Matt Damon is one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood history. You likely know him as Jason Bourne or the genius janitor from Boston. However, he is also a Harvard dropout who turned down the biggest payday in cinema. He risks his health for roles and plays pranks on talk show hosts. Furthermore, he works tirelessly to bring clean water to the world. Let’s explore the life of this Boston native.
Matt Damon
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck shared a single bank account as teenagers. They used this shared money to pay for travel to auditions in New York. Thus, they supported each other financially long before they became famous.
He turned down the lead role in the massive blockbuster Avatar. The director offered him ten percent of the box office profits to take the part. Consequently, Matt Damon lost out on roughly 250 million dollars.
He attended Harvard University but left just twelve credits shy of graduating. He chose to pursue his acting career in the film Geronimo instead. However, the university eventually awarded him a prestigious arts medal later.
The script for Good Will Hunting started as a college playwriting assignment. He handed in a forty-page document to his professor during a class at Harvard. Eventually, he and Ben turned that homework into an Oscar-winning movie.
He ruined his health for his role in the movie Courage Under Fire. He ran twelve miles a day and ate only chicken breasts to lose weight. Therefore, doctors had to treat his damaged adrenal gland for years.
Steven Spielberg intentionally excluded Matt Damon from the Saving Private Ryan boot camp. The other actors trained hard and resented him for resting in comfort. This psychological trick created genuine tension between the soldiers on screen.
He has a fake, long-running feud with talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. Every night, Kimmel jokes that they ran out of time for Matt Damon. This hilarious gag has lasted on television for nearly two decades.
He shaved his head and sang in the movie EuroTrip by accident. He was filming another movie in Prague when the director asked him to join. He agreed instantly because he happened to be in town that week.
Matt Damon co-founded the organization Water.org to solve the global water crisis. He uses his massive fame to help millions get access to safe sanitation. This humanitarian work matters more to him than his movie roles.
He and Ben Affleck have a strange and quiet writing process. They sit in a room together but often write scenes silently for hours. Then, they trade pages to critique the other person’s dialogue.
He actually learned how to grow potatoes for his role in The Martian. Botanists taught him the real science of soil and fertilization on the set. Thus, he understands the botany behind survival on the red planet.
He played a redneck in Deadpool 2 under intense prosthetic makeup. He is credited as Dickie Greenleaf in the final movie credits. Consequently, most fans never realized the famous actor was in that scene.
Matt Damon performed many of his own driving stunts for the Bourne franchise. He went to a special driving school to learn reverse 180-degree turns. Consequently, he crashed several cars during the intense training sessions.
He successfully used hypnosis to finally quit smoking cigarettes. He smoked heavily for nearly two decades before seeing a specialist in Los Angeles. Thankfully, the mental treatment worked after just a few sessions.
Matt Damon used to breakdance for money in the middle of Harvard Square. He performed robot moves to earn extra cash during his college days. He claims he was actually quite skilled at the time.
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Bruce Lee transformed martial arts movies and changed how the West viewed Asian culture. He developed his own fighting style called Jeet Kune Do to prioritize speed and efficiency. Furthermore, his philosophy on life continues to inspire people decades after his sudden death. Consequently, he remains the most influential martial artist of all time. Explore these fascinating details about the Little Dragon.
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee actually won a major dance competition in Hong Kong in 1958. Surprisingly, the martial arts master took home the crown as the colony’s Cha-Cha Champion.
He was born in San Francisco, not Hong Kong, while his father was on tour with the opera. Thus, he held American citizenship from birth by default.
His movements were so fast that standard film cameras could not capture them clearly. Directors actually asked him to punch slower because he appeared as a blur on the screen.
He possessed incredibly poor eyesight and wore thick glasses when he was not filming. Therefore, he relied heavily on touch and instinct during close-quarters combat.
He famously performed push-ups using only the thumb and index finger of one hand. This display of strength showcased the incredible power he concentrated in his digits.
Bruce Lee attended the University of Washington where he majored in philosophy. His academic studies deeply influenced the famous “be water” concept he later taught students.
Doctors surgically removed his sweat glands from his armpits in 1972. He made this drastic decision because he thought sweat looked bad on camera during movie shoots.
He stood at a height of roughly 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 meters). However, he often used camera angles and lifts to appear taller than his opponents.
