Matt Damon did not star in any new projects released in 2020 but he was in one of the most-watched movies of 2020. It’s a movie that will be ten years old September 2021. That movie? Contagion, obviously. When COVID-19 lockdown first began in the west in March, it seemed like everyone was watching Contagion, or at least talking about Contagion. I haven’t, although I’ve been thinking about it, but at least during 2020, it was too… close. Too much and too close. “More reality” wasn’t how I wanted to be spending my time while dealing with reality. And I probably still feel that way now although I am curious about how “accurate” the film is especially as the vaccines are being rolled out.
On the Happy Sad Confused podcast just before the new year, Contagion director Steven Soderbergh said that he’s working on a “philosophical sequel” to the film:
"I’ve got a project in development that Scott Burns is working with me on, that’s a kind of philosophical sequel to Contagion but in a different context,” Soderbergh said. “You’ll kind of look at the two of them as kind of paired but very different hair colors. So, Scott and I had been talking about, ‘So, what’s the next iteration of a Contagion-type story?’ We have been working on that. We should probably hotfoot it a little bit.”
Maybe he can workshop it for the Oscars. Steven is one of three producers putting together the show this year.
Matt was seen yesterday visiting Ben Affleck. I’m going to assume that they met up in Ben’s yard with masks on. The paps also photographed Matt leaving Ben’s in mid-December:
I don’t normally notice these things but a reader pointed it out to me and now it’s been on my mind to check: during that December visit he wasn’t wearing his wedding band. And yesterday he once again wasn’t wearing his wedding band. Of course actors don’t wear their wedding bands when they’re on set. But in pap photos over the years when he’s not working, like when he was at the beach back in July, for example, he wears the band. He wasn’t wearing it in the Omaze video that he and Ben shot that was posted in October but that could have been filmed while they were working on The Last Duel because they were definitely in production at that time.
So… probably it’s nothing. Maybe he misplaced it. Maybe it’s too small now. Matt and his wife, Luciana, would have celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary on December 9. They’ve had one of the most solid relationships in Hollywood. A ring don’t mean a thing, right?
