Matt Damon is promoting The Great Wall, the sci-fi/adventure film where he plays the white savior who basically saves China from monsters. The film was financed by Chinese backers who obviously wanted a white, American lead, so the issue isn’t completely Matty D’s fault. But he still deserves some shade for how he seems to have massive blindspots about race and diversity issues. So in lieu of writing a “fake-news clickbait” story about Matty D’s white saviorism, let’s talk about… his hair extensions?
Step aside, ladies, Matt Damon knows a thing or two about buns — man buns. “The Great Wall” actor, 46, confessed that his much-talked-about coif for the action movie took nearly a day to install.
“I mean they put 700 extensions in, it took 12 hours, and then I had to try and keep them in,” he quipped in the latest issue of Us Weekly. In the Yimou Zhang-directed flick, Damon plays William, a European mercenary warrior who is imprisoned at the Great Wall. His luck turns as he joins an army to fight evil.
“By the time they cut them out, it was like a rat’s nest,” Damon said of shooting for six months in China. “I took a picture of it. I think there was stuff living in there.”
Despite the nasty mess growing on his scalp, the Oscar winner claims he and his family loved staying in China.
“It was incredible,” he added. “The kids really love it there. They keep asking to go back!”
I’ve never gotten extensions but whenever I hear about the process, I’m always grateful that I don’t have to go through that. Wouldn’t it have been possible for Matty D to just grow out his hair? Or – gasp – wear a wig?
What else? Matty D said words about Emperor Baby Fists BIGLY wall between the US and Mexico. Get it? Because Matt is promoting The Great Wall, he’s talking about actual walls! He told People Mag:
“I’m not a believer in walls,” says Damon. “I believe that history belongs to the cooperators and nor am I of a mind that Mexico is going to pay for our infrastructure anymore than we’re going to pay for their highways, you know what I mean? That’s just not going to happen but, that’s where we are and we’ll see how it all plays out. We’ve got to watch, but hopefully the people of Mexico understand that the people of our country, the majority of them don’t believe that we should be putting any walls up.”
I hope that Mexicans realize that most of us don’t want the wall either. I can’t think too hard about what other countries are thinking about us though, because that will send me into a shame spiral. I mean, Trump hung up on the Australian prime minister! Everyone in the world is laughing at us and for good reason. Anyway, Matt needs to work on his inspirational quotes. There will never be a t-shirt that reads “history belongs to the cooperators.”
Photos courtesy of WENN, ‘The Great Wall’.
Yeah, that phrase is really awkward and confusing.
And not even accurate. William Wallace, George Washington, MLK, Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Pancho Villa, Che Guevara? Definitely historical badasses and definitely not cooperators
Don’t try to teach Matty anything. He was in Saving Private Ryan and knows from his research for that role that Hitler won WWII.
Pedro Pascal is so damn handsome.
My thoughts exactly, Megan. If I do watch that movie, it will be because of him.
same here.
@Megan. I know RIGHT? I just watch 2 seasons of Narcos and I thought Pedro Pascal is so damn sexy. I told myself never to fall for the Latino male EVER AGAIN (don’t take this as an offensive, because I love Latin American men. JUST TOO DAMN MUCH) but I just CAN’T resist Pedro Pascal.
WHY DOES HE HAS TO BE SO DAMN CUTE.
Yup agreed! Honking for Pedro!
He seems so miscast in this movie. He is one of those actors who doesn’t transform well into period pieces. He’s too “of this time”, too contemporary. Eh, maybe I’m wrong.
He always comes off a little smug though I do think he’s a good actor in the right roles.
No, you are right. I thought so way back during Saving Private Ryan. He was a soldier during World War II but he had gleaming white Hollywood teeth.
YES. I was thinking he wasn’t right for it either but couldn’t put my finger on why. You articulated that perfectly.
Agreed. He definitely can’t go back further than the 20th Century without looking out of place.
I agree too, very good observation.
I do think he is a good actor (though as a person he’s been displaying some issues) but yes, he does not translate well to previous eras.
He is…not anywhere near as smart as he thinks he is. I’ll say no more.
I completely agree with you!
I will never be able to hear or see his name without thinking of his character from Team America, “Matt Damon”.
It is a weird turn of phrase.
I saw the headline, and I was ready to be mad, because I thought he was saying history belongs to people who cooperate. As in, we should cooperate with Trump and his people and not resist. But obviously, that’s not what he saying. I’m glad he’s not for the wall and he speaking out about it. I’m refreshed
Same here – I figured from the headline that he was saying we should all cooperate with Trump’s “vision”. Things are so hyper-political for me right now. I’m trying to get away from it. 🙂
LOL me too. I already had the knives out. Doesn’t take much these days…
Yeah, “History belongs to the cooperators” sounds vastly different from what I think he was really trying to say. (And thank goodness.)
It’s a short distance from “cooperators” to “collaborators.”
Not sure what he means but history also belongs to people who do absolutely nothing and roll over.
It does say somewhere in the bible, however, that the meek shall inherit the earth. Maybe that’s because the bullies end up killing one another and destroying their own civilizations. It takes a peaceful mind to make things grow.
Delete
I don’t even know what he means by that. What I do know is that extensions don’t necessarily turn into a disgusting mess. I’ve never had any but come on, that was just him or the stylist being sloppy, no? Did they run out of money?
They always turn into a mess if they are left in for too long.Six months are too long.
Bleh. You know what I don’t need? Another movie with Matt Damon/George Clooney/Tom Cruise saving the world. It’s time to get some new, fresh stories up in here.
ITA.
Regarding the last quote, does he mean that people who cooperate with others will prevail? I don’t understand what he’s saying other than no one wants that damned wall.
Yeah no idea what he meant by that, and based on the context, I think he misspoke. Perhaps he meant to say “history belongs to the rebels” …
Most actors are not very smart anyways… their job is to read other peoples lines…
we just care too much about what they say
@hola. I agree with 100%.
Remember when we used to like Matt Damon?
For real! I miss those days.
I often feel like Americans don’t really understand that the rest of the world doesn’t necessarily suffer the exact same issues.
China has its own booming film industry. Chinese actors are a far bigger deal in China than Hollywood actors. For China, a Chinese and American co-production and Damon and Pascal starring alongside Andy Lau and Jing Tian is diversity. China doesn’t have the same issues with the ‘white saviour’ trope, because it’s not actually a trope in China.
No, it doesn’t play that way in the US, but not everything has to be filtered through the American viewpoint or the Western viewpoint. There are diversity issues in Chinese cinema, and Asian cinema as a whole, but they aren’t the same issues Hollywood has.
You are on an American website and literally complaining that it is writing from an American point of view.
I think WWII Vichy France had a t-shirt with that quote, actually…
Word salad to pretend he is progressive but really a trumpette! Trying to play both sides.
I’ll admit it: I’m the most disappointed that Damon is not coming out stronger against the oppression of a tyrant like trump. For someone who grew up as a neighbor of Howard Zinn, I expect more from him.