Matt Damon Is Living In Ireland During Lockdown And Says It's Like A Fairytale

While many of us are spending lockdown drinking tinnies with flatmates in grotty houseshares, or arguing our way through each day with our parents, it's easy to forget how the other half live - all those celebrities rattling round their mansions and soaking up that Hollywood sunshine from the side of their pool.

But actor Matt Damon isn't living it up in LA as you'd expect. He's actually just over in Ireland, hanging out in a city suburb, and it turns out he's absolutely loving it.

Since travel bans were put in place back in March to help stop the spread of coronavirus, Damon and his family have been living in Dalkey, a suburb outside the Irish capital of Dublin.

PA

When lockdown began, he'd been filming new Ridley Scott movie The Last Duel, a historical drama-thriller based on Eric Jager's book, The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager.

In an interview with Spin 103.8's Fully Charged radio show, Damon said of the place he currently calls home: "Oh, it's incredible. This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been."

He added: "Obviously what's going on in the world is horrible, but for my family it timed out right. It feels a little like a fairy tale here, it's gorgeous."

Miramax Films

The film Damon's shooting - or was shooting - is also one he co-wrote the script for, alongside Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener. In fact, it's Damon and Affleck's first project together since they penned award-winning flick Good Will Hunting.

Speaking of the hold-up with production, director Ridley Scott told Variety back in March: "We, of course, sensibly put the film on hold.

"I finished in France after shooting for a month and decided it was sensible to close down for the time being.

"We're a month in and it looked fantastic. The period is 1360, so we're back to medieval France and it's kind of interesting.

"Back about two weeks ago, we decided to hold it out because it's silly to continue and wait for the inevitable to happen. We were set to go to Ireland in a week and it was a natural break, so I said, 'Why don't we stop here and we'll return?'"

Well, let's hope Damon's well-stocked with Tayto crisps, as it sounds like he could be waiting a while for filming to resume...

Topics: Ireland, Entertainment, Celebrity, Matt Damon

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman