Jesse Plemons Thinks It's 'Flattering' to Be Frequently Mistaken for Matt Damon (original) (raw)

"There are worse things to be called, for sure," Jesse Plemons said of people who have noted his perceived likeness to Matt Damon over the years

Published on June 20, 2024 03:37PM EDT

Jesse Plemons and Matt Damon. Photo:

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Samir Hussein/WireImage

Jesse Plemons does not mind the comparisons, but he wants the world to know he is not Matt Damon.

"Still not Matt Damon," he joked during his appearance on the TODAY show on Thursday, June 20, alongside his Kinds of Kindness costar Emma Stone. Host Craig Melvin had noted that his wife Lindsay Czarniak initially thought Plemons was Damon, 53, while they watched the movie together.

"Yeah, for a little while now, which there are worse things to be called, for sure," Plemons said, after Melvin noted people have called attention to his perceived likeness to the Good Will Hunting actor for years. "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, 35, joked in response, referencing the ongoing conversation about whether she prefers to be called by her real name Emily versus Emma, her official stage name. "Like Emily! Emily Damon," he said.

Jesse Plemons and Matt Damon.

JB Lacroix/FilmMagic; Samir Hussein/WireImage

Plemons' resemblance to Damon has tailed him for years; he joked in a 2021 interview with British GQ that he was finding "fewer people refer to me as 'Meth Damon,' " in reference to a nickname fans granted him during his time acting on the AMC series Breaking Bad.

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The Killers of the Flower Moon star recently had fun with the comparisons while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on June 11, when Jimmy Kimmel's sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez locked Plemons up and mistook him for Kimmel's 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. "It's hard for me to say — not really," he said of whether he sees any resemblance himself.

Jesse Plemons on May 21, 2023. LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images

“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 added at the time. He also noted that he once portrayed a young version of Damon's character in the 2000 movie All the Pretty Horses, when Plemons would have been around 12 years old.

Plemons costars with Stone, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie and Hunter Schaefer in Kinds of Kindness, in theaters June 21.