Matt Damon's 5 Best Performances

His accolades include 1 Oscar win from 5 nominations, 3 BAFTA nominations and 2 Golden Globe wins from 8 nominations

Since the 90s, Matt Damon has imprinted his talent on various genres in Hollywood. From a disturbed math prodigy to a sarcastic astronaut stranded on Mars, Damon has proven that he is a man dedicated to his projects, both in front and behind the camera.

Here, we list off our 5 favourite performances of his.

5. Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity (2002)

What happens when a CIA agent loses his memory? That is what this film steps into. Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum and directed Doug Liman, Damon stars as Jason Bourne – a man suffering from amnesia who is caught in the middle of a CIA conspiracy whilst trying to uncover who he is.

This film features Damon in his first leading role of an action movie and he does so very well. This paved the way for Damon to feature in various films as the Jason Bourne character, the latest being Jason Bourne in 2016.

Damon made sure that he was prepped for this role tenfold. He put himself through hundreds of hours of gun training, all so he’d look comfortable whilst holding a weapon in the film.

4. Paul Safranek in Downsizing (2017)

Probably not one of the best movies in this actor’s filmography, but an out of the box performance all in all.

Damon stars as Paul Safranek, a man who lives in a world where people can shrink themselves and live a much more luxurious lifestyle. In deciding to do so with his wife, played by Bridesmaids‘ Kristen Wiig, he changes his life forever…and not in a good way.

As a dramedy, this film has a lot of moments that highlight the humour in darkness, which our lead actor captures perfectly.

Director Alexander Payne originally wanted Paul Giamatti for the role of Safranek. However, destiny pulled in Damon for the role clearly.

3. Linus Caldwell in Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

The first in the Ocean franchise, Damon is featured as one of the original gang members, Linus Caldwell, a skilled pickpocket.

As with other members of the gang, Caldwell is brought in by George Clooney’s Danny Ocean and Brad Pitt’s Rusty Ryan to rob three banks in Las Vegas at once.

Damon plays the naive but hardworking Linus to perfection, bouncing off the rest of the cast really well in one of the best caper films if the 21st century.

This part was originally intended for Mark Whalberg. However, Whalberg opted instead for Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes remake. Oh, what a mistake he made.

2. Mark Watney in The Martian (2015)

Only Matt Damon could play a man who gets stranded on a distant planet and stays positive about it. Yes, directed by Ridley Scott, the actor stars as Mark Watney, a botanist who, when evacuating an expedition on Mars with his team, is accidentally left behind and thought to be dead. As it happens, he survives and is tasked with surviving alone whilst working to get himself back home.

A film that leaves you on edge from start to finish, Damon mainly acts by himself and has you glued to the screen as he gives one of the best performances ever.

Ridley Scott claimed that Damon filmed all of his solo scenes over a 5 week stint, after which he was relieved from his schedule. Damon then did not see most of his co-stars until it came time to promote the film.

1. Will Hunting in Good Will Hunting (1997)

In the top spot…what other role was it going to be, really? Directed by Gus Van Sant, this film tells the story of disturbed young man called will Hunting, who is discovered to be a maths prodigy and finds his life beginning to go off in various potential directions.

Look at the break-up scene between Will and Minnie Driver’s Skylar, or the bar scene where Will defends his friend’s intellect against a Harvard snob. Damon kills it in this film, and breaks your heart time and time again.

Damon of course co-wrote this film with best friend and co-star Ben Affleck, with both winning Best Original Screenplay at the 1998 Academy Awards. The film also earned Robin Williams an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

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Matt Damon’s 5 Best Performances