The talented Matt Damon
Matt Damon: You hear people say, "People change when they become famous." I think what actually happens is that you stay the same but everything changes in relation to you.
RAHNI SADLER: I'm Rahni.
Matt Damon: Hey, Rahni. Matt.
RAHNI SADLER: Nice to meet you.
Matt Damon: Suddenly when you walk into a room, the room changes - slightly, but it does change.
RAHNI SADLER: This is everyone.
Matt Damon: Everyone?
RAHNI SADLER: You just say g'day.
Matt Damon: G'day, mate.
RAHNI SADLER: That's pretty good.
Matt Damon: I would love to play an Australian, actually, that would be really cool.
RAHNI SADLER: In any language.....Matt Damon packs a punch. Cool under fire, calm behind the wheel and, refreshingly, between the blockbusters and Oscar nominations, this A-list star doesn't mind having the micky taken out of him. 'Team America'?
Matt Damon: Brilliant.
RAHNI SADLER: Tell me about..
Matt Damon: I sign more pictures, you know. When autograph hounds come up and they have a ton of pictures from different movies, the one they carry the most is the puppet, so I sign the puppet. And they're like, "Hey, dude, can you write Maaaattt Daaaamon?" M-A-A-A-A-A-T.
ANNOUNCER: And Matt Damon! Matt Damon. Apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time.
Matt Damon, apologies.
We ran out of time.
RAHNI SADLER: When American late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel mocked him every night with this sign-off.....Damon got back at him in a mock clip of his own, pretending he was having an affair with Kimmel's girlfriend.
I'm (BLEEPING) Matt Damon! #
On the bed, on the floor, on a towel by the door
In the tub, in the car, up against a mini bar! #
Matt Damon: We're dancing in the pool and, like, doing this whole thing and I had to leave because I had to go to a parent-teacher conference and halfway to my daughter's school, I just went, "What the (BLEEP) did I just do?!" Like, I can't do this shit any more! And then luckily, when it came out, the teachers would pull me aside and say, "I love that!" So I realised that I was allowed to be a parent and still have my sense of humour.
RAHNI SADLER: Is being a big international movie star as fun as it looks?
Matt Damon: Um, I don't kind of go around thinking of myself that way.
RAHNI SADLER: But you are!
Matt Damon: Yeah, I guess. But you know, it's a very insecure profession and that was a big eye-opener for me when I became famous and realised that even someone like Tom Cruise, who to me was the gold standard of the leading man, didn't have career security necessarily. The reality is this business is driven by teenagers.
You know, 13-year-olds going to the movies because they go the most. What it means for actors is every five or so years, it's like you have to reprove yourself to a new audience. Julia Roberts hasn't been working a lot because she's been a mum recently, you know. Some of those kids don't know Julia Roberts the way we know Julia Roberts, you know what I mean? It's just amazing to me. To me, that's, like, crazy but that's the reality we all live with, you know? So I think the key is not to define your life by how - whether or not you're an international movie star because that's fleeting, you know, no matter who you are.
RAHNI SADLER: Much more important to Matt is his family. He met wife Luciana eight years ago when she was a bartender in Miami.
Matt Damon: It sounds corny as hell but I swear there was like a light on her or something.
RAHNI SADLER: That's so cute!
Matt Damon: It could been one of the lights in the place, I don't know, but there was just something completely different about her.
RAHNI SADLER: They've been married six years and they're raising four daughters.
Five women in the house?
Matt Damon: Yeah, it's great. It's a lot of oestrogen. I've got to occasionally leave to take my walk around the park by myself but it's really wonderful.
RAHNI SADLER: In Matt Damon's new movie, 'We Bought a Zoo', he plays a recently widowed father of two.
Matt Damon: In the movie I buy the zoo as a kind of desperate act.
RAHNI SADLER: The film is based on the true story of an Englishman, born in Melbourne, called Benjamin Mee. That is the weirdest-looking creature I have ever seen. What do you call it?
Benjamin Mee: It's a tapir, which apparently means "strong".
RAHNI SADLER: Five years ago, Benjamin took the punt of his life. He quit his job as a journalist and, together with his wife Katherine and their two kids, bought a struggling zoo in Devon, England. They'd fallen in love with the house but the owner wouldn't sell it unless they saved the animals and took on the zoo.
Benjamin Mee: There's the floor plans of bedrooms and bathrooms and tiger enclosure, bear enclosure, wolves, pack of wolves - yeah, OK!
RAHNI SADLER: How much experience had you had of running zoos?
Benjamin Mee: Absolutely no experience at running a zoo at all.
RAHNI SADLER: They bought the rundown zoo and spent months restoring it. But before they could finish, Benjamin's wife was struck down by a brain tumour. Katherine never got to see their zoo open.
Benjamin Mee: I miss her all the time. I miss her every day. It's, um...you just don't get used to it.
RAHNI SADLER: In July, 2007, the zoo opened. Benjamin then wrote a book. It became a bestseller and Hollywood came calling. You handpicked Matt Damon to play you.
Benjamin Mee: I'd seen the making of the 'Bourne' films and he seemed like a nice bloke and he's got a real sense of humour, which I think is really important.
RAHNI SADLER: She just licked my hand.
Benjamin Mee: Did she? There we go.
RAHNI SADLER: Do you remember meeting Benjamin? What was that like?
Matt Damon: It was great, you know. It was exciting. Everybody wanted him to be proud of the film.
RAHNI SADLER: In his career, Matt Damon's has much to be proud of but a film that stands out for him is one of his least known.
RAHNI SADLER: You worked with Heath Ledger. Was that good?
Matt Damon: It was great. It was great. I'm not being hyperbolic at all by saying this but he's the best actor I ever worked with.
RAHNI SADLER: Seriously?
Matt Damon: Seriously. Yeah, um, you know...he'd be, you know, I don't know what to say about that. It's just terrible and it's not something that I'll ever get over and nor do I think anybody could ever get over. He is a really, really special guy and, I think, to people who knew him, it just felt like his light was just too bright for this place, you know?
RAHNI SADLER: Matt Damon is the action man just as comfortable at comedy. A superstar with a level head and, unlike many celebrities, his humility doesn't seem put on. He comes across as a genuine, likeable guy.
Matt Damon: I love my life and, you know, I've spent my entire adult life and, really, my adolescence focusing on being an actor and making movies and that's what I do.
RAHNI SADLER: Is there some kind of a role that you haven't played yet that you'd like to?
Matt Damon: The next one.