He trained many Hollywood celebrities in martial arts, including Steve McQueen and James Coburn. Additionally, he charged them up to $1,000 per hour (roughly €920) for private lessons.
The famous fight scene with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Game of Death highlights a massive size difference. Bruce fought the NBA star who stood over 7 feet 2 inches (2.18 meters) tall.
He never actually blacked out or lost consciousness during a real street fight. Although he fought frequently as a teenager, he usually ended the conflicts within seconds.
Bruce Lee weighed only about 135 pounds (61 kilograms) at the peak of his physical fitness. Despite his light frame, he could strike with the force of a much heavier man.
The “One Inch Punch” remains his most famous demonstration of explosive power. He could knock a grown man backward several meters with his fist starting just one inch (2.54 centimeters) away.
Strangely, he did not voice his own character in the English version of Enter the Dragon. Another actor dubbed his lines because producers thought Bruce’s voice did not sound tough enough.
Finally, he carried a notebook everywhere to write down his ideas and workout routines. He documented his entire life meticulously, leaving behind thousands of pages of notes.
The Terminator franchise stands as a towering achievement in modern science fiction cinema. Naturally, fans love the massive explosions, but the creation of this dark universe hides many surprising secrets. Indeed, a terrifying fever dream originally inspired the iconic cyborg. Furthermore, the creators faced numerous budget struggles before finding massive global success.
Terminator
Director James Cameron invented the Terminator character during a severe fever in Rome. Specifically, he dreamed of a metal skeleton emerging from a fire. Subsequently, he immediately sketched the terrifying image on hotel stationery.
The studio originally wanted O.J. Simpson to play the ruthless cyborg. However, Cameron thought he looked much too nice to play a killer. Consequently, nobody believed the famous athlete could portray a cold machine.
Arnold Schwarzenegger only speaks 58 words in the entire first Terminator film. Therefore, his sheer physical presence carried the terror of the mechanical villain. This quiet approach made the character incredibly menacing.
The famous liquid metal effects required cutting-edge computer graphics. Thus, the sequel cost more money to produce than any previous movie in history. Furthermore, the digital work took months to finish.
Surprisingly, the production crew used painted plastic pipes instead of real steel. Therefore, they saved thousands of dollars on the incredibly tight studio budget. The fake metal looked perfectly authentic on screen.
Arnold famously wanted to change his iconic dialogue during filming. Specifically, he struggled to pronounce the word contraction with his Austrian accent. Yet, the director refused the change and created cinematic history.
The first Terminator movie cost only 6.4 million dollars (about 6 million euros). Nevertheless, it earned over 78 million dollars (74 million euros) globally. Consequently, this massive return launched a global entertainment franchise.
Dogs can easily detect the infiltrator cyborgs in the Terminator universe. Therefore, human resistance fighters use canines to guard their underground bunker entrances. Indeed, the animals bark wildly near any hidden machines.
The sound department recorded a heavy piece of cast iron to create the theme. Furthermore, they struck the metal repeatedly with a standard frying pan. Ultimately, this bizarre technique produced the haunting rhythm.
Linda Hamilton suffered permanent hearing damage during a loud elevator shootout scene. Unfortunately, she forgot to put her earplugs back in before the explosive take. She fired a heavy weapon and damaged her ears.
Hamilton trained with former Israeli military commandos to prepare for the sequel. Thus, she transformed her body into a convincing and hardened resistance fighter. Furthermore, she learned how to handle heavy weapons safely.
A robotic puppet weighed over 45 kilograms (100 pounds) during filming. Therefore, multiple puppeteers had to control the heavy mechanical skeleton together. They operated the massive rig behind the camera.
The famous motorcycle chase used a massive truck cab that weighed several tons. Surprisingly, the stunt driver safely jumped the heavy vehicle into a concrete canal. Consequently, the crash remains a marvel of practical stunt work.
Stan Winston created the terrifying endoskeleton using real human anatomy as a reference. Thus, the metal bones perfectly matched the physical proportions of the lead actor. Furthermore, this careful design allowed the machine to fit perfectly.
The original Terminator movie script featured a cyborg that could eat normal human food. However, the director eventually removed this strange detail to maintain a scary tone. Ultimately, a machine eating simply ruined the dark atmosphere.
