Oscar Nominee Matt Damon has starred in lots of excellent movie projects - Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan, the Bourne franchise, the Martian, to name a few.
He’s also starred in some pretty bad ones.
What’s interesting is to learn his perspective about how he thought about starring in movies that he knows are going to be terrible. He once described a time he “fell into a depression” while filming a particularly regrettable movie project.
“Without naming any particular movies... sometimes you find yourself in a movie that you know, perhaps, might not be what you had hoped it would be, and you’re still making it,” he said.
“And I remember halfway through production and you’ve still got months to go, you’ve taken your family somewhere, you know, and you’ve inconvenienced them, and I remember falling into a depression and questioned: What have I done?”
My wife pulled me up, she just said, ‘We’re here now’,”
It was then, it reminded him:
“You know, I do pride myself, in a large part because of her, at being a professional actor.
And what being a professional actor means is you go and you do the 15-hour day and give it absolutely everything: even in what you know is going to be a losing effort.
“And if you can do that with the best possible attitude, then you’re a pro, and she really helped me with that.”
This is what professionalism looks like.
Sir Christopher Lee, the actor who played Count Dooku in Star Wars prequel trilogy, and Saruman in the Lord of the Rings franchise, once said,
“Every actor has to make terrible films from time to time, but the trick is never to be terrible in them”
Like Matt Damon, we, too, might get bad “jobs”. The key: Never turn in a bad performance, working on them.
Ever got assigned roles which seem unremarkable or unappreciated? Maybe it’s writing the MOM, organizing the department team building, tedious contracting work, emceeing for yet another staff engagement session, or part of a “boring” task force.
Or sometimes your company or boss might assign you with cookie-cutter tasks or roles which aren’t particularly “sexy” or “glamorous”. They don’t necessarily rake in the profits, boost production, or seem worthy to appear on newsletters or intranet portals.
Perhaps they’re the kind of assignments that make people go “meh” and question “so what?” Or tasks which you don’t like, disagree with, feel that it’s a “waste of time”, or perhaps, you’re just not excited or passionate about that work anymore. It just feels like spinning the wheels. The same mundane thing. SSDD - same stuff, different day.
Our tendency is, we become jaded, excessively cynical and just phone it in with minimal effort, just to tick off the box and get it over and done with. It becomes a venting topic at the water cooler, and we might even go on social media to whine about it and vent out our frustrations.
Hallmarks of poor professionalism.
In the words of Matt Damon’s wife: “you’re here now”.
Put aside your ego and personal emotions, and instead, give it all you’ve got and commit to it with excellence & ihsan. Do it best, and move on.
There’s a quote by Maya Angelou that says,
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel”
Your attitude is a “live” CV, and firsthand demonstration of professionalism. People might not remember the magnitude or the contribution of the task. But people will remember the impression that your attitude left behind: How much integrity, workmanship, enthusiasm, and passion you put in, even though the task didn’t really seem all that fancy.
Leaders with a keen eye can see that hidden potential: imagine if I actually gave this guy a flagship project.
Team members who had the pleasure of working with you, would love to capture that same thunder again and would vouch for you, when the time comes: transfer proposals, vacancies, maybe even more?
And that’s why, “bad movies” didn’t even cause a dent in Matt Damon’s career. He continues getting groundbreaking roles such as the 2024 Best Picture Oscar-winner Oppenheimer.
Because he always gives it 100%, and gets back up like a boss.
And so should you.
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