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Two sauces are good. Did I just drool? Oh my god.
Two sauces are good. Did I just drool? Oh my god.
What's happening to my body?
Hey, what's going on everybody?
For First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans and you're watching Hot Ones.
It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
And today we're joined by Matt Damon.
He's an Academy Award-winning actor.
He's been in some of the most iconic films over the last 25 years from Goodwill Hunting to Saving Private Ryan, the Bourne film series and many more.
His latest though is the Tom McCarthy-directed crime drama Stillwater which is set to release on July 30th.
Matt Damon, welcome to the show. Thanks, Sean. Appreciate it.
I know that you're a big Cholula guy.
What's going through your brain right now as you prepare for the wing gauntlet today?
I made the mistake of watching probably too many of uh my colleagues do this and so I think I I went from being pretty bullish about it to being I'm I'm pretty I'm I'm I'm There's a humble man sitting before you.
Uh my kids really wanted me to do this too which I know is a theme.
A lot of a lot of uh people say that but it was true in my case too.
So, they want to see they want to see the flop sweat. So, let's put on a show. All right.
All right, it's terrific.
So, there's a store in Williamsburg that sells all these, right? Yep. Shout out Heat Ness. Heat Ness. com. Heat Ness. com. Heat Ness. com. All right.
Well, the classic hot sauce is fantastic. So far, so good. Mhm.
So, your latest film Stillwater recently premiered to a 5-minute long standing ovation at Cannes.
And in it, you play an oil roughneck from Oklahoma.
How did taking a road trip to the Sooner State, eating at places like Ray's Barbecue, and then befriending real-life oil man Kenny Baker, how did that help you and Tom McCarthy to shape the story?
Well, I knew about Ray's barbecue.
That place was fantastic.
Um That was really the key to everything. It was going down there. Um I I loved the script.
And I just I read it and loved the dynamic between all the characters and totally believed it.
But the specificity of what a roughneck is and what a roughneck does was absolutely key to creating this character.
So, I and I didn't know that whole world.
We actually named the character Bill Baker as kind of an homage to Kenny cuz his last name is Baker.
Kenny took us around and went to these oil rigs.
The way he walks, the way he stands, the goatee and the wrap-around glasses.
All those specific details came from our time down there.
And I think, you know, they kind of met us the roughnecks kind of met us with like some understandable wariness. Like, Hollywood, yeah.
Yeah, what are you doing?
Like, what are your intentions? You know what I mean?
Are you Are you here to poke fun at us?
Like, what What are you really doing?
But once they realized, you know, that the script had all those compassion and empathy for this character.
It was about this guy and um and that we were just trying to get it right.
That they they were awesome.
Just gave us unbelievable access.
And the movie is what it is and that performance is what it is and I'm really proud of it.
But it's because it comes from those guys. Oh, that's delicious.
I would have both of those in my house without a doubt. That's great.
So, I'm from Illinois and my mom actually worked for the US government's antitrust division.
I actually remember her working on the Mark Whitacre case for your film The Informant.
Out of my own personal curiosity, what drew you to that story and that project?
Well, Steven Soderbergh um asked me and and and incidentally asked me to do it at a time in my career when it looked like I was going that way.
Um The Bourne Identity hadn't come out.
Um I'd had a bunch of bombs.
Steven called me and I I he told me about it and I didn't realize he was offering me to star in it I cuz nobody had offered me a job in a while and I said we do you mean do you want me to write this cuz I'm a writer also and he said no no no I want you to start
Scott Burns is going to write it I want you to star in it and I couldn't believe it and anyway we sat on it for a number of years until the timing worked out and we shot it in 2008 and it's one of my favorite things I've done and that case was just incredible. So I'm proud of the
So I'm proud of the movie we did.
Salsa spicy habanero and manzano chili hot sauce.
Intensely spicy just one drop hot sauce.
Well and this one's had a bath. It has. Fantastic. That's delicious.
Big pepper but really good.
I saw I got to eat I got to kind of eat all the wing cuz I saw Bill Burr do that.
I'm like it's a Boston thing. Boston strong.
Yeah he he he he did really well.
So Project Greenlight offers a fascinating insight into the chaos that goes into making a movie.
At what stage in the filmmaking process are the stakes the highest?
Like is having a solid script the most essential component to making a good movie or does the sink or swim moment happen further down the line?
Well it can be both ways you can have a solid script and you can be adjusting it as you go along and um I mean the most hectic and high pressure is in in production because that's like when you're lighting money on fire.
