• Zendaya says she “could have cried” watching fiancé Tom Holland film The Odyssey, though they share no scenes together
• Matt Damon reveals Christopher Nolan called Zendaya’s performance “perfect” — the highest praise he’s ever heard Nolan give
• Damon and Holland spent the rest of production playfully complaining that neither of them ever came close to that level of praise
• Zendaya plays the goddess Athena while juggling Euphoria Season 3 and Dune: Part Three simultaneously
• The Odyssey opens in theaters July 17, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day following on July 31

Zendaya didn’t have a single scene with Tom Holland in The Odyssey — but she was still watching him closely. And what she saw nearly brought her to tears.

“I could have cried, I was so proud,” the actress told ELLE of watching Holland on set of Christopher Nolan’s sweeping adaptation of Homer’s epic. It’s a sweet window into a relationship that’s been playing out in real time for nearly a decade — two people who fell in love on a Marvel set, now watching each other grow into something bigger.

“And then Spider-Man was a dream; I get to go to work every day with my best friend, the person that I love,” she added. “We bring our dogs to work; it’s like a family affair. We grew up on those movies! It’s like coming home.”

Holland and Zendaya first met during a 2016 chemistry read for Spider-Man: Homecoming, where he was cast as Peter Parker and she as Michelle “MJ” Jones-Watson. They went public as a couple in July 2021, got engaged in late 2024, and if you believe Zendaya’s longtime stylist Law Roach — they may have already quietly gotten married. (In March, Zendaya herself fueled the speculation by telling French outlet Views that a “perfect marriage” doesn’t exist.)

The Only Person Who Got a ‘Perfect’ From Christopher Nolan

Here’s the thing about working with Christopher Nolan: the man is not handing out gold stars. Matt Damon, who plays Odysseus in the film, explained the dynamic with characteristic bluntness.

“Chris is known for being very circumspect. So when you do a take, it’s not like he says, ‘That was great.’ He’ll go, ‘Yep, good. Okay.’ And that is the equivalent of the greatest praise you could ever get,” Damon told ELLE. “Zendaya, on the other hand — there were takes where she did one thing, she did this amazing scene, and he said, ‘Cut.’ And then he went, ‘Perfect.'”

The fallout was immediate and, honestly, hilarious.

“And literally, Tom [Holland] and I were obsessed with this. She got a ‘perfect’? I’ve never even gotten a ‘great.’ She got a ‘perfect’? He and I bitched about it for the entire rest of the film. ‘Did you get anything today?’ ‘No, I got a ‘good — moving on.’ ‘Yeah, me too.'”

Damon didn’t hold it against her for long. “So it was this amazing ability she had to come in and really put herself in there and blow everybody away, and then just go back to shooting ‘Euphoria,'” he said.

That detail — going back to shoot Euphoria — is not a throwaway line. Zendaya was running three major productions at once. In her own ELLE cover story interview, she described the logistical reality of it all: “I remember being on set for Euphoria; it was a night shoot at a ranch. I was so tired, but I was also learning my Chakobsa lines for Dune. And then I started writing out my lines to memorize for that quick turnaround trip I was going to make to Iceland for The Odyssey.”

She paused on what was really at stake. “It’s not like I have a lot of lines in The Odyssey, but I was working with Christopher Nolan! The most embarrassing thing in life would be messing up my lines, which did happen once.”

Nolan, for his part, seemed unbothered by any stumbles. “We would be in the maddest, craziest situations, just all of us fighting the elements, tearing our hair out, all these things going on, and she would sort of parachute in from her other job with this sense of true grace and poise,” he said. “I mean, she’s literally playing a goddess; it’s a tall order. She’s a true movie star, but also an incredible actor.”

The Women at the Heart of The Odyssey

Zendaya plays Athena, goddess of wisdom and war, serving as guide and protector to Damon’s Odysseus throughout his journey. It’s a role without a ton of screen time — but clearly one that left a mark on everyone who witnessed it being filmed.

She’s one of four iconic actresses anchoring Nolan’s vision of the women who drive Homer’s story forward. Anne Hathaway plays Penelope, the fiercely loyal queen of Ithaca who spends 20 years fending off over a hundred suitors while her husband is away. “We think about Penelope as a model of patience,” Hathaway said. “But I was interested in the raw edge of her. I was interested in the fury, the emotion, and the passion that she would have had to ride for him for those 20 years.” It’s Hathaway’s third collaboration with Nolan, after The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar, and Nolan noted a visible shift in her work: “There’s a maturity to her performances now… Her work has a sense of quiet calm to it that’s really remarkable.”

