The actor who stunned Denzel Washington in their first major role: “He almost blew me off the screen”
Having been a household name and major star for well over 30 years, Denzel Washington knows talent when he sees it, with one relative unknown leaving his more experienced co-star blown away in what was their first major role in a movie.
At the time, Washington already had an Academy Award under his belt after winning ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for the historical epic Glory, and his rise up the ranks had seen him work with a number of major names and heavyweight directors.
He’d been in Sidney Lumet’s Power alongside Richard Gere and Julie Christie, become a regular collaborator of Spike Lee, worked with Tom Hanks and Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme on Philadelphia, partnered with Julia Roberts for John Grisham adaptation The Pelican Brief, and sparred with Gene Hackman on Tony Scott’s Crimson Tide, so he was no stranger to a top-tier performer or two.
And yet, when he reunited with Glory director Edward Zick for militaristic dramatic thriller Courage Under Fire, Washington felt compelled to up his game after finding himself running the risk of being outshone by a newcomer who’d gone to extreme lengths before they’d even set foot on set.
It was massively detrimental to his health in the long run, but Courage Under Fire nonetheless helped put Matt Damon on Hollywood’s radar, not that he would have needed the help in retrospect when Good Will Hunting released the following year. Still, impressing Washington was a huge feather in the cap.
“As we finished Matt’s coverage, Denzel caught my eye and nodded approvingly. Later, he took me aside. ‘Who is that kid?’, he asked,” Zwick wrote in his memoirs, per JoBlo. “I told him it was Matt’s first big role. ‘Damn’, he said. ‘Better get my game on. He almost blew me off the screen.'”
Damon’s contributions in terms of screentime were minimal, but his performance as the gaunt Andrew Ilario was integral to Courage Under Fire from a narrative perspective, with his account of the incident resulting in the death of Meg Ryan’s commanding officer instrumental to the investigation being carried out by Washington’s Nathaniel Serling.
The downside is that it took Damon years to recover from the alarming amount of weight he dropped in order to embody the character, but he felt it was a risk worth taking at that point in his career. Less than two years later and he was on top of the world after sharing an Oscar win alongside childhood best friend Ben Affleck when Good Will Hunting scooped ‘Best Original Screenplay’, but Washington already had an inkling that his “kid” was destined for big things.
It was the highest-profile part he’d landed at the time, and when one of the very best in the business admits they need to step up a level in order to match what they’re bringing to the screen, it would be fair to say Damon knocked it out of the park.
