In an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Hollywood mega-star Matt Damon issued a surprising answer when asked what it was like winning an Oscar at such a young stage in his career.
The clip, which originally aired back in 2015 and is making the rounds online again during Oscars season, features Damon throwing a bit of a curveball response to a question about how much partying he engaged in after winning the biggest award in Hollywood at only 27 years of age.
“That night must’ve sent you into a tailspin. Do you go crazy? That actual night did you go nuts?” Norton asked the “Good Will Hunting” star.
Damon went home and said he couldn’t sleep, still buzzing from the big win. The award sat there on the table before him, and he just stared at it, lost in thought.
“I was alone with it… and I suddenly had this kind of thing wash over me, where I thought, imagine chasing that and not getting it. And getting it finally in your 80’s or your 90’s with all of life behind you and realizing what an unbelievable waste of your — you know what I mean? Because it can’t — “
“It can’t be good enough,” Norton interjected.
“Right. It can’t fill you up,” Damon continued. “If that’s a hole that you have, that won’t fill it. I felt so blessed to have that awareness at 27 because I wouldn’t have known it unless I knew it.”
Damon, of course, is 100% correct in this assessment. He perfectly demonstrated materialism is futile and cannot possibly fill the longing in our souls for something greater.
You can watch the brief clip here (LANGUAGE WARNING):
While awards, fame, money, power, success are all things are all hollow pursuits that will ultimately leave us empty inside, still longing for something more — Damon doesn’t go on to mention what does satisfy the longing in our souls.
As Christians, we know that Jesus is the only one who can fill the void. As C.S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
In John 6:35, Jesus says “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
That’s it. That’s all we have to do, put Jesus first in our life and He does the rest. We will never thirst. Winning an Oscar, as Matt Damon quickly realized, will still leave you hungry, empty, longing.
Damon, for his part, has not spoken much, if at all, about his religious beliefs. Hopefully, his awareness of how even the greatest of achievements and “things” in life will leave one empty inside leads to an understanding and acceptance that God is the only one who can satisfy.