Lupita Nyong’o takes on a fascinating dual role — both Helen of Troy and her sister Clytemnestra — while Charlize Theron plays Calypso, the sea nymph who holds Odysseus captive for seven years. Theron used the character to say something larger: “Even though she’s a goddess, she is really longing for connection… there’s something to be said about women living their lives today in a powerful manner, and yet a lot of our rights are being taken away every single day.”

The four women cover ELLE’s summer 2026 issue, and the film has already sold out multiple opening IMAX 70mm screenings — a full year before its release.

The Odyssey opens July 17. Two weeks later, Holland and Zendaya will be back together on screen where it all started — Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theaters July 31. Two movies, one summer, one couple. Not a bad coming home.

The post Zendaya ‘Could Have Cried’ Watching Tom Holland on The Odyssey Set appeared first on Cream.

• Matt Damon is in talks to star in the next film from Everything Everywhere All at Once directors The Daniels, backed by Universal.
• Ryan Gosling was originally cast but exited after requesting script changes that couldn’t fit the production timeline.
• The untitled film involves global warming, time travel, a possible superhero angle, and two timelines — the 1980s and present day.
• Damon’s role is the father of one of the teen protagonists — a substantial supporting part, not the lead.
• The film is set to shoot this summer in Los Angeles and is already dated for November 19, 2027.

The Daniels have their guy. Matt Damon is in talks to star in the untitled new film from Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert — the Oscar-winning duo behind Everything Everywhere All at Once — and alongside that news comes the first real glimpse at what this mysterious project is actually about.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the story involves global warming, time travel, and a possible superhero angle, unfolding across two timelines — one set in the 1980s, one in the present day. The main protagonists are teenagers, at least in the ’80s-set portion of the story. Damon would play the father of one of those teens, a role described as substantial but supporting in nature. Universal is backing the project, and production is set to begin later this summer in Los Angeles — with a release date already locked in for November 19, 2027.

How Gosling’s Exit Opened the Door

This wasn’t the original plan. Ryan Gosling — fresh off his massive box-office win with Project Hail Mary — was the first name attached to the father role, with his involvement announced back in March. But it didn’t last long. Gosling felt the part should be bigger and asked for script revisions. The Daniels weren’t necessarily opposed to the idea, but the project had already been pushed back multiple times and had received a California tax credit that locked in a hard deadline: production had to begin by the end of summer or early fall. There simply wasn’t time for another rewrite.

So in what THR describes as a whirlwind week or two, Gosling was in and then out. The search for a replacement began fast. Jack Black was reportedly considered at one point before the directors turned their attention to Damon.

There’s a fun bit of full-circle irony in the casting swap. Gosling starred in Project Hail Mary, an adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel. The last Weir adaptation before that? The Martian — starring Matt Damon.

Why Damon Made Sense

Damon is no stranger to Universal or to sci-fi. He’s already well-liked at the studio from his Bourne franchise days, and he’s about to headline one of the summer’s most anticipated films: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, in which he plays Odysseus, releasing July 17 or 18 depending on the market. The cast around him — Charlize Theron, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, and more — makes it one of the most stacked ensembles in recent memory.

According to Deadline, after a grueling six-month shoot on The Odyssey, Damon wasn’t in any rush to jump into something new. He was planning to rest, spend time with family, and take his time finding the right project. Then the Daniels’ script landed in front of him. After a meeting with the duo, he gave the thumbs up.

The plan is to shoot the film in Los Angeles this summer, after Damon wraps his promotional run for The Odyssey. Kwan, Scheinert, and producer Jonathan Wang will produce through their Playgrounds banner, which has an overall deal with Universal.

The Daniels have reportedly been developing this project for three years — working through budget challenges, multiple delays, and a script that was initially built around three separate time periods before being streamlined to two. They’ve also reportedly been casting the teen roles since 2024 and may already have those actors in place, waiting until the bigger names were locked before making any announcements.

With Damon now on board, the next piece to fall into place is finding the actor who’ll play his son.

The post Matt Damon Joins The Daniels’