Sandra Bullock’s $297M Movie Director Revealed Why Matt Damon Was Cut Out Against Popular Notion: ‘That was really just storytelling’

Heist movies always hit the right spot and you can’t deny that Gary Ross’ Ocean’s 8 was an entertaining addition to the genre. Starring Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett as well as 6 other gorgeous women, the film is an addition to the Ocean’s series that is loved by all. While it focuses on the women executing a heist at the annual Met Gala, actor Matt Damon was also supposed to play a part in the film.

After Matt Damon made controversial comments about Hollywood’s s-xual harassment scandal relating to Harvey Weinstein, fans of the film series took it upon themselves to have him removed from Ocean’s 8. While he was eventually cut from the movie, director Gary Ross swears that the fans’ wrath wasn’t the reason.

What Did Matt Damon Say That Had Fans All Riled Up?

A few actors from the previous Ocean’s movies made cameos in Ocean’s 8 and Matt Damon was all set to be one of them. Until he wasn’t. Fans were against Damon’s involvement in the film right from the start due to his upsetting and controversial comments about the Harvey Weinstein scandal in Hollywood.

A year before the release of Ocean’s 8 starring Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett, Damon sat down with ABC News’ Peter Travers for Popcorn With Peter Travers. The conversation took a turn when the host talked about Weinstein and the others who had been accused of s-xual misconduct.

In the 2017 interview, Travers asked Damon, “We’re also in the age of people charged with sexual misconduct. This is everywhere. How do you react to that? Especially you, as the father of four girls.”

Damon started off strong by stating how “wonderful” it is that women are finally gathering the courage to stand against wrong and tell their stories to the world. However, his statement then turned a bit controversial.

I think we’re in this watershed moment. I think it’s great. I think it’s wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their stories, and it’s totally necessary … I do believe that there’s a spectrum of behavior, right? And we’re going to have to figure — you know, there’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and r-pe or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated, right?

Needless to say, people didn’t appreciate Damon’s comments. A petition demanding the actor’s removal from the $297 million movie was made public on The Petition Site. The description read: [Damon] not only ignored but enabled his friend Harvey Weinstein’s inappropriate behavior by trying to squash a New York Times report.

The petition that stated “It’s just gross. Matt Damon should not be in this movie” went on to become a success, reaching over 28,000 signatures.

Ocean’s 8 Director Reveals the Real Reason Behind Matt Damon’s Removal

While people would assume that the petition had something to do with Damon being cut from the movie, director Gary Ross, in a discussion with The Hollywood Reporter, stated that the reason was totally different.

According to Ross, everything simply came down to the narrative of the movie. He stated, “[Picking the cameos] is an eclectic process of: how does it fit in the story and how is the narrative unfolding?” He added that Ocean’s 8 had a more “copious” editorial process than any other film he had previously worked on.

While some cameos ended up making it to the final cut, some were left behind in the editing room, including Damon’s. Talking specifically about the actor’s cut cameo, Ross said,

There were a lot of people who were gracious to us that just for editorial and storytelling reasons didn’t make it in and some who did. If you know, we ended up shooting probably another 10 days afterwards, so there’s a lot of material and a lot of shaping. But it really just comes to storytelling.

While Ross puts the blame on storytelling, who knows if the petition also had something to do with it all?

Ocean’s 8 is available to rent/buy on Prime Video.