Matt Damon is no stranger to surprising fans with unexpected cameos, especially in the late 90s and early 2000s, in movies, including Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, The Majestic, etc. But one of the most startling cameos involving Damon that came out of nowhere was in the 2004 S-x Comedy, EuroTrip, which is often forgotten by fans.
However, the story behind the cameo is arguably more enthralling than the cameo itself, which sees The Bourne Identity Star playing an obnoxious punked-out rock singer, Donny.
The Story Behind Matt Damon’s Casting in EuroTrip
Although Damon is often pretty serious with the works he chooses, which has allowed him to showcase his brilliance in front of the lens, he doesn’t have problems helping out his friends with their movies. And his surprising involvement in EuroTrip was a result of his friendship with the writers, Jeff Schaffer, Alec Berg, and David Mandell, which date back to their university days, and a huge coincidence. He revealed this on Reddit’s Ask Me Anything page,
“They said ‘Will you come play this, you know, Henry Rollins kind of insane, bad version of a suburban, you know, punk band guy?’ and I said ‘Yea, I’m in Prague.'” Damon recalled.
Considering he was in Prague filming The Brother’s Grimm at the time, for which he went bald, it didn’t take a lot of effort to give Damon the punk rocker look, and the scene eventually came to fruition.
Matt Damon Quit His Hiatus Plans to Star in Oppenheimer
This isn’t the only time when extremely precise circumstances resulted in the actor being cast in a particular project, with one prominent example being his casting in Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer. While Matt Damon initially planned to take a break from acting as an agreement with his wife in Couples therapy, he had one exception under his sleeve, which involved working with Nolan. As the story goes, before the actor’s hiatus plans would move forward, The Dark Knight director contacted him for Oppenheimer and the actor’s hiatus plans were short-lived. He revealed this in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“I had negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off. I had been in Interstellar, then Chris put me on ice for a couple movies. I actually negotiated in couples therapy that the one caveat to me taking time off was if Chris Nolan called,” Damon said. “This was without knowing whether or not he was working on anything, because he never tells you.”
While it was Damon’s friendship with the writers and a big coincidence that led him to make an appearance in EuroTrip, in the case of Nolan, the script he received was too good to turn down.
EuroTrip is available to rent on Apple TV.
Source: Reddit | Ask Me Anything
