He already has an Academy Award for co-writing "Good Will Hunting," and he's been nominated as an actor three times -- Best Actor for "Good Will Hunting" and "The Martian," and Best Supporting Actor for "Invictus." Now he's back on the nominee list in 2017 as a producer of "Manchester by the Sea."
Here's a portion of the Q&A:
How has the Oscar-going experience changed over the years?
With 'Good Will Hunting,' that was kind of the start of campaigning. I went through that experience and then didn't go again for years. Then I was nominated as a supporting actor but didn't really participate a lot. Then, last year with 'The Martian,' I ended up at a bunch of these cocktail parties and it was just so grotesque. It had been accepted that there was a whole season and we all were expected to treat it almost like a political campaign. It felt like it had gotten out of control. It seemed like that Harvey Weinstein, full-court press . Now I'm wondering if those days are over. I certainly hope they are.
Do you have any advice for host Jimmy Kimmel?
Evidently, he said that he doesn't care at all who wins as long as I lose. I tried to get on his Oscar show last year. I mean, I was nominated; he still didn't let me on. Somebody asked me, 'Do want him to do bad?' I just want him to live up to my extremely low expectations.
Ah, the Matt-and-Jimmy feud never gets old. But it's interesting to hear about these self-promotion parties from the perspective of a nominated actor.
The 2017 Oscars air Sunday, Feb. 26 on ABC. Here's the full list of nominations.
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