He’s the world’s most famous normal person, the Hollywood Everyman, the good guy who finishes first. This month, he makes himself even more popular by returning to his most successful character, the rogue CIA agent Jason Bourne. Over coffee in Toronto, Matt Damon tells Esquire about surviving early acclaim, overcoming career setbacks, and why he won’t be running for president any time soon. (OK, maybe vice-president.)
HE WALKS IN OFF THE STREET ALONE, NO DRIVER, no handler. He’s just a guy in Levi’s and boots and a practical black sports coat. Juice and Java is a trendy coffee shop in the Beaches district of Toronto, and there’s a smattering of late afternooners around, a few students, some mums and toddlers. He walks past them all and sits at a regular table like it’s nothing. As though beneath that grey beanie with the Guinness logo, he’s not, unmistakably, Matt Damon, the movie star.
“Isn’t this place great?” he says. “I’m staying round the corner, about a block from the lake. It’s like a proper beach community, except no one has their designated section, everyone’s on top of each other, which is great. We go down there with the kids.
” You go to a crowded public beach with your family?
“Sure. Why not?”
Maybe it’s a Canada thing. People are famously nice here, down-to-earth and polite—unarmed Americans with healthcare and manners, not slaves to the celebrity industrial complex in quite the same way. During our 90-minute interview we’re only interrupted a couple of times, and never for selfies or autographs. Just a pat on the shoulder and a “Welcome to Toronto!”
But Damon insists it’s like this everywhere. He never gets bothered, not even in New York. “Well, if you’re in Soho by The Mercer Hotel where all the faces hang out, then you’re asking for attention,” he says. “But when I lived on the Upper West Side, I never saw anybody. I guess they just don’t come north of 72nd Street.” Even back home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, he manages to move through life like a civilian, to the envy of his friends.
This story is from the August 2016 edition of Esquire Philippines.
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This story is from the August 2016 edition of Esquire Philippines.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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He’s the world’s most famous normal person, the Hollywood Everyman, the good guy who finishes first. This month, he makes himself even more popular by returning to his most successful character, the rogue CIA agent Jason Bourne. Over coffee in Toronto, Matt Damon tells Esquire about surviving early acclaim, overcoming career setbacks, and why he won’t be running for president any time soon. (OK, maybe vice-president.)
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