Bono has commented on his friend Matt Damon's cult status in his hometown of Dalkey joking that he's "very annoyed about it".
The Hollywood star became something of a local hero last year when he was forced to quarantine in Dalkey during the Covid-19 lockdown while he was in Ireland filming The Last Duel.
During his two-month stay, Damon was photographed holding a SuperValu bag at a local swimming spot, with many speculating that it was a bag of cans.
Although the bag in question actually contained beach towels for his kids, Damon has remained a favourite among the south county Dublin villagers.
However, one local isn't too impressed.
U2 singer Bono had these words to say about his old friend Damon in a profile of the actor for GQ magazine: "I've lived in this village, or next to this village, for 30 years - this f***** is there for three months and they make him the king of Dalkey! I mean, it's unbelievable.
"He's caught in some kind of local photoshoot with a SuperValu plastic bag, and the rumour that he's carrying cans, and suddenly he's got all this credibility that some of us just are incapable of ever achieving."
Bono added jocularly: "He’s beloved! I mean, there’ll be a statue of him there. I don’t know what it was, and what he did. But I’m very annoyed about it. I’m not happy at all."
March 2020 was quite a month, not only globally, but locally… as it was when actor #MattDamon arrived in Dalkey. This year Matt will join our line-up of guests + talk to @davidmcw about lockdown in fairy-tale Dalkey, and his love of Ireland. #DalkeyBookFestival pic.twitter.com/nrFzexUIcY
— Dalkey Book Festival (@dalkeybookfest) May 31, 2021
Bono also shared some thoughts on his longtime friend. "He has freedom. It's the most intoxicating thing of all. And that, very few very famous people have. He's free from self-consciousness," he said.
"For a man who looks in the mirror for a living, he’s not even a little bit self-conscious, I’ve found. I mean, I think I’ve got freedom, but I’m self-conscious. When I walk into the newsagents, I can see myself walking into the newsagents, do you know what I mean? He’s really himself."
Meanwhile, Damon said of his experience hunkering down in the seaside village with his wife Luciana Barrosa and their four daughters while the country was in lockdown in 2020: "We got really lucky. We had about as good a lockdown as we could have ever hoped.
"There was like a quiet. There weren't scripts being sent, or work to do, or people who needed answers for anything.
"It was just: Take the kids to school and then go train, or go for a walk. It was very simple. That part of it was eye-opening, going forward, in terms of how I’d like to spend my days."
