While Matt Damon has mostly avoided the superhero landscape throughout his illustrious Hollywood run, it didn’t take much to convince him to make a cameo in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok. The actor portrayed the role of an Asgardian playing false Loki in a play and he went on to reprise the role to make a brief cameo in the sequel to Ragnarok, Thor: Love and Thunder.
Although the actor was enthralled about working as an intergalactic community theater actor, The Martian Star had to get special government permission to reprise his role in Thor 4.
Matt Damon Needed Special Permission From the Australian Government to Work in Thor 4
Covid was a hard time for the entire entertainment Industry, as most of the world remained in lockdown for months. But while most of the world was closed off, Australia was one of the first countries that opened itself for big Hollywood studios to resume their shooting, following their tight border security. This allowed Marvel to kickstart the production of Thor 4, but Matt Damon, who reprised his role, revealed he had to get special permission from government officials to film the cameo.
Damon recounted that the lone reason he was getting in was because this production was creating hundreds of jobs for people. The Martian Star told GQ:
There were government officials who called me and explained to me in no uncertain terms: The only reason you’re getting in is because this production is creating jobs. Now, could the production live without me? Yeah. But you start pulling jokes away from something that’s funny and eventually it’s not, you know what I mean?
Despite Damon’s memorable appearance, the fourth film failed to live up to its predecessor despite making $760M at the box office upon its release.
Also read: One Advice That Changed Matt Damon’s Ex-girlfriend’s Life After Brutal End to Their Sweet Romance
Matt Damon Once Dropped the Offer to Play a Major Marvel Hero
Although it appears a brief cameo as false Loki might be Matt Damon’s lone appearance in the realm of superheroes, the actor was initially eyed as the favorite to tackle the role of Daredevil. Before his buddy Ben Affleck starred as Matt Murdock in 2003’s Daredevil, the role was initially offered to Damon. But the Oppenheimer Star wasn’t ready to play any major superhero if the project wasn’t under Christopher Nolan’s wings. He told The Daily News:
“If Chris Nolan came up to me and said, ‘I want to do Daredevil,’ I would be in,”
With a fifth Thor movie not in sight in the MCU’s current scheme of things, will Matt Damon be back as the intergalactic community theater actor, who is living out Loki’s fantasy, remains to be seen.
Thor: Love and Thunder is available to stream on Disney Plus.
