Legend of Bagger Vance" (2000).

"I was the lead in a film directed by Robert Redford based on this really popular book that I read and liked," he says. "Everything was lined up right but ultimately it didn't work.

"I just didn't get it, and it wasn't for lack of trying. I really did try. But I think it would have been better if Redford had played that role himself because I think he had the gravitas for that part - it would have been a different movie, of course, but it might have been much better."

"The Bourne Supremacy," which opens Friday, is the second film starring Damon as novelist Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne, the assassin who suffered amnesia at the beginning of the first picture, "The Bourne Identity" (2002).

The earlier picture did far beyond anyone's expectations - grossing more than $121 million in the U.S. and doing well on DVD and tape.

"It had a big word of mouth because for one thing, people liked it, and for another, it wasn't jammed down their throats," Damon says. "It didn't have that bombastic, pretentious pitch behind it, demanding that people had to run to the theater on the first weekend.

"And it did well on video because it's evidently something that people like to watch again."

It might also have something to do with Damon's appeal, which, like the Bourne pictures, seems to grow over time.

"I can tell the difference between a personality and an actor, and Matt is definitely an actor," says Brian Cox, who plays the "Bourne" villain for the second time. "What's most interesting is that he's in a very embryonic stage. We're watching his career unfold over time."

Joan Allen, who joins the series as the CIA figure in charge of finding Bourne, recalls Damon's attention to detail.

"There was a scene where Matt was in a hospital bed, hooked up to monitors, and he turned to the crew and told them that they had the vital signs on the monitor all wrong for Jason Bourne, who was in fantastic shape," she says. "He was that aware of his character's conditioning."

Damon is also aware that his movie opens during presidential campaign season. He's a very public supporter of his home-state senator John Kerry.

"The Republicans are extremely good at negatively characterizing the influence of Hollywood on politics, so it's almost like you can do more harm than good by throwing support behind someone," he says.

But he's not worried.

"It's a good time to be wealthy in America. And you've got to really be doing something that flies in the face of my beliefs to get me to turn my nose up at [the Bush administration's] 5% tax break."
Originally published on July 21, 2004

Berry Reveals Her Damon Crush
imdb.com

Halle Berry left Matt Damon red faced when the Oscar winners appeared on MTV show Total Request Live together yesterday - when she confessed to having a crush on him. Damon blushed as Berry recalled meeting the actor for the first time on The Tonight Show in America, just after his big break in Good Will Hunting. She recalled, "Remember I saw you on Jay Leno and you were a guest there, and you seemed so brand new at the time. I remember thinking, 'God, he is so bleepity bleeping hot.' That movie (Good Will Hunting) really stuck in my mind because I watched it with extra zeal because I'd just met you on the stage that night."

Damon and Affleck Have Seven-Year Itch to Write Again
Thu, Jul 22, 2004, 09:07 AM PT
By Mike Szymanski

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) -- Matt Damon says he and Ben Affleck plan to sit down and write again -- soon, but he's not sure about what, or how it will get done.

"We talked about it when I saw him last night, it's something we talk about every time we see each other," Damon tells Zap2it.com when doing interviews for his latest film "The Bourne Supremacy" which opens Friday (July 23).

"It's about seven years that we've both been working consistently, having struggled for so long through our teens and early 20s, it's kind of an anathema to us to turn down work," Damon sighs. "So that's what I think we'll have to do, to try to write something. We'll just have to block out the time."

Boston-bred buddies, Damon and Affleck won the best original screenplay Oscar for "Good Will Hunting" in 1997, and Damon was nominated as best actor the year that Jack Nicholson won for "As Good as it Gets." Affleck has yet to be nominated for an acting role.

For now, Affleck is busy after buying the rights to the Dennis Lehane mystery novel "Gone, Baby, Gone," Damon says. "A lot depends on whether he wants to be in it or wants to direct it or where his head's at. But I've been so busy doing all these other movies that we haven't had a chance to sit down and do any writing for some time. We want to do it, but it's just a matter of kind of handling the logistics, and finding a way to get us in the same place at the same time."

