Matt Damon is willing to break a promise he made to his wife in couples therapy, but only under very specific circumstances.
Damon promised his wife, Luciana Barroso, he would take a break from acting to focus on his family, but he made sure to keep his options open by creating some wiggle room for himself. “I actually negotiated in couples therapy — this is a true story — the one caveat to my taking time off was if Chris Nolan called,” Damon told Entertainment Weekly.
#Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon on which of their projects their children first saw pic.twitter.com/viVwIeOHHU
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) July 14, 2023
The “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Departed” star agreed to take the time off, and intended to keep his vow, but he was ready to cut out of that promise if Nolan requested him for a role.
Damon, who previously appeared in Nolan’s “Interstellar” plays a key role in the director’s highly anticipated “Oppenheimer,” and insists that he left himself a loophole with his wife that allowed him to appear in the movie.
“This is going to sound made up, but it’s actually true,” Damon told Entertainment Weekly. “I had — not to get too personal — negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off.” (RELATED: Hollywood On Hold As Actors Join Writers In Unprecedented Strike Action)
Of course, that changed when a role opened up for him as Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves in “Oppenheimer,” in which he joins fellow stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr.
“Oppenheimer” is set for release on July 21.