Jesse Plemons has spoken out about being frequently mistaken for Matt Damon, admitting that he finds the comparison “flattering”.
The actor appeared on Thursday’s (June 20) episode of the Today show alongside his Kinds of Kindness co-star Emma Stone. During the appearance, host Craig Melvin noted how people have drawn attention to Plemons’ perceived likeness to the Good Will Hunting actor for years.
“Still not Matt Damon,” joked Plemons in response. “Yeah, for a little while now [I’ve been compared to him], which there are worse things to be called, for sure. It’s definitely flattering. But yeah, throughout the course of my career, I’ve had various Matt Damon-associated nicknames and such.”
“Like what? Emily?” Stone joked in response, referencing the ongoing conversation about how she actually prefers to be called by her real name Emily, instead of her stage name Emma. “Like Emily! Emily Damon,” Plemons quipped.
Talk about Plemons’ apparent resemblance to Damon has followed him around for years. In a 2021 interview with British GQ, he joked that he was finding “fewer people refer to me as ‘Meth Damon,’” in reference to a nickname fans gave him during his time on the AMC series Breaking Bad.
The Killers of the Flower Moon star also addressed the comparisons during a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, with comedian Guillermo Rodriguez mistaking him for Kimmel’s pretend archenemy.
“It has been haunting me for a little while,” he told Kimmel at the time, when the late night host asked if Plemons is mistaken for Damon frequently. When asked if he could see any resemblance himself, he replied: “It’s hard for me to say — not really.”
He added: “When I was younger my aunt watched Good Will Hunting and for some reason, she told my mom ‘This is what Jesse’s going to look like when he gets old.’” He also noted that he once portrayed a young version of Damon’s character in the 2000 movie All the Pretty Horses, when Plemons was roughly 12 years old.
Plemons stars alongside Stone, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie and Hunter Schaefer in Yorgos Lanthimos‘ Kinds of Kindness, which arrives in UK cinemas on June 28.