Actor Matt Damon has starred in various movies throughout his career, however, there was this one movie that completely damaged the actor’s mental health. Although he didn’t name the movie, fans quickly derived that the movie was 2016’s The Great Wall.
The movie particularly didn’t disappoint Damon but it was the feeling that it didn’t turn out the way he expected it to. During that phase of life, the actor was very disheartened with how his career was progressing and on top of all this, The Great Wall was a major disappointment after its release. Christopher Nolan’s 2023 movie Oppenheimer once again popularised Damon as his performance as Leslie Groves was praised by critics as well as the fans.
This movie put Matt Damon into depression
In July, actor Matt Damon appeared on Jake’s Takes and talked about the time he “fell into a depression” while filming a movie. He recalled,
“Without naming any particular movies… 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 and 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 didn’t mention the name of the movie, but fans believe that he was talking about The Great Wall (2016). Directed by Zhang Yimou, the movie was a box office bomb and damaged Damon’s reputation as a star. In 2021, the actor appeared on the WTF podcast and explained the issues with the movie,
“I was like, this is exactly how disasters happen. It doesn’t cohere. It doesn’t work as a movie.”
Although the movie grossed over $335 million worldwide, it couldn’t cross its high production and marketing costs, causing a $75 million loss for the studios.
Matt Damon’s career slowed down in the late 2010s
In the late 2010s, Damon bagged average roles. The actor was struggling to find quality content and had to resort to several cameos and insignificant roles. His remarkable performance as the iconic Carroll Shelby in 2019’s Ford v Ferrari was praised by viewers all over the world.
In 2023, we got more of Damon in movies like Air and Oppenheimer. Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster hit once again popularised Damon and with his work in the movie, he once again proved his versatility as an actor. As of now, Oppenheimer is the third-highest-grossing film of 2023, earning over $939 million worldwide.
Damon has considered taking a break from the industry in the past, but Nolan’s flick forced him to change his mind. As of now, he shows no signs of stopping any time soon as he has projects like Drive-Away Dolls, The Instigators, and Unstoppable lined up.
