Matt Damon Trashes Screenwriter, Quickly Apologizes

Hollywood nice guy was a little too honest in a new GQ interview

Matt Damon's moment of unfiltered honesty was followed immediately by another in a rare one-man Hollywood feud.

In the January issue of "GQ," the "We Bought a Zoo" star discusses his massively successful "Bourne" film series, and the rocky road the third installment took from development to theaters. In doing so, Damon - long known as a decent, upstanding guy in a business that lacks them - seemed to uncharacteristically attack writer Tony Gilroy.

Revealing that Gilroy was paid a large sum of money for one draft of a script, Damon says, "It's really the studio’s fault for putting themselves in that position. I don't blame Tony for taking a boatload of money and handing in what he handed in. It’s just that it was unreadable."

But he didn't stop there. "This is a career-ender. I mean, I could put this thing up on eBay and it would be game over for that dude," Damon says. "It's terrible. It's really embarrassing. He was having a go, basically, and he took his money and left."

Almost immediately, however, Damon contacted the writer of the piece to apologize for his unflattering comments.

"If I didn't respect him and appreciate his talent, then I really wouldn't have cared," admitted Damon. "My feelings were hurt. That's all. And that's exactly why I shouldn’t have said anything. This is between me and him. So saying anything publicly is f***ing stupid and unprofessional and just kind of douchey of me."

Gilroy, meanwhile, is writing and directing "The Bourne Legacy," a fourth installment in the series that focuses on a new agent (played by Jeremy Renner) and does not involve Damon's Jason Bourne.

Selected Reading: GQ, Us Weekly, E! Online

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