Damon now lives in New York, Affleck lives in Manhattan. Also, Affleck no longer now has the J.Lo factor.

"For both of us, probably, the most creatively fulfilling experience was 'Good Will Hunting,' just because we took an idea from its very beginning and shepherded it all the way through until it was a film," says Damon, instinctively picking up Zap2it's mini-cassette recorder when the tape clicked off. He flipped the tape, pressed the record button and began speaking again.

"This is how we use to write, actually," Damon says. "We'd improvise all the scenes, so I'm used to these little guys."

Zap2It.com gossip

Matt Damon joked about the foreign journalist weirdos who hand out the Golden Globes. When he was late for a press conference with domestic journalists, he said, "Have you guys been waiting long? Sorry about that. It was the Hollywood Foreign Press downstairs"

"Is that supposed to make us feel better?" one journalist asked.

"No, I am looking for sympathy, actually," he smirked.

Matt Damon leaving the Whiskey in LA

Damon wants to make a porn film
World Entertainment News Network
Posted August 6 2004
http://www.southflorida.com/news/sfl-arwnb...guide-headlines


The Bourne Supremacy star Matt Damon wants to make a "character-driven porn movie" with an intellectual plot.

Damon, 33, believes X-rated films and action movies are predictable and badly written and is keen to break the trend by creating a adult movie where the narrative is as important as the graphic sex scenes.

Damon says, "My theory on action movies is that they're like porn movies. A porn movie has got really bad writing, really bad acting and really thinly drawn characters.

"They have a ... scene where they talk and say, 'Hey, I'm the milkman' And you know what is going to happen.

"And then you get the action and you don't really feel anything for the action and then you get another really stupid scene with, 'Hey, I'm the milkman'.

"What I want to do is make a character-driven porn movie. It's all going to be about the character and the porn's going to grow out of the characters and serve as character development.

"You know how movie titles get porn titles - movies that rip them off? A producer suggested that we do The Porn Identity."

I agree!

DAMON TO THE RESCUE!
August 09, 2004 Provided by: [National Enquirer Online]


In LA wrapping scenes for "Ocean's Twelve," Matt Damon jogged through a park and found a young woman passed out cold on a secluded path! Matt quickly checked her pulse, then revived her by sprinkling water from his sports jug on her face and hands. Turned out she'd become dehydrated and fainted in the searing heat. Matt gave her sips of water and suggested she phone someone to help her home. Her eyes suddenly focusing on "The Bourne Supremacy" star, she said incredulously: "Are you Matt Damon? . . . Now I know I'm in a dream!" She phoned a galpal on her cell phone and put Matt on "so she wouldn't think I made the whole thing up." Matt waited until the pal showed up 15 minutes later -- with several girlfriends in tow -- and good-naturedly posed for pics and signed autographs.

histar.com

Matt Damon is great friends with his girlfriend Luciana Barroso's five-year-old daughter, but insists he is not taking over the "daddy role". Damon brought aspiring interior designer Barroso, her mother and Barroso's daughter to Sydney last weekend for the Australian premiere of The Bourne Supremacy. Damon explains, "Without talking too much about her, because she's five and she didn't sign up for this, what I could say is that I am definitely not playing daddy. "She's got a great father, you know? The two of them split, but they're great parents in their own right." But the Oscar-winner admits he can relate to the child, because his own parents divorced when he was young.

EOnline.com

SUPER GENES: Matt Damon's uncle, George Brunstad , becoming the oldest person to swim the English channel in an attempt to raise money for children in Haiti. The 70-year-old former airline pilot made the crossing in just under 16 hours.

Damon Will Only Date "Civilians"
imdb.com

Hollywood hunk Matt Damon has vowed only to date "civilians" in the future, following the media circus surrounding best pal Ben Affleck's ill-fated romance with Jennifer Lopez . Affleck and Lopez were bombarded with fervent attention during their 18 months together, and Damon has decided he'll never date a fellow celebrity again after observing it all. He says of his romances with Winona Ryder and Minnie Driver , "That was early on. These days I definitely only date, as we say, 'civilians'." Damon is currently dating former bartender Luciana Barroso.

Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass at the 30th Deauville American Film Festival in Deauville, France

Damon and Jackman Team Up for Lapdance
imdb.com

Screen hunks Matt Damon and Hugh Jackman gave American news veteran Barbara Walters the ultimate thrill on Sunday when they put on a lapdance for her. Walters, who is stepping down from her long-time role of anchor on news magazine show 20/20, attended Jackman's final performance of The Boy From Oz on Broadway, and was stunned when she was pulled from the audience for a little onstage action. She says, "I'm sitting there minding my own business. (During) the second act he comes in and says, 'I usually dance with someone, but today is my last day and there is a lady in the audience and she is celebrating her last days on 20/20.' I thought, 'He's gonna make me dance. I can't get up there.' He says, 'No, you gotta come.' So I go up on the stage. He says, 'Okay sit down,' and then he says, Matt Damon,' are you here?' And Matt Damon hides his face and Jackman beckons him. And I sat while Matt Damon and Hugh Jackman did a lapdance with me!" An elated Walters adds of Jackman, "Whatever he's going to do (in the future), my fantasy was fantastic and he was fantastic!" Jackman did 397 performances as the late Peter Allen in the musical, which was housed at New York City's Imperial Theatre.

BOYS FROM OZ
Hugh Jackman (left) and theatergoer Matt Damon give Barbara Walters a view she won't forget during the final performance of Jackman's Broadway show The Boy from Oz on Sunday. Walters's reaction to her impromptu man sandwich? "It was sensational," she told reporters.

people.com

He may be Hollywood royalty, but at heart, Matt Damon is just a down-to-earth guy. "I think right now my life is pretty manageable and pretty normal," says the actor, writer and producer, 33. "I just kind of work and when I'm not working, I'm living at my house in New York, and it doesn't feel out of control and kind of crazy. I understand people who say success is dangerous. But if it hasn't screwed me up already, I don't think it will." Well, okay, but isn't he one of those thrill-seeking actors who insists on doing his own stunts? "Actors are always talking about how they do their own stunts. That's total bull----," he says. "I mean, they don't let us do anything that's dangerous. They let us do things only that are very safe, so they're not really stunts."

Inside Track/Boston Herald

"Hollywood hottie Matt Damon has cut a swath through Tinseltown starlets and is now gobsmacked by Argentinean-born Miami barmaid Luciana Barroso.

      But Jason Bourne still can't shake the memory of being dumped at his senior prom by ex-Boston Celtic Dee Brown's future wife, Tammy Jones!

     ``It was terrible,'' a pained Damon told Cosmopolitan maggie in the upcoming annual All About Men issue.

     Apparently Tammy, a classmate of Matt's at Cambridge Rindge & Latin, bumped into an old beau at a prom after-party on Cape Cod and blew off the future Oscar-winner in a not-so-ladylike fashion!

     ``Her sister told me to sleep in this lounge chair,'' he said. ``My girlfriend and the guy jumped into the bed next to the chair and for the whole night, I was at the foot of the bed while they were hooking up. I didn't have a car. . . . I was stuck there.''

     Ouch!"

Some more pics from this are in The Boy From Oz thread/

BIRTHDAY CLUB
It's party time for Matt Damon as he celebrates with girlfriend Luciana Barroso at Miami Beach hotspot Crobar on Thursday, the night before his 34th birthday. The actor stars in the upcoming Ocean's Twelve with George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Brad Pitt, opening Dec. 10.

My sister brought home the Cosmo Mag with him one the cover (Sarah Michelle on the reverse cover). Read some of the article, too funny! I'll have to type in the fan encounter he described, was too funny/scary!

So Happy Birthday Matty. Luciano is a little doll. I kinda like them together. Hope it all works out for both of them. Matt seems to be maturing a lot in the last year or so and he may be ready to settle. I know he has a problem with commiting to marriage - probably from seeing his parents split and he took that really hard. This might be the one to take away his confirmed batchelor status.
Come on Princess give us the Cosmo article.

