Matt Damon reveals he auditioned to play Robin twice in Batman movies
The Oscar winner recalls nearly joining both Tim Burton’s Batman films and Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin.
We recognize Matt Damon for several major roles. From Will in ‘Good Will Hunting’ to Tom Ripley in ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley,’ not to mention Jason Bourne, all those times he’s had to be rescued in various movies, and most recently as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey.’ But there was a time in his life when the actor could have played Robin, the Boy Wonder—twice, in fact.
During a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Damon recounted how, at two points in his career, he could have played Robin. The first was with Tim Burton’s films; in both ‘Batman’ and ‘Batman Returns,’ the idea of incorporating Dick Grayson into the movie was explored. “I remember that we didn’t have sides,” said Damon, referring to the scripts provided to actors during auditions. “It wasn’t like you were reading a scene with Batman. It was so secretive that it was, like, you were reading this other scene from some other movie.”
A studio negotiation tactic
Later, Damon mentions that he came close to being in ‘Batman & Robin,’ directed by Joel Schumacher, where he would have replaced Chris O’Donnell in the role of Robin. “I remember Chris O’Donnell already had the part, but they were haggling over money. So the studio was flexing, basically, by flying in two other people for screen tests, but they wanted Chris—they just wanted him at the right price. I remember calling up and saying, ‘I’ll work for a quarter of what that guy’s getting paid,’” he laughed. “I was like, ‘I want the job!’ Yeah, I flew in and auditioned for Joel, but I think they always intended [the role for O’Donnell]. I remember seeing Chris while he was filming that—we were friends back then—and they always intended to give it to Chris.”
Related stories
How would Matt Damon’s life have changed if he had been Robin? How would his friendship with future Batman actor Ben Affleck have played out? Could working with someone who eventually played Batman… make him Robin by default?
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