Um you know you've got everybody out there you're on location somewhere it's just really expensive.
Pre-production you can kind of hit pump the brakes a little bit you can slow down there you can you can work kind of regular person work hours.
That's got a little more than I thought.
How would you in layman's terms explain the internal calculus that goes on with a studio when they're deciding whether or not to finance a film like whether or not it's worth the gamble?
Yeah well that's the key word is gamble cuz it's always a gamble right?
There's you're always it's always a risk.
They try to mitigate the risk by putting somebody who they think is bankable, quote unquote bankable, in.
The kind of inside baseball of it is they have a list from what I understand.
I don't know that it's like they meet like the heads of the five families in The Godfather and talk about it or there's some secret list, but it does seem like you don't know if you're on the list or not.
You just know kind of based on how many offers you're getting like, oh, I don't think I'm on the list right now.
And I think you kind of you know, it's like the Premier League.
You get relegated and you get promoted and you kind of go back and forth.
Um but it does seem like if you're on the list in one place, you're on the list in all five.
And do you do this by a taste profile or an actual heat profile?
I guess you have the habanero measure on the side, right? So it's going up.
It's always going to keep going up.
that's a good question because we do try to mix up the sauces cuz physiologically you'll react differently to different peppers.
So it's like maybe you'll Maybe you'll have like a a a pepper that like lights your lips on fire, like scratches your throat or makes you sweat in the back of your neck a little bit.
So we try to mix those up so that it's like a full just the walls are closing in on you.
The enjoyment that you got.
There's three totally different things that these wings can do to you. This is great.
So I've heard you say that you take every job based on the director and it would seem that guiding philosophy has served you well having worked with nine different filmmakers over the course of your career who've all won an Oscar for best picture. Mhm.
Clint Eastwood is notorious for always going with the first take.
What was that experience like as an actor on the set of Invictus?
Well, it was a little terrifying because I was playing a South African to not to really hard accent to do.
If you think about what our tongue does in an American accent, it's like the polar opposite in a South African accent.
So it's like if you say I'll be right back.
And think about what your tongue does.
They say I'll be right back.
And it's like, what the [ __ ] just happened, right?
It was very hard to It's something that you just required a lot of practice and I've treated it like a like a job.
And I I tested that theory on day day one of shooting. We did the first take.
It went pretty well, but Clint says, "Cut, print, check the gate."
Which means, you know, we're going to we're going to move on.
And I said, "Hey hey boss, you know, maybe you think we get one more?"
And he just turned and he goes, "Why?
You want to waste everybody's time?"
I'm like, "Okay, we're done." All right, good. Let's let's move on.
So, uh so I'm glad I put all that work in because I really don't think I got more than one take ever.
And then you had the distinction of working with Francis Ford Coppola on the movie The Rainmaker.
What are some of the unique things that you saw him do to elevate a scene? Different tactics.
I read something interesting about him putting rocks in your shoes. Yeah, yeah.
That was a scene in which I was supposed to be uncomfortable.
I was walking into a a meeting and and the and the kind of the setup is it's a long conference table and there's like 15 really high-powered lawyers led by Jon Voight on the other side, you know, these formidable people with this incredibly formidable guy in the middle of them, right?
And I'm little Rudy Baylor with, you know, by myself on the other side of the conference table.
And so, to walk into the room, Francis uh put rocks in my shoes and then just told me to walk normally.
You just want to be uncomfortable and try to act as comfortable as you can because you don't want them to see how uncomfortable you are. So, things like that. All right, Matt.
Are you ready to move on? Halfway mark. You're doing great. Thank you.
This one's the Ginger Goat here in the five spot. The Ginger Goat. The original goat.
The Tom Brady of hot sauce. That's interesting. I like it.
It's got a little uh little pineapple in it.
Sometimes they'll like kind of um little fruit. Mhm. Yeah, that's nice. All right, Matt.
We have a recurring segment on our show called Explain That Gram.
We're doing a deep dive on our guest's Instagram, pull interesting pictures that need more context.
Of course, you don't have an Instagram.
Might be surprised to learn this.
You still have plenty of pictures on the internet.
So, what we'll do is we'll pull up the picture on the monitor.
You just tell us the bigger story and then all sports theme.
I love when we can do that.
We have an all sports theme for Matt Damon.
So, let's pull up the first picture.
Do you have a lasting memory from sitting courtside at Staples Center for game five of the '08 finals between the Celtics and Lakers? Absolutely.
I have a [ __ ] great memory of that game.
