Matt Cutting Back

Not much is happening in my life right now. I’ve cut back on all the exciting things I could be doing (like buying new Matt Damon DVDs) because I just don’t have the money. Sad, isn’t it? Matt has cut back on a few things too, but I suspect money isn’t his issue. He’s recently dropped two movie roles from his plans and will be taking a couple of months off to spend time with his family. I’m sure Luciana will be happy about that. She knew when she married him that she’d have to share him with the world, but even things for which we prepare ourselves can still be quite difficult.

Originally, Matt had planned to do a movie called Brothers, in which the black sheep of the family is left behind to care for his sibling’s wife and child when the younger boy is sent off to war in Afghanistan. Variety now reports, however, that the brothers in question will be played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire.

He was working with Mark Wahlberg on a deal to bring another brother movie to the screen as well. The Fighter is about boxer Mickey Ward (to be played by Wahlberg), whose half-brother, Dicky Eklund, helped train him for championship fights. Mickey’s Dicky will now be played by Brad Pitt. I wish Pitt would play (with) my dicky!

So Matt’s life is just too animated these days. He’s been flying all over the world to support The Bourne Ultimatum, and his wife and daughters are getting tired of being Mattless. I’m pretty sure, as well, his wife wants to see him again on the mattress. But if you’re looking for some Damon animation in your life, look for the guest appearance he made on the PBS series Arthur. He provides the voice for an animated version of himself (with bear ears) in an episode which originally aired September 3 (but surely will be repeated – it’s PBS, after all!). It’s part of an initiative called Postcards from You, whose purpose is to encourage viewers (presumably the young kind the series regularly draws) to make their own videos. Why they would want to encourage such a thing, I don’t really know. Children already have too much of that “look at me!” thing going on, for my taste. Matt will also be animated next year in episode 15 of The Simpsons, TV’s longest-running comedy. The episode is called Lost Verizon.

And to wrap up, apropos of absolutely nothing, when Matt was interviewed on radio station B105 in Brisbane, Australia, they asked him a question that’s cute enough to mention here. I don’t know how the topic came up (or why I didn’t mention it until now), but Matt was asked what it looks like when he stands next to Hugh Jackman. Matt said: "It looks like we’re brothers but one of us was left in the oven longer. He’s about six inches taller than me." Six inches, hee hee. That gives a guy a lot of dirty thoughts. Well, this guy, anyway. But I know my friend Melissa will be verklempt just to see a mention of her beloved Hugh. We saw him on Broadway together when he did The Boy From Oz. Now when is Matt coming to Broadway, hm?