Damon turns to hypnosis
Ireland Online

Hollywood star Matt Damon is undergoing hypnotism in a bid to kick his smoking habit.

The Bourne Supremacy actor is desperate to quit the 40 cigarettes-a-day habit he has struggled with for 10 years, and is resorting to extreme measures.

His spokesperson tells gossip site The Scoop: "It's working. His first treatment was in August and he hasn't smoked since then."

That is weird - I quit smoking in August. But I went cold turkey and food. Dam now I gotta lose about 20 pounds, but I am not smoking.

Good for you both It's not an easy thing to accomplish.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to the end

By Angela Baldassarre

Actor Matt Damon has admitted that he'll probably grow old with best pal Ben Affleck rather than the woman of his dreams.

In a recent interview, Damon said he believed in his long-term friendship with Affleck and added: "I can well imagine growing old with him."

He also said that it was unlikely a woman would come between them. "My longest relationship with a woman [actress Winona Ryder] lasted two and a half years. That's very short when I consider how long I've been friends with Ben," he said.

Damon at one time was also romantically linked to actress Minnie Driver.

The actor, who wrote and starred in “Good Will Hunting” together with Affleck, also stood by his best mate during his engagement and subsequent break-up to Jennifer Lopez.

"Despite all the rumours, I liked and still do like Jennifer Lopez. I would never judge the woman at Ben's side and expect the same from him," said Damon.

Damon will be starring next in Terry Gilliam’s “The Brothers Grimm” opposite Heath Ledger.

Here's the quote that made me laugh from Cosmo Nov 04 Issue:

Q: What's the weirdest thing a femal fan has said to you?

A: The funniest thing was when this woman walked up to me and said, "Matt Damon," and I said, "Yeah," and she said, "I have to say, I never got it. I saw all of your movies and I just never got what was so great about you." And I went, "Oh, all right, I'm sorry to hear that." And she said, "But then I saw that Bourne Identity, and for the last month, I've been touching myself and thinking of nothing but you."

I think I'll stick this in Fan Behavior thread too

histar.com

MATT DAMON won't accept any more roles in which his character smokes... because he himself just quit with the help of a HYPNOTIST, and he doesn't want to be sucked back into his two pack a day habit.

EOnline.com
Celeb Sightings

Matt Damon
Julie
(Oct 23, 2004, 10:51 AM)

I saw him in Starbucks two weeks ago on Astor Place in NYC. Apparently he has a place around there. He was wearing a Red Sox hat and had a petite girl with long brown hair with him.

Matt Damon greets fans with pen in hand outside the Late Show with David Letterman studio on Monday. He appeared on the nighttime talkfest to promote Ocean's Twelve, opening Dec. 10.

Damon Begged for Smaller 'Ocean's' Role
imdb.com

Matt Damon begged producers of forthcoming sequel Ocean's Twelve to make sure his role as Linus Caldwell was just as small as it had been in the 2001 original. Damon spent most of this year filming in Europe - he began shooting Ocean's Twelve immediately after he wrapped The Bourne Supremacy . Damon says, "I actually asked for a smaller part this time around. I wanted to do less work because I had just come off The Bourne Supremacy and I was tired." Despite the actor's protests, producers George Clooney, Jerry Weintraub and Steven Soderbergh insisted Caldwell have more screen time. Clooney jokes, "Matt showed up and told us he had this big hit sequel under his belt so we'd need him to sell our picture. We had no choice but to give him a bigger part."

people.com

Matt Damon showed everyone his love for girlfriend Luciana Barroso on a recent night out at Dan Tana's. Though the pair was at the West Hollywood eatery with another couple, they didn't tone down the PDA, with the Ocean's Twelve star keeping his arm wrapped around Barroso throughout the meal and sharing kisses. "They were all over each other, very in love," says a spy. Sitting at a nearby table was Joey star Drea De Matteo, with musician boyfriend Shooter Jennings and a group of tattooed, pierced friends.

usatoday.com
Celebrity gossip: Donna Freydkin
January 2005

Tampa, FL: Hey Donna, where is Matt Damon living these days and is he still with his girlfriend?