These seats are next to the Laker bench.
So, literally we sat down and and you know, the guys who work for the Lakers are looking at me going, "You got to be kidding me."
Like they they gave them to you guys?
Like they were saying it was so like this is like this is Now, I'm going to talk to Patrick.
They were they were they were ripping about it.
But this game we were down like 21 points.
It was something incredible.
And sure enough, these guys, they come back all the way and it gets capped with Paul Pierce, The Truth, driving down the lane like laying the ball in and it hits the glass.
And by the time it hits the glass, it hasn't even gone through the hoop.
Phil Jackson's up calling a timeout to try to stop the bleeding.
And Wahlberg and I are like going absolutely crazy.
We jump up and we're like 15 ft from Phil Jackson.
And Phil Jackson turns and points at us.
And he goes, "SIT DOWN AND SHUT THE [ __ ] UP."
AND I WAS LIKE AND WE WERE LIKE Like like we made it into the Celtics-Lakers rivalry just as like bit players, but and also Phil, you know, he's known for being so zen.
Yeah, yeah, not in that moment.
No, I mean it was like probably one of the worst moments of his professional career.
It was like a whole It was like, "God, not this again."
But uh but yeah, man, it was it was like you know, we it was it was funny. It was a moment.
In Stillwater, you attend a game at the Velodrome.
And then I've seen you at Formula 1 events.
I've seen you at rugby matches.
What to you is the most memorable sporting event that you've ever seen internationally. A great question.
The way that people cheer in Europe for soccer is is awesome.
It's worth like to any American who's traveling abroad and has the chance to like just get tickets and get into a stadium, it's really really fun. It's worth seeing.
The craziest thing I've ever seen without a doubt though is a soccer game in Argentina.
My wife's from Argentina.
We went to spend Christmas there about 11 12 years ago.
Her family's team, Boca Juniors, which is a very popular team in in Buenos Aires is is in the this final.
And I say to my uncle, well, to her uncle, you know, "Hey, can we go? Can we go to this game?"
And he gets this very serious look on his face and he's like, "We can go. We can go." He says in Spanish. "We can go."
He goes, "No women, no children." I was like, "What?"
Like I thought, you know, I was like, Take the kids and we're going to go to Go to the game, yeah.
Well, I saw why when we went because we had to get through I think three police barricades.
There was temporary fencing with barbed wire put up.
I mean, it was just absolute madness and police with riot gear outside.
And if this is the is the the field, people were sitting here and people were sitting here, kind of like as if in the two end zones, what would be end zones of our football.
And there was nobody sitting in the best seats, right?
Cuz that was the distance that people could throw things and hit each other. Our team won.
The other team's fans are filing out and the trophy presentation finishes and I say to Hector, I'm like, "Should you know, should we go?"
And he goes, "No, we still we still" And it was because they needed time to get out of the neighborhood Mhm.
where the stadium was and you had to give them like a 45-minute head start.
And then when they did let us out, they actually held us in these temporary kind of cages.
I was like, "What are we waiting for now?"
And they're like, "Now they still need 5 more minutes to clear the neighborhood."
I mean, it was absolutely crazy.
Like, definitely the craziest sporting event I've been to. Tikka masala. All right. Oh, bit my lip. Oh, that's up.
It's the back of the throat a little bit, huh? It's It's starting.
It's starting here, yeah. All right. Oh, it's on now. Wow.
So, I think a scenario lots of viewers can relate to is is sitting on the couch on a Friday night, going through the streaming services, cycling through the movies, and and thinking to themselves, "They're not making movies for me anymore."
As somebody who's been intimately involved in movie making for 30 years, what are the macro Hollywood conditions behind that sentiment?
Well, so what happened was um the DVD was a huge part of our business, of our revenue stream.
And technology has just made that uh obsolete.
And so, the movies that that we used to make, you could afford to not make all of your money when it played in the theater, because you knew you had the DVD coming behind the release.
And 6 months later, you'd get all, you know, a whole 'nother chunk.
It would be like reopening the movie almost.
And when that went away, that changed the type of movies that we could make.
I did this movie Behind the Candelabra, and I talked to a studio executive who explained it was a $25 million movie.
I would have to put that much into print and advertising, right? To to market it. Um what we call P&A.
So, I'd have to put that in P&A.
So, now I'm in $50 million.
I have to split everything I get with the exhibitor, all right, the people who own the movie theaters.
So, I would have to make a $100 million before before I got into profit.
And and the idea of making a hundred million dollars on a story about like this love affair between these two people.
