By Reuven Proença
Good guys don't get much better than this. Particularly when they are Oscar-winning Hollywood stars with multi-million dollar bank accounts who count Ben Affleck and George Clooney as friends. When Matt Damon - star of box office hits like Good Will Hunting, Ocean's Eleven, Stuck On You, and The Bourne Identity - spent a few weeks in Goa earlier this year, he earned himself a whole legion of fans with his humility and easygoing attitude.
While Goa is no stranger to movie sets, the general impression of movie 'stars' is one of stereotyped Bollywood macho men who try and look like God's gift to the Universe: muscles bulging, upturned nose, tough-guy frown, et al. Damon, on the other hand, with his dressed-down style and quirky boyish looks made for a refreshing change.
No one witnessed this better than Ross Vaze, who drove the actor around Goa throughout the 16 days that The Bourne Supremacy was shot at locations across the state.
"Initially it was a little scary for me and I had butterflies in my stomach. It isn't everyday that you get to meet a Hollywood star and drive him around the place," Ross confesses. But, as it turned out, his fears were unfounded. He remembers Damon turning around to him minutes after collecting his baggage at the airport and saying, "So you're the guy who's going to keep me busy for the next couple of weeks. Glad to have you around."
And this was only the beginning. Good guy Damon got better when he checked into the Taj Fort Aguada Beach Resort and took his own bags up to his room. "He carried his own bags and I helped him with a few extras. He didn't ask for a bellhop. It struck me then that he wasn't one of those celebrities who expect or even demand that people wait on them," Ross says, adding that the memory is still very vivid and not something that he will forget soon.
"He was definitely not a standoffish person. He was basically a sweet guy and very, very courteous, something I didn't expect. He was a gentleman through and through."
The actor was joined at the hotel by his chef, Jon, bodyguard, Mamadou, physical trainer, Shawn and body-double Johnny Cicco. Staff at the hotel, on the condition of anonymity, said that Damon treated the members of his entourage like friends rather than staff and that the five of them would often sit by the pool drinking beers while watching the waves crash down on Sinquerim beach.
Early on the morning of 8th March, Damon headed to Panjim where the crew was filming the scene where Karl Urban's character inquires about Jason Bourne at the post office. Even as excited crowds gathered around the sets, Damon - dressed in three-quarter cargoes and a sweaty T-shirt - had no hassles about walking, unescorted, around the Panjim Church Square.
It was during one of these walks that this writer managed to meet up with him. "I love Goa and I'll definitely be coming back for more," Matt had said, before obliging a couple of media photographers by posing for them. When his bodyguard tried to intervene, Damon shushed him saying, "It's no problem man."
While filming at other locations he would make it a point to mix with the locals and talk to them, though many did not know who he was.
While the film's production units moved to Palolem beach Damon stayed at the Grand Intercontinental there. It was here, towards the end of the shoot, that he hosted a party for the crew. On the last day of the Palolem leg, Damon even fooled around with his crew and sprinkled them with colourful powder, Holi style.
Damon's honest-to-goodness kindness was never more evident than when he visited Baga beach the day before leaving Goa. Ross describes the visit: "He traveled back to the Taj and I later took him shopping along the coastal belt. He stayed away from the larger establishments and chose instead to patronize the smaller shops.
"He picked up a few Kashmiri handicrafts and some jewelry from one of those small shops on Baga beach. He liked the Hawaiian print shirts that the shops sold. Well, I did bargain for him but he ended up giving them a little more than what I bargained for since he thought the price was too low and felt that he shouldn't be bargaining since he could afford to pay," he adds in mock exasperation.
"Whenever he saw some street kids he would put some cash into their hands and buy them soft drinks or chocolate bars. He even played with the stray dogs on the beach and fed them battawadas which he bought from a street vendor there."
He continues, "Whenever we were traveling he always sat up front with me. It was never like a driver-passenger relationship. We became friends during that time and we still keep in touch via email. At times, I thought that he was too simple to be true. But then that was who he is."
(The author is a Goa-based journalist working with the Gomantak Times newspaper.)
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