Film Industry: Ben will be a great Batman, but I won’t play Robin: Matt

Ben will be a great Batman, but I won’t play Robin: Matt

He’s almost done with his India trip when we speak to Matt Damon. The Bourne Series actor’s hush-hush visit — most of the Indian media was expecting him in September — saw him visit Pondicherry, Chennai and Bangalore to check on the projects of the organisation he co-founded, which works towards providing clean water and sanitation to villages. “I’ve just been meeting people in those communities and hearing their stories,” says Damon, adding, “I love it here in India. I am actually driving in Mumbai right now. I haven’t been here in 10 years. It’s incredible to be back. Last time, I visited Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi.”

WON’T PLAY ROBIN TO BEN’S BATMAN Damon and Ben Affleck go back a long way. They both wrote the screenplay for and acted in Good Will Hunting in 1997, which won them an Oscar for Best Screenplay. “Good Will Hunting is probably my favourite role, just because we wrote it, and it put both Ben and me on the map. That will also be the one role that’s nearest and dearest to my heart.”
Sixteen years later, he still has his buddy’s back. While the studios’ decision to sign Affleck on as Batman has brought on a meltdown on microblogs and prompted some overzealous fans of the franchise to send ‘Make it illegal for Ben Affleck to play Batman’ petitions to the White House, Damon thinks the actor will be “terrific” in the role. “I know there are a lot of people grousing on the internet. I just think it’s kind of funny. You know, he’s not playing King Lear. It’s Batman! Certainly within his skill set. If anybody saw Argo or The Town, and all the work he’s been doing lately, it’s way more nuanced and interesting and way more difficult than Batman! Batman just sits there with his cowl over his head and whispers in a kinda gruff voice at people. Bruce Wayne is the more challenging part of the role. Ben will be great at that.”
But as perfect — and obvious — as it would be for Damon to then play Robin to Ben’s Batman, the actor laughs it off. “I am a little older than Ben. I never saw Robin as older than Batman. Somebody sent me a picture actually (of his face photoshopped on Robin’s body and Ben’s on Batman’s). It was really funny. But it’s safe to say I won’t be Robin.”

LOVE SPICY INDIAN FOOD “I’ve been eating nothing but Indian food since I landed. I love it! That’s kind of a luxury for me, eating all the local food,” he says. As he struggles to pronounce the names of dishes, he declared, “I just love anything that’s curried. I love spice too. I like it a bit hot.”

BROKE UP WITH OBAMA When he isn’t involved in several of his philanthropic projects, Damon’s busy being one of the most politically vocal celebs in Hollywood. “Obama broke up with me,” he said recently, while expressing displeasure over the US president’s policies, while in an earlier interview he’d been quoted as saying, “You know, a one-term president with some b***s who actually got stuff done would have been, in the long run of the country, much better”.