Matt Damon Calls Hollywood Legend His Favorite Actor, Who Turned Down Martin Scorsese’s Offer For a Movie With The Martian Star

Turning down roles isn’t a rarity for celebrities, however, refusing a role in Martin Scorsese’s project is indisputably rare. But not for Matt Damon’s favorite and legendary figure Robert De Niro.

Matt Damon expressed his admiration for Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro who took no time to ditch Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning movie The Departed to focus on his project which starred Damon as the leading man along with De Niro himself. The Oppenheimer star said that he’s a huge fan of the Amsterdam star.

Matt Damon Reveals His Favorite Actor in The Industry

Matt Damon has been contributing to the entertainment industry for a long and with exciting characters. His recent work was in Christopher Nolan‘s summer blockbuster and the historical epic Oppenheimer in which Damon secured one of the central roles of Leslie Groves, a lieutenant general in the United States Army and the project’s director.

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However, being an A-list actor himself, The Martian star revealed his admiration for Hollywood’s legendary figure Robert De Niro with whom Damon has even worked. According to Far Out, the Ocean’s Twelve star also disclosed his five favorite movies including De Niro’s The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, and Midnight Run. He also claimed that: “I am a huge fan of [De Niro]… I love him a lot.”

Another intriguing fact to know is that the Raging Bull star took no time to reject Martin Scorsese‘s Academy Award-winning movie The Departed to focus on his project, The Good Shepherd featuring him and Matt Damon in leading roles followed by the storyline revolving around the history of the Central Intelligence Agency which was disliked by the CIA upon its release. De Niro’s movie earned mixed reviews from fans and audiences and eventually became a box-office disappointment. However, Damon loved working with his favorite actor.

Matt Damon Hated One Scene in Robert De Niro’s The Good Shepherd

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Even though Robert De Niro is Matt Damon’s most iconic hero, there was one scene in The Good Shepherd that made the Ford V Ferrari star uncomfortable. Despite knowing how incredible and lauded Angelina Jolie is, Damon still sees her as a sister, and kissing her wasn’t a memorable moment he would ever want to remember. The actor told Reveal (via Digital Spy) that:

We’re old friends so it was like kissing my sister – really awkward and generally awful!”

Jolie and Damon were friends even before they filmed The Good Shepherd. On top of that, the actor has been a friend to the Original Sin star’s ex-lover Brad Pitt as well which would have made Damon feel extremely uncomfortable while kissing his co-star and real-life friend.

However, The Last Duel star has been open about his incredible experience with Robert De Niro while working together on The Good Shepherd.

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The Good Shepherd is available on Prime Video.