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Matt Damon

7 solid pieces of life advice from Matt Damon's Reddit AMA

Matt really took his Ask Me Anything quite seriously.

THE REDDIT AMAs are coming thick and fast these days but the latest one – with Matt Damon – was actually rather interesting.

Damon is generally considered one of the most level headed lads in Hollywood and last night’s internet antics certainly seemed to reinforce that notion.

And when we say notion we don’t mean ‘notions’: He’s sound as a pound that Matt, and rather interesting too.

The actor logged on to Reddit to take questions from his fans and came out with some rather detailed insightful answers.

You could say he delivered some really solid advice for life while he was at it.

1. You’ve got to be willing to make compromises to achieve success.

Damon revealed that he’s not the kind of guy who demands big bucks for movies because nobody wins that way:

 They just can’t pay what everyone’s quote is, because the movie would be too cumbersome and no one could make it. I’ve done that with all of the Ocean’s movies. You have an established quote, and the studio decides what percentage everyone takes. So everyone cuts the same percentage of their agreed upon salary. Actually, I think the only time I got my full quote was for the 3rd Bourne movie.

2. Don’t wait for things to happen, make them happen.

Damon and Ben Affleck were struggling to find a place for themselves in the film industry so they decided to write themselves in. Literally.

… it’s just looking for creative ways to break in. If you just sit on your hands it’s never gonna happen, its just too competitive.

They penned a little film by the name of Good Will Hunting and, well, we all know how that worked out, don’t we?

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3. If you don’t give it a go you’ll never know.

The lads were complete unknowns with big ideas when they started out, so they went in all guns blazing with their first film, writing the strongest possible character aka Good Will Hunting’s Dr Sean Maguire:

… we called it the Harvey Keitel part, because with Reservoir Dogs Harvey read his part and liked it, and that’s how they got funding. So we knew that was that character for us. There were so were so many ways to play that character, we were casting a wide net and just hoping to we caught a big fish, and our agent Patrick, who’s still our agent, forced [Robin Williams] to read it and he loved it. He kicked it up to the lit department, and then we had lit agents.

And sure didn’t Williams go on to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, while the lads scooped their own gong for Best Original Screenplay?

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Everybody’s gamble paid off.

4. That which doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger.

On dealing with tough times:

Nothing gets given to you, and you have to struggle for everything, and I think those struggles really do define who you are, and it’s really important.I’ve seen parents try to remove those struggles from their kids’ lives, to the detriment of the kid, and it’s something I think about a lot. I can’t make it too easy for my kids because that doesn’t really equip them to handle the world when I’m not around.

5. Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Even if they think you’re actually Mark Wahlberg.

This happened to me yesterday, I was walking down the street with my kids, and this guy screamed “MARK WAHLBERG!” I just kept walking, because I’m not Mark, and he kept screaming “MARK WAHLBERG! I SEE YOU! DON’T WALK AWAY! MARK WAHLBERG! WE KNOW IT’S YOU!” and then he runs up to me and he says, “I love your work!” And then this woman comes up, and says “I love your family, tell your brother I said Hi!” So I said “Yes, I’ll tell Donnie Wahlberg you said Hi.”If people are insistent, there’s no convincing them I’m not Mark, so I just become him and try to be nice to them.

6. When playing Monopoly there’s no question about which piece to pick.

Top hat. I think that’s an easy answer. It classes up the joint.

Too right Matt, too right.

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7. Don’t mess with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. They’re too clever for that.

Damon revealed that his old pal George Clooney had been pulling pranks again:

I got these giant fruit baskets in the mail from Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. They had just made jokes at everyone’s expense at the Golden Globes that were really funny. George made up stationary with my name on it, and sent a really wounded letter to Tina and Amy saying my feelings were really hurt, how could they do this, etc. So they sent two fruit baskets. One had a letter with an apology. Another said “If this is part of some Clooney prank, please know that we’re grown-ass comedians, and you have to do a little better to fool us.” So I photographed the letters and emailed them to George with a caption that said “Go f**k yourself.” He’s honestly a child. I can just see his shoulders shaking when he laughs alone in his house.

He’s serious, he even brought the letter in to David Letterman.

Late Show with David Letterman

Oh hey there George:

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