Matt Damon Opens Up About Experiencing “Depression” On A Movie Set

Known for his acclaimed performances in the likes of Good Will Hunting, The Martian, and the Bourne movie franchise, Matt Damon is one of the leading figures in Hollywood. However, speaking in a recent interview, the actor recalled that one movie on his resumé didn’t turn out as he’d hoped, and caused him to fall “into a depression.”

While promoting his latest film Oppenheimer on the YouTube series Jake’s Takes, Damon got candid about his experience working on the film, which he didn’t name. “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,” the actor said. “I remember halfway through production and you’ve still got months to go and you’ve taken your family somewhere, you know, 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 went on to share that his wife, Luciana Barroso, “really helped” him at the time. “She just said, ‘We’re here now.’ You know, and it was like… I do pride myself, in a large part because of her, on 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.”

Although Damon didn’t confirm which movie he was referring to, the actor previously opened up about his time working on the 2016 film The Great Wall, which he said “doesn’t work as a movie.”

Speaking on the WTF podcast back in 2021, the Oscar-winner continued: “I came to consider that the definition of a professional actor; knowing you’re in a turkey and going, ‘OK, I’ve got four more months. It’s the up-at-dawn siege on Hamburger Hill. I am definitely going to die here, but I’m doing it.’ That’s as s***** as you can feel creatively, I think. I hope to never have that feeling again.”