Donna Freydkin: Matt Damon lives here, in NYC, and is still with Lucianna. He is, quite possibly, the nicest guy I have ever interviewed.

Matt and Lucy make such a sweet couple. She seems as nice as he is and helps to keep him grounded and family oriented. if any couple should get married it should be these two, but I think Matt is a bit marriage shy?

Matt Damon and girlfriend Luciana Barroso get decked out for a dinner at New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's townhouse on Wednesday. The soiree was in honor of members of the International Olympic Committee's evaluation commission, in town to meet about the possibility of the city hosting the 2012 Games.

I am telling ya they even have matching smiles! Cute.

They are just too cute.

People
Feb 28th, 2005 Issue

Why do I get the feeling that they know the photographer was there?

Matt Damon, whose HBO series Project Greenlight kicks off its new season March 15, braves Monday's nor'easter to catch the New York opening of the off-Broadway show After Ashley, which stars his Finding Forrester costar Anna Paquin.

pagesixsixsix.com

It's been a while since we had a SIGHting, but we make up for it today with not one but two celebs spotted - EATING! Yes, they were actually consuming food.

Says a reader, "Went to Indochine last night and proceeded to be blinded by star wattage. I'm practically making love to my crispy shrimp appetizer (it was that good) when who do I see but everyone's favorite Bahstin hunk (no, not that bloated Ben Assfuck, er I mean Affleck), Matt Damon. Looking delicious in a long-sleeve baseball tee and ski cap, this boy is one smokin' piece of filet mignon.

Apparently, Matt had to wait for a table (am I more VIP than Will Hunting?) so he chilled barside with his blokes . Finally, my group finishes up our food and booze and as we are getting coats and doing our last pee run (cocktails, bottle of champagne and 2 bottles of wine and your bladder would be screaming for mercy too!), we spy everyone's favorite lawn gnome anxiously waiting to get our table...Ben Stiller.

US Weekly, June 1, 2005

...VIP Scene
Matt Damon and girlfriend Luciana Barroso enjoying lap dances at Scores in NYC.

Page Six
Sightings...

. . . MATT Damon, Eva Mendes, David Byrne, Nas and Kelis grooving to Sri Lankan songbird MIA at S.O.B.'s.

Matt Damon takes his girlfriend, Luciana Barroso, out to Fenway Park to see his home team, the Boston Red Sox, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0 on Saturday. The Massachusetts native will next be seen in Terry Gilliam's twisted fantasy The Brothers Grimm, which will be released in August.

Damon gears up for cycling champion biopic

Staff and agencies

Tuesday July 26, 2005

Guardian Unlimited

Matt Damon is in talks to star in a film about the life of seven-time Tour
de France winner and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong, according to US
reports.

Sports channel ESPN 2 reported the Oscar-winning actor was Armstrong's own
preferred choice to play him in the long-proposed movie, which is expected
to be based on Armstrong's biography It's Not About the Bike: My Journey
Back to Life.

According to US film site Ain't It Cool News, Damon is a biking enthusiast
and more than keen to get in shape for what would be a physically demanding
role.

Armstrong discovered that he had testicular cancer, which had spread to his
brain and lungs, in 1996. After surgery and aggressive chemotherapy he
returned to cycling in 1997 and two years later won his first Tour de
France, as the lead rider of the US Postal Service team. He then repeated
his victory for a record-breaking five years in a row before winning for a
seventh and final time earlier this month.

Armstrong's harrowing account of discovering and beating cancer, which was
cowritten by Sally Jenkins, won the William Hill sports book of the year
award in 2000 and a sequel, Every Second Counts, was published in 2003.

What a role. I was wondering who would end up playing him (just knew there would be a movie someday).

I think it's too early. Lance is the man and all, but I think it's too soon. I wonder are they gonna highlight his bad divorce?