Matt Damon is spending quarantine in quiet Irish seaside village
During the COVID-19 pandemic, one quiet Irish seaside village is playing host to an extra-special visitor: Matt Damon.
The “Ford v Ferrari” actor, 49, arrived in the Dublin suburb of Dalkey in early March with wife Luciana Barroso and their three youngest children before the country entered lockdown due to the coronavirus. He was there to shoot Ridley Scott’s upcoming “The Last Duel” but filming was eventually halted over health concerns.
Local radio hosts Graham O'Toole and Nathan O'Reilly lobbied to get Damon on their radio show and he finally called in -- thanks to a little push from his buddy Bono, of U2 fame.
During their video chat with Damon, O’Toole and O’Reilly told the Oscar winner it was hard tracking him down because locals were protecting him “like a glorious gem” and as if he was their “prized possession.”
“It’s incredible. This is one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been,” Damon told the hosts when asked how he’s enjoying his stay. “It’s absolutely gorgeous.”
While he and Barroso are enjoying their time away from the constant buzz of Hollywood, Damon did point out that their oldest kid, Alexia, who is actually Damon’s stepdaughter, was stuck in NYC for college and survived a case of COVID-19 with her roommates. Luckily, she “got through it fine” and fully recovered, he revealed.
Damon was also asked about having starred in Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 movie “Contagion,” which has had a resurgence in the age of the coronavirus.
"I mean, anybody who says you couldn’t predict this, just look at 'Contagion,'” Damon noted. “Ten years ago we made a movie just by talking to experts and asking them, ‘How would this look? How would it go down?’”
Before signing off, Damon also got the chance to surprise a superfan nurse, whose favorite movie of his happens to be “Good Will Hunting,” the film that won him and best friend Ben Affleck an Academy Award for best original screenplay in 1998.
“Thank you so much for what you’re doing,” he told the health care worker. “If there’s any silver lining it’s that hopefully people are finally understanding how awesome you front-line workers are and what you guys do and the debt we owe you guys.”
