Actor Matt Damon has said he plans to bring his family back to Ireland when the pandemic ends and also recalled how his lockdown dip last year in a local swimming spot in Dalkey during lockdown made him a national hero.
Damon and his family were forced to stay in the Dublin seaside village when lockdown was put in place in March, 2020 while he was in Ireland shooting Ridley Scott's new movie The Last Duel.
Speaking via video link at the Dalkey Book Festival, which is currently taking place virtually from the village, he told host David McWilliams, "We did make a deal both times we left Ireland saying we'll come back and finish the movie and then we’ll get to travel.
"We had a plan to take a caravan all around the country. We had all these grand plans and then the second time it was straight into lockdown again and then we had to leave again.
"So we made a bargain with the kids that when this all ends we’re going back and we’re gonna do our trip . . . we all really want to do it, we just felt comfortable there . . . the town is so beautiful and we’re just walking up Killiney Hill, walking over to Mugs (local café) and getting coffee."
He added, "It was just the best . . . I even got a pint at Finnegan’s before they shut. Like the day before the lockdown, I went over and had one pint so and then it was closed literally the rest of the six months that I was there. But Lucy [his wife Luciana] and I did get one pint there."
Damon, who is currently in Byron Bay, Australia, where he is filming Thor: Love and Thunder, was asked by McWilliams about his lockdown dip in a local swimming spot and how his now iconic SuperValu bag elevated him to the status of a proud son of Eire.
"I was so surprised by all of it. Listen, if any of us Hollywood types knew that, you'd see everybody turning up with those Supervalu bags wandering around trying to get their picture taken.
"But no, I didn’t know . . . it wasn’t even like a paparazzi shot or anything, because there weren’t any of those. It was just someone who I grabbed a picture with, and I was holding the bag . . . I mean when you’re living there, that’s where you shop."
During the video interview, he also discussed how he met his wife, Luciana, while he was out one night in Miami.
"I really did see her across a crowded room. And I swear, there was a beam of light around her. I was out with a bunch of guys on the crew of a movie. It was Saturday, our night off . . . I was just going where everybody was going and they went to this place and she was bartending there.
"And when I saw her there really was this light . . . she subsequently told me 'that was just the light in the room, you dummy’ . . . that was 2003, so it was before iPhones and phone cameras, people had those, remember, wind up digital little disposable Kodak ones?
"So, people were coming up to me and taking pictures and stuff. And the manager [Hank] said, 'you could go stand behind that bar’, which I thought was great because this woman was back there. And so I went in behind the bar and the very first thing she ever said to me was ‘you can’t be here’ . . . we’re past 18 years together now.
"So I guess I’m glad I didn’t listen . . . she had a pretty low opinion of celebrities, because she said, most of them came in and were arrogant, and none of them tipped and they were crappy customers . . . she goes ‘alright, well, if you can be back here, you got to work’ . . . it was great, because I tended bar before . . . so I just started really berating all of the customers.
"It was all these Miami smooth guys, with their Saturday night duds on, coming up and being big shots. And then I just started abusing them about how little they were tipping. So, they would start shelling out, taking back the $5 bill and putting out $100 bills and so I made the whole bar staff a lot of money that night, which was good, because she kept talking to me. She was like, alright, I see you are serving an actual function back here. So, you can come bartend with me anytime."
Damon added that he hoped to attend the Dalkey Book festival in person next year.
The Dalkey Book Festival continues today and tomorrow. Tickets are priced €50 and are available at dalkeybookfestival.org. Ticketholders will have access to the entire festival and can watch all events until July 20th.
