Matt Damon Shares the Loophole in His Couple's Therapy Negotiation That Allowed Him to Star in 'Oppenheimer'

etonline.com:

Matt Damon has been going hard in the past few years, working as an actor, a producer, a screenwriter — sometimes all at once.

So it's not too surprising that the celebrated Oscar-winner might want to take a little break.Recently Damon sat down at a panel discussion for 's «Around the Table» segment — where he was joined by his co-stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey Jr., and director Christopher Nolan.At one point, Damon admitted that he'd promised his wife he wanted to take a hiatus, right before signing on to star in Nolan's World War II-era drama.«This is going to sound made up, but it's actually true,» Damon shared. "[I] negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off.«According to Damon, he and his wife, Luciana Barroso, were in couples' therapy when they had the discussion — and Damon actually added a loophole into the agreement they came to.»I had been in, and then Chris put me on ice for a couple of movies, so I wasn't in the rotation," Damon said, referring to his key cameo in Nolan's 2014 sci-fi drama. «But I actually negotiated in couples therapy ­-- this is a true story — the one caveat to my taking time off was if Chris Nolan called.»«This is without knowing whether or not he was working on anything, because he never tells you,» Damon added. «He just calls you out of the blue.

And so, it was a moment in my household.»Because of that unexpectedly fortuitous caveat, Damon got cast as Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, who oversaw the Manhattan Project and the development of the nuclear bomb in a film that is already getting heavy awards season buzz even before its release.