It was the SuperValu bag that clinched it. Matt Damon, recently emerged from the cold waters of Dublin bay and carrying his swimming togs in a plastic shopping bag just like any Irishman. A nation swooned.
The actor appeared to have gone native after a few weeks in Dalkey, a seaside village in south Dublin, and in return the natives have adopted him – it is a lockdown love affair.
Damon came to Ireland with his wife and three children in March to film The Last Duel, directed by Ridley Scott, and after filming was suspended the family stayed on for what turned out to be a “fairytale” lockdown.
From a rented house ringed by sea, wooded hills and a picturesque village, the Hollywood A-lister emerged for strolls, for runs, for coffee, and wowed locals by giving every impression of being normal, earning him an appellation upgrade to Matt O’Damon.
This week he fuelled the feelgood in an interview with the local radio station Spin 1038. “It feels like a fairytale. When I first came in, people were saying: ‘Well, Bono lives over there, Enya lives over there.’ It’s been incredible. This is one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been.”
A bold declaration to make amid chafing at celebrities’ luxury lockdowns, but to Irish ears the Contagion star’s enthusiasm was infectious.
“Obviously what’s going on in the world is horrible, but I’ve got my whole family, I’m with my kids and we have teachers with us because we were planning on missing school for about eight weeks. We’ve got what nobody else has, which is live human beings teaching our kids, so we feel guilty. We’ve got this set-up in this incredible place. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Even in the 2km lockdown, we’ve got trees and woods and ocean. I can’t think of any place you’d rather be in a 2km radius of.”
Damon, 49, paid tribute to Ireland’s handling of the pandemic and called Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, “a badass” for returning to medical work during the crisis. (He also called Varadkar the president, but taoiseach in fact means prime minister.)
Damon said he was a “little worried” about returning to the US. “We don’t have adequate testing, so there’s going to be another surge it looks like back home.”
He added: “Anybody who says you couldn’t predict this, just look at Contagion. Ten years ago we made a movie just by talking to experts and asking how would this look.”
Graham O’Toole and Nathan O’Reilly, the hosts of Spin 1038’s morning show, revelled in their scoop. “Matt, I honestly feel like I’m about to throw up. That in a few seconds I’m going to wake up naked with drool on my pillow,” said O’Reilly.
The hosts had joined a Dalkey Facebook page to glean news about the actor but had been expelled by protective locals. Locals also gave short shrift to a New York Times journalist who tried the same trick.
“This place is great and everyone is so protective,” said Damon. He said he was a regular listener to the show and had called in after an urging from Bono in a FaceTime chat. “That was the final impetus for me to call.”
The actor resolved a national debate that had raged since a picture surfaced on social media: what was in the SuperValu bag? Most people guessed togs. Some suggested beer. Either option was deemed evidence of Damon the Everyman. The answer was swimming gear and towels for a beach trip with the kids.
After the interview, a Dalkey resident, Siobhan Berry, outed herself on Instagram as the source of the photo. “We were out for a family swim and we bumped into Matt and his family,” she said. “He very politely obliged for a photo, leaning in with his Supervalu bag, keeping the social distance!”
Berry promised not to share the photo publicly, but she said it leaked through a family WhatsApp group. She felt awful and wrote an apology letter but could not deliver it. “After hearing him on radio today, he obviously sees the funny side and the fact that the photo ultimately turned into one of the feel-good stories of the early summer.”