Yeah, I love everyone in the movie but I it's a that's a that's suddenly a massive gamble in a way that it wasn't in the 1990s when they were making all those kind of movies, the kind of movies that I loved and and the kind of movies that were my bread and butter.
By the way, these were all great, these first six.
So, I'm starting to not be able to feel my my mouth too much. Yeah, all right.
Well, I'm feeling like I'm going to drop about two pounds.
I'm going to hit my catch weight. That is [ __ ] hot, man.
But having said that, it's delicious.
That's actually really good.
There's some redeeming culinary qualities in that one.
I would buy all seven of these. I really would.
That one's that one's hot though. Yeah, yeah.
So, we had David Harbour on the show earlier this season, he said that that guy.
for drama to translate on camera, that something real has to happen between the actors. Yes.
Is it true that Steven Spielberg excluded you purposely from the military training on the set of Saving Private Ryan to create a real resentment between the rest of the cast and you? That's totally true.
Um I was such a young diligent actor.
I was ready to go to boot camp. He said absolutely not.
He goes, you can train in any way you want but I'm separating you from the other guys. They really did.
They were totally resentful.
Every time they brought up boot camp cuz I think it rained the whole time.
I think they had a tough few days.
There's a there's an internet rumor on Reddit that if you watch the famous idiosyncrasies scene in Good Will Hunting that you can actually see a subtle wobbling up and down because the camera operator was laughing uncontrollably right along with you and Robin Williams. Confirm or deny on that.
I don't know, we could check. I wouldn't be surprised.
Robin made everybody laugh. I mean, uncontrollably.
And when he would see people's energy flagging, he would just launch into like 10 minutes of stand-up.
He was the biggest, you know, comedian in the world and actor in the world and that level of like I don't know, leadership kind of like and then and attention and love coming from him was just like, well, you know, everybody was ready to like work for another 12 hours.
I mean, he was just amazing.
Fact or fiction, you declined to participate in the Bourne Conspiracy video game cuz you wanted a game that was more like Myst.
Yeah, yeah, wow, wow, that's No, I just didn't want to do a kind of a just like a first-person shooter.
Like, they offered me a bunch of money, but it was like, if you could make it more, I don't know, if a little more thought had to go into it or, you know, like Myst. I love that game.
So, I was like, you know, more like Myst.
And they were like, no, and they just went and made it without me. The bomb.
This is the one, yeah, this is [ __ ] me, beyond insanity, Jesus. Why?
I don't have a good answer to that question. Oh, [ __ ] Why? We're going back in. Ah, [ __ ] it.
I saw Billie Eilish go back down through the rotation. I was like, wow, baller. Amazing.
You set a high bar with that episode. Mhm.
Wow, it's up into the nose.
That's that's that's incredible.
So, my only real goal with this minor internet celebrity is to use it to infiltrate the inner inner sanctum of my favorite sports teams, the teams that I rooted for growing up.
Do you have an all-time most treasured 13-year-old Matt Damon would freak out if you had this moment thinking about your brushes with the Red Sox and Patriots over the years?
Oh, I've had so many of those moments.
I went um in 1999 the All-Star Game was at Fenway Park.
Um they let us out on the field.
Um It's really [ __ ] hot. Yeah.
Um Um wow, to have batting practice and I hit the Green Monster off my dad.
Wow, I think that like I'd never need therapy in my life. John, this is terrible.
The other thing is that doesn't feel good in my stomach, either.
Right, it's spinning a little bit.
Do you want to Do you want to gas pedal to the next wing?
You want to slow it down?
No, no, no, whatever you You just You lead the way, man. You're driving. Okay. Okay.
So, this next one is the Scorpion Disco. That sounds fun. Oh, god. [ __ ] man. Nope.
Gronk spike on that wing. No, it's terrible. Just say it's terrible.
This fall you reunite with your lifelong friend and long-time collaborator Ben Affleck for the historical drama The Last Duel.
Do you have an all-time favorite scene in a movie that you've shot with Ben?
There's a scene in Good Will Hunting where uh he tells me to get out of town and uh that was really cool because we worked on that for four or five years up to that point and it was a big scene for him, and when he did it, did one take on the first take, and Gus Van Sant, the director, went, "That was great. Um I think I have it."
And Ben was so shocked because we've been imagining this day for so long.
And he looked at me, and I was like, "I think Gus is right. I think we got it."
He kind of insisted on doing it again.
So, we did it only three times, and I can't I don't know what take Gus used.
