Good Will Hunting
In recent years Matt Damon has become one of the most popular and bankable stars that is currently working in Hollywood.
And he is back on the big screen this week with his new movie True Grit, which sees him work with Joel and Ethan Coen.
So to celebrate the release of the movie we take a look at the changing roles of one of Hollywood's best and most versatile actors.
- Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting was the movie that marked Damon, as well as his mate Ben Affleck's, arrival on the movie scene as they penned the script as well as starring in the movie.
The movie followed Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
For their script the pair won an Screenplay Oscar and Damon also bagged a Best Actor nomination for his central performance.
- Talented Mr Ripley
Written and directed by Anthony Minghella the movie was an adaptation of the 1955 novel by Patricia Highsmith and teamed Damon up with Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow.
In late 1950's New York, Tom Ripley, a young underachiever, is sent to Europe to retrieve a rich and spoiled millionaire playboy, named Dickie Greenleaf. But when the errand fails, Ripley takes extreme measures.
While I'm not a fan of the movie myself it was a wonderfully creepy and unsettling performance from Damon, and he was nominated for a Golden Globe.
- Saving Private Ryan
Ok so he may have been in less than half of the movie but we couldn't really miss out one of the best war movies of all time.
Damon was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper and a fresh faced Vin Diesel in the Steven Spielberg directed movie.
If you haven't seen this film then you really have to rent a copy! The movie follows a group of US soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
The movie was a critical and commercial hit and went on to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, can you believe it lost out to Shakespeare In Love? What were Academy voters thinking that year?
- Ocean's Eleven
But it was 2001 when his career began to really take off as he joined Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the remake of the Rat Pack sixties movies.
Damon took on the role of rookie pick-pocket Linus in the Steven Soderbergh directed movie.
They always say that remakes never really work, but Ocean's Eleven is a movie that bucks that trend; let's face it what's not to like?
A band of thieves and chancers come together to pull off the most daring heist Las Vegas has ever known...11 men, 3 casinos, 150 million dollars, 1 chance to pull it off.
The movie was a critical and commercial hit, however I would advise you to avoid the sequels!
- The Bourne Movies
Ocean's Eleven brought Damon success but it was the Bourne movies that propelled his to superstardom and cemented him as an action hero and leading man.
The actor became Jason Bourne for the first time back in 2002 when The Bourne Identity hit the big screen.
The first movie was directed by Doug Liman and had a script penned by Tony Gilroy. The movie was met well by the critics and did well at the box office taking $214 million.
But it was with Paul Greengrass on board that the series really began to take off. Now they say that sequels are never better than the original but the Bourne films through that idea right out of the window.
The Bourne Supremacy was released just two years later in 2004 and while it was a step up from it's predecessor it was The Bourne Ultimatum that has been the real success of the series.
The fast paced, action packed movie won over the critics and fans flocked to the cinema making the movie the most successful movie with Damon in the lead role.
The Bourne Ultimatum showed off the filmmaking class of Greengrass as well as cementing Damon as a real Hollywood leading man.
- The Departed
From one big named director to another Damon teamed up with Martin Scorsese and an all star ensemble cast that including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg and Martin Sheen for he re-make of Infernal Affairs.
Two men from opposite sides of the law are undercover within the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish mafia, but violence and bloodshed boil when discoveries are made, and the moles are dispatched to find out their enemy's identities.
The movie was a huge critical hit and went on to win the Best Picture Oscar, totally deserving I might add, as well as allowing Scorsese to finally get his hands on a Best Director gong.
The Departed was the best crime/cop movie of 2007 with great performances from all of the cast, it's really well worth a watch if you haven't seen it.
- Invictus
And the great actor/director collaborations kept on coming as Damon teamed up with Clint Eastwood for Invictus last year, which told the story of Nelson Mandela and how he tried to unite his country with sport.
Damon took on the role of South African rugby star François Pienaar opposite Morgan Freeman as Mandela.
Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid.
Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.
It was another great performance from Damon - who went on to be nominated at the Oscars for Best Supporting Actor; losing out to Christoph Waltz.
- True Grit
And this week sees him return to the big screen as he joins Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin in the remake of the 1969 movie.
Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross's father has been shot in cold blood by the coward Tom Chaney, and she is determined to bring him to justice.
Enlisting the help of a trigger-happy, drunken U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, she sets out with him -- over his objections -- to hunt down Chaney.
Her father's blood demands that she pursue the criminal into Indian territory and find him before a Texas Ranger named LeBoeuf catches him and brings him back to Texas for the murder of another man.
True Grit is released 11th February.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
In recent years Matt Damon has become one of the most popular and bankable stars that is currently working in Hollywood.
And he is back on the big screen this week with his new movie True Grit, which sees him work with Joel and Ethan Coen.
So to celebrate the release of the movie we take a look at the changing roles of one of Hollywood's best and most versatile actors.
- Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting was the movie that marked Damon, as well as his mate Ben Affleck's, arrival on the movie scene as they penned the script as well as starring in the movie.
The movie followed Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
For their script the pair won an Screenplay Oscar and Damon also bagged a Best Actor nomination for his central performance.
- Talented Mr Ripley
Written and directed by Anthony Minghella the movie was an adaptation of the 1955 novel by Patricia Highsmith and teamed Damon up with Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow.
In late 1950's New York, Tom Ripley, a young underachiever, is sent to Europe to retrieve a rich and spoiled millionaire playboy, named Dickie Greenleaf. But when the errand fails, Ripley takes extreme measures.
While I'm not a fan of the movie myself it was a wonderfully creepy and unsettling performance from Damon, and he was nominated for a Golden Globe.
- Saving Private Ryan
Ok so he may have been in less than half of the movie but we couldn't really miss out one of the best war movies of all time.
Damon was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper and a fresh faced Vin Diesel in the Steven Spielberg directed movie.
If you haven't seen this film then you really have to rent a copy! The movie follows a group of US soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
The movie was a critical and commercial hit and went on to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, can you believe it lost out to Shakespeare In Love? What were Academy voters thinking that year?
- Ocean's Eleven
But it was 2001 when his career began to really take off as he joined Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the remake of the Rat Pack sixties movies.
Damon took on the role of rookie pick-pocket Linus in the Steven Soderbergh directed movie.
They always say that remakes never really work, but Ocean's Eleven is a movie that bucks that trend; let's face it what's not to like?
A band of thieves and chancers come together to pull off the most daring heist Las Vegas has ever known...11 men, 3 casinos, 150 million dollars, 1 chance to pull it off.
The movie was a critical and commercial hit, however I would advise you to avoid the sequels!
- The Bourne Movies
Ocean's Eleven brought Damon success but it was the Bourne movies that propelled his to superstardom and cemented him as an action hero and leading man.
The actor became Jason Bourne for the first time back in 2002 when The Bourne Identity hit the big screen.
The first movie was directed by Doug Liman and had a script penned by Tony Gilroy. The movie was met well by the critics and did well at the box office taking $214 million.
But it was with Paul Greengrass on board that the series really began to take off. Now they say that sequels are never better than the original but the Bourne films through that idea right out of the window.
The Bourne Supremacy was released just two years later in 2004 and while it was a step up from it's predecessor it was The Bourne Ultimatum that has been the real success of the series.
The fast paced, action packed movie won over the critics and fans flocked to the cinema making the movie the most successful movie with Damon in the lead role.
The Bourne Ultimatum showed off the filmmaking class of Greengrass as well as cementing Damon as a real Hollywood leading man.
- The Departed
Tagged in Matt Damon True Grit