Here’s Why Matt Damon Had To Negotiate “Extensively” With His Wife To Be Able To Star In “Oppenheimer”

Over the last few years, Matt Damon has appeared in — and produced — several acclaimed movies.

In 2021, the 52-year-old actor starred in The Last Duel and Stillwater, which he also co-wrote and produced alongside Ben Affleck.

The following year, Matt made a cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder, and in 2023, he appeared in and produced the popular sports drama Air.

And so, it’s no secret that Matt has been super busy lately in terms of his acting career.

Well, it turns out that Matt’s hectic schedule is something that’s come between him and his wife, Luciana Barroso.

Matt and Luciana have been married for almost two decades now, tying the knot back in 2005. They have four daughters: Alexia, Isabella, Gia, and Stella.

This week, Matt revealed that he told Luciana he’d be taking a break from acting before he was offered his latest role, which is in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

Matt portrays Gen. Leslie Groves in the historical drama-thriller, which will be released later this week, alongside Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey Jr.

Sitting down with his costars on Monday to speak with Entertainment Weekly, Matt revealed that he “negotiated extensively” with Luciana about being able to take on the Oppenheimer role given that he’d previously told her he was taking a break from acting.

Noting that he was approached by the director himself, Matt — who previously appeared in Chris's 2014 film Interstellar — explained that while he’d initially told Luciana that he was taking a break from acting, his one “caveat” was “if Chris Nolan called.”

“This is going to sound made up, but it's actually true,” he told Cillian, Emily, Robert, and Christopher. “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 revealed.

“This is without knowing whether or not he was working on anything, because he never tells you... He just calls you out of the blue,” he added.

With all this in mind, it’s perhaps no surprise that Matt described the moment Christopher called him for Oppenheimer as “a moment” in his and Luciana’s household.

Echoing Matt’s comments about Christopher’s impromptu way of casting actors for his films, Cillian — who plays the titular character of J. Robert Oppenheimer in the movie — revealed he had “no idea” about the role before being phoned by the director.

“Chris’s way of operating is that he just calls you out of the blue,” says Cillian. “I genuinely had no idea. He said he was making a movie about Oppenheimer and he said, ‘I’d like you to play Oppenheimer.’”

“I had to sit down. It was kind of overwhelming,” he added, with Christopher noting that he feels ringing people out of the blue is “a fun way to do it.”

“[It’s] a fun way to do it,” he said, before adding, “but it means that it's very difficult to call you to go out to dinner or something. Because every time you answer the phone it's like, ‘What's it going to be?’”

You can watch the Oppenheimer cast’s "Around the Table" video with Entertainment Weekly here. The movie will be in theaters on July 21.

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