Matt Damon Tears Up During 5-Minute Standing Ovation for His New Movie Stillwater at Cannes
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Matt Damon had quite the emotional moment at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday.
The actor attended the premiere of his latest movie Stillwater at the prestigious film festival in the south of France. After the movie played, Damon teared up as the drama received a 5-minute standing ovation from the crowd.
In a clip shared to Twitter by Variety's executive editor Ramin Setoodeh, Damon is seen smiling with tears in his eyes as he reacts to the crowd's roaring cheers while he's shown on the theater's screen. He also points at the filmmakers next to him as he soaks the moment in.
Stillwater stars Damon, 50, as a construction worker from Oklahoma whose daughter (Abigail Breslin) is charged and convicted with the murder of her ex-girlfriend while in France. Damon fights to get the ruling overturned in a lengthy and expensive journey, reminiscent of the Amanda Knox case, and befriends a single mom and her daughter along the way (Camille Cottin and newcomer Lilou Siauvaud, respectively.)
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Matt Damon is brought to tears at the #Cannes2021 standing ovation for ‘Stillwater.’ pic.twitter.com/phpK2mOJT1
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) July 8, 2021
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In a panel at the film festival, Damon explained how the script drew him in.
"It was one of those scripts that I looked at it, I finished it, I put it down and I thought about it for 15 minutes. And then I picked it up and read it again," said Damon. "I just really respond to great writing. It's hard to find these days."
The actor also connected to the central story of a father going all out to save his daughter. Damon shares four daughters with wife Luciana.
"Any parent can relate to crossing any number of lines in order to help their child," Damon said. "Since I've had kids, I feel like everything's a lot more available to me in my job, emotionally speaking. I don't have to reach so far anymore."
Stillwater hits theaters on July 30.
