Entertainment
Matt Damon, wife Luciana Barroso make rare red carpet appearance with their 4 daughters for ‘The Instigators’
It was family night for Matt Damon at the New York City premiere of his latest film, “The Instigators,” Wednesday.
The 53-year-old actor was joined on the red carpet by his wife, Luciana Barroso, and their four daughters — Isabella, 18, Gia, 15, Stella, 13, and Barroso’s daughter Alexia, 24 (whose dad is Arbello Barroso).
Damon expressed his joy at having his family by his side in an interview with E! News.
“We had a lot of family here tonight,” the actor told the outlet. “They normally don’t show up for these things, but they all showed up tonight.”
Damon also reflected on the evening and his daughters growing up in an interview with “Entertainment Tonight.”
“It happens fast. It’s weird,” he told the outlet. “It happens kind of slowly and then really fast in a beautiful way.”
He spoke about the “surreal” experience of preparing to send Isabella off to New York University in the fall, telling E! News: “It’s a lot.”
“It’s a surreal kind of time and the way it operates in your life, the older you get, because it just feels like I was holding her yesterday.”
This isn’t the first time the “Interstellar” star has reflected on his bond with his kids. In fact, he said that Isabella is one of his most honest critics.
“If the reviews come out and they’re terrible, then she’ll watch it,” the Oscar winner joked to Daily Pop in 2021. “If they come out and they’re good, she’s going to pass. She’s looking for ammunition all the time. She’s like one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. She’s really cool.”
On a more serious note, Damon also discussed how his experience as a father influences his work on the screen.
“It’s easier to find my way into a character [if they’re a dad],” he said. “They become a lot more relatable. If you can draw a direct correlation to your own life, it’s always a lot easier.”
His wife since 2005, Barroso, 48, is credited as a producer on “The Instigators.”
Damon praised her contributions to the film. “Casey [Affleck] likes saying she is the smart one in the couple and he’s not wrong,” he told ET at Wednesday’s premiere.
“She’s been reading every script and watching every cut of every movie for 21 years. This is the first time we ever kind of codified it,” he added. “She didn’t even want to take the credit. She was there every day, she was doing all this work on the script, and then she was like, ‘Nah, I don’t want to take the credit.’ ”
“The other producers on the movie, at the end of the movie — and I had nothing to do with it — they came of their own volition [and said], ‘If you’re not taking credit, we’re not taking credit.’ [It was] very sweet. She succumbed and took the credit,” he continued.
The thriller/comedy, co-written and co-starring Damon’s longtime friend Affleck, features the actors as criminals on the run.
In another interview on the carpet with “Extra,” the “Oppenheimer” actor raved about his longtime friendships with both Casey, 48, and his brother, Ben Affleck.
“I do reflect on [the friendships] and I do feel like I’m really lucky to have two friends that are that incredible, that I’ve known for that long and that I’ve lived through so many phases of life with,” he said. “You know, Casey moved out with us when he was 18, like graduating high school, and we were all broke actors together in LA. He was like the little brother and Ben and I were, you know … Then we all got married and had kids. We’ve been through all these phases of life, career success and career disaster and everything in between, so it adds up.”
Damon is teaming with Ben again in the upcoming movie “RIP,” which will be directed by Joe Carnahan.
“The Instigators” is in select theaters Aug. 2 and on AppleTV+ Aug. 9.