The Matt Damon cameo is a thing of sublime beauty that exists on a plane that is maybe even above his main career of y’know – starring in many acclaimed and successful movies. Damon frequently pops up in tiny supporting roles in the movies made by his directing buddies, such as Steven Soderbergh, and it’s always delightful. He’s cropped up in tiny cameos in everything from the Thor movies to multiple Kevin Smith movies, to Deadpool 2 to…um, Eurotrip. So, when Christopher Nolan offered Matt Damon a very small part in one of his best movies, Interstellar, he probably didn’t even bat an eyelid.
With the recent release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, in which Matt Damon has the substantial supporting role of Leslie Groves, you would be forgiven for thinking that it was the first collaboration between the director and actor. However, Damon is in Interstellar, just in a tiny – and villainous – role.
During the press tour for Oppenheimer (before the actors strike), Damon explained how blunt Nolan was about the size of the role when he offered it to him.
Damon told Fandango; “Chris is very direct. Like when he offered me Interstellar years ago, he said ‘You know they say there are no small parts, there are only small actors?’ and I’m on the phone and go ‘Yeah!’ [And he goes] ‘This is a small part.'”
When Nolan offered the role of Oppenheimer’s mistress Jean Tatlock to Florence Pugh, he also kept apologizing about how small the role was. He’d have had to make that same speech to almost every actor in the Oppenheimer cast though, because it has an enormous ensemble filled with good actors who get very little screen-time.
Check out our guides to the best Christopher Nolan movies and the best Matt Damon movies. If you want to know what’s happening with some of your favorite TV series, check out our guides to House of the Dragon season 2 and Reacher season 2.