In a new cover story for GQ magazine, Matt Damon revealed that his wife Luciana suffered a brain aneurysm in early 2024 and underwent surgery just a week before the 96th Academy Awards; “Oppenheimer”, starring Damon, took the night by storm with Oscars in the categories of best picture, director (Christopher Nolan), actor (Cillian Murphy), supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.) and many more. As a result, the couple skipped the ceremony but went into town for a party afterward, mostly because Damon felt guilty about skipping the Oscars years ago, where his wife won best picture and more.
“I remember shooting the second unit of ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ during the Oscars. [where ‘The Departed’ won]That’s why I didn’t go,” Damon said. “I was living in Miami at the time and had a baby. [My wife] Lucy and I were lying in bed watching him and we were so nervous for Marty. Then when he won I was jumping up and down in the bedroom and I remember being really excited. Then the next category was best picture and ‘The Departed’ won. And at that moment I realized that I didn’t even think this could happen. I turned to Lucy and said, ‘Damn, we should be there!’ I said. For the next few weeks, I was hearing from all the cast and the studio, ‘Hey, where have you been, man?’ I received calls like: I totally ruined it.
The actor continued: “The next time on ‘Oppenheimer’ the same thing happened and we had the terrible incident where my wife had a brain aneurysm.” “He’s perfectly fine, thank God, but [she] He had this brain surgery the week before the Oscars. But it was the first night he felt well enough to wake up and regain his energy. She surprised me, bought me a dress, and we went to the after-party because she remembered that the last time this happened, I didn’t do this. He said, ‘We’re going out this time.’ And for him to do that was pretty heroic and really meaningful.”
While “The Departed” and “Oppenheimer” won big awards on Oscar night, Damon was not nominated for supporting actor for either film. But he doesn’t pay attention to the slights.
“It’s not something you can control. You just have to do the work and that should be the reward,” Damon told GQ. “Because if you don’t win, are you feeling bad about something that was actually positive? Don’t turn this into a bad thing. This is a difficult thing. I always think of old movies when I look at them and say, ‘So-and-so won the Oscar, so-and-so didn’t.’ You evaluate it in a completely different way. “He’s not up to it anymore.”
Damon added: “The real way they should do it is actually 20 or 25 years later. You’ll have a really good idea of which movies have really endured and are still important to you. There might be a buzz right now or something that reflects the zeitgeist, but that’s not the case. For me, my goal is to make as many of these movies that are about 20 years later as possible. That’s a great thing. People are showing up.” [to me] I was talking about ‘Good Will Hunting’ and I realized they weren’t even born yet when the movie came out. “It’s great for Ben and me to get a new generation of people to really see this.”
Even if the awards ultimately don’t matter, Damon will be back in the throes of awards season with Christopher Nolan’s record-breaking blockbuster “The Odyssey.” Damon is expected to be nominated for best actor, and some see him as the winning candidate. The same goes for Nolan’s best director award and the film’s best picture award.
Read Damon’s full GQ cover story here.