He could have used any of them because they were all great.
But the the look of bewilderment on his face, that this thing he'd been waiting so long to do was like over in 20 minutes.
Um that was probably my favorite scene. All right, Matt Damon. Last dab?
Oh, I have a great spice story.
You want to hear a funny spice story?
I'd love to hear a spice story.
So, Doug Liman, who directed uh the Bourne Identity, um he's a really funny guy, and he um he loves spice.
You should have him on your show, actually. He's a great director.
He'd be a very fun interview.
We're shooting a commercial here in New York.
Doug calls this Indian place.
Uh he goes, "I tell people I want more spice on my food, and they never put enough.
And I know you have great spice there.
I know you have the hardcore stuff, and I want the hardcore stuff.
So, you give me everything you have."
He goes, "I'm telling you, I guarantee you I will not come back and complain." The guy says, "Okay."
Doug goes, gets his lunch. Oh god.
That's going to be too much. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And uh he gets his food, he goes to his trailer. He takes a uh one bite.
He goes to take another bite, and projectile vomits all over It's place. that sometimes. It can be like that. Just too much spice.
The guy was like, "If you want the the good [ __ ] here you go." Okay, so Oh, [ __ ] man. All right. Cheers. Cheers, man. Thank you. This was fun. What a ride. Gross. I might throw up.
I won't do it on camera, but Like the last three have really Yeah. Tough.
It's like they've done something to the lining of my stomach. Yeah.
My kids are going to be so happy. Spicy wings. Spicy wings.
But thankfully, Matt Damon, we've reached the end of the gauntlet and just one more cumbersome task before we roll credits.
You've been very generous in talking about your career in film, enlightening, entertaining, and we're hoping to put a little bow on that here as we close things out.
What would be your answer to a cinephile who asked you to name four Matt Damon movies on this particular day, under these bizarre circumstances, with your brain on fire, that best define your career in acting?
There's sweat coming down my neck in like actual drops. It's unbelievable.
Four So, like, my four favorite performances? Yeah.
Um I'd say Stillwater is one of them. Really happy with that.
Good Will Hunting, definitely. I love The Informant.
Or one really early on called Courage Under Fire, which was a supporting role, but that kind of did a lot for me.
I don't know, maybe Ripley.
Wow, wow, that is unbelievably hot, Sean. The crash lights.
I am I hit the catch weight like two sausages. Did I just drool? Oh my god.
What's happening to my body?
Uh Look at you, Matt Damon, making it to the finish line all before puking, taking on the wings of death.
This is sweat soaking wet.
But just working through the wings, Bill Burr would be proud.
Your kids are going to be proud.
listen, I brought I brought the Boston like Bill did.
I'm I'm I'm proud of that.
He's I love that comedian.
He's on my Mount Rushmore of comedians.
So, I I I had to [ __ ] stand up.
And right along right along Bill Burr on the Mount Rushmore of Hot Ones, chisel in Matt face taking on the wings of death.
Listen to tell the tale and now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you.
This camera, this camera, this camera.
Let the people know what you have going on in your life. Nothing.
I'm going to try to recover from from that.
I'm going to I I feel like I need a shower.
I mean, I'm literally if you knew what was happening on my scalp right now, that's that's a new experience.
I mean, I feel like if some if someone just put a garden hose over my head. This is incredible. But thank you, man.
Sean, this was totally worth it.
My My kids are going to be thrilled.
Honestly, we we we love the show. I can't feel my tongue.
It feels like my tongue's getting thicker.
Thank thank THANK YOU, GUYS.
15 MINUTES TO 45 to get Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. 45, check back in.
You're You're going to be good to go. Dude, we good?
That was a baller move, man.
You didn't drink any water.
Yeah, you know, I just uh That's [ __ ] amazing. That's really amazing. It's [ __ ] amazing.
You cleared a whole pitcher.
I cleared a whole pitcher and then they went back and filled Don put more in. That might be a record. Oh.
I'm going to get Ben to do it.
Yeah, pass the word to Ben.
Hey, what's going on, Hot Ones fans?
This is Sean Evans checking in with a quick reminder the Hot Ones season 15 sauces are currently available at heatonist. com. That's right, heatonist.
com to get your hands on the season 15 hot sauces.
I know you're sitting there, you're wondering at home like, "Ah, it can't be that hot.
I think they're overdoing it. They're exaggerating. I've had spicy before. I can do it."
Well, put it to the test. Now available heatness. com, heatness.
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Be careful around the eyes.