Matt Damon promised his wife he’d take a break from acting unless ‘Chris Nolan called’

Christopher Rosen
·3 min read
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Counting his cameo appearance in “Thor: Love and Thunder” and an uncredited role in Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move,” Matt Damon appeared in six months since 2021 – including Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” But as the busy star explained in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, his packed schedule was a source of tension in his marriage to the point where a specific dispensation for Nolan was needed.

“This is going to sound made up, but it’s actually true,” Damon said during a group interview with “Oppenheimer” stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey Jr., as well as Nolan. “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. 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. And so, it was a moment in my household.”

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Damon has been married to Luciana Barroso since December 2005. The pair have four children together, including a daughter Barroso gave birth to during her previous marriage. 

The actor, who has gotten strong reviews for “Oppenheimer” following some of his best notices for leading “Air” for director and pal Ben Affleck earlier this year, has given Barroso credit during the Nolan picture’s press tour for helping him keep things in perspective – especially during tough times. 

“I think, without naming any particular movies, that sometimes you find yourself in a movie that you know perhaps might not be what you had hoped it would be, and you’re still making it,” Damon said during a recent interview. “Halfway through production and you’ve still got months to go, and you’ve taken your family somewhere, and you’ve inconvenienced them. And I remember my wife pulling me up because I fell into a depression about, like, what have I done?”

Damon didn’t mention the movie, but some suggested it might have been “The Great Wall.”

“And she just said, ‘We’re here now,’” he continued. “I do pride myself, in a large part because of her, at being a professional actor. And what being a professional actor means is you go and you do the 15-hour day and give it absolutely everything, even in what you know is going to be a losing effort. If you can do that with the best possible attitude, then you’re a pro, and she really helped me with that.”

“Oppenheimer” is out this week.

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