Matt Damon

Matt Damon on how he was wooed to star in We Bought a Zoo by director Cameron Crowe (Jerry McGuire). Crowe visited him while shooting True Grit and came bearing a CD compilation of music (see playlist below), a copy of the 1983 movie, Local Hero, and, of course, the script. Damon says that no other director had ever worked so hard to give him the "feel" of a film and it helped him agree to be in it. Plus, Damon reflects on that crazy time when he and Ben Affleck hit it big with Good Will Hunting and on the challenges of being a really big star. He also addresses controversial comments he made in a recentGQ article about Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter of the Jason Bourne movies. Finally, Matt Damon is ready to take the director's chair. He's co-written a script with John Krasinski (The Office) that will go into production in 2012.

Today's Banter Topics:

- NFL makes a huge deal for $27.9 billion with CBS, NBC and Fox

- The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) is a year old and not doing well

- James Murdoch of News Corps. is further implicated in the phone hacking scandal

Cameron Crowe's playlist he made for Matt Damon to give him the 'feel' of the movie:

Save It for Later … Pete Townshend

I'm Open (Live) … Eddie Vedder

War of Man (Live) … Neil Young

Soul Boy … The Blue Nile

Mohammed's Radio … Jackson Browne

Sanganichi … Shugo Tokumaru

Airline to Heaven … Wilco

Buckets of Rain … Bob Dylan

The Heart of the Matter (Live) … Don Henley

I Will Be There When You Die … My Morning Jacket

Ain't No Sunshine … Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers

Child of the Moon … Rolling Stones

If I Am a Stranger … Ryan Adams

Concrete Sky … Beth Orton

Helpless (Live) … Neil Young

Don't Be Shy (no piano) … Cat Stevens

Nerstrand Woods … Mark Olson And The Creekdippers

Banner image: Matt Damon (L) and director Cameron Crowe discuss a scene on the set of We Bought a Zoo. Photo by Neal Preston TM and © 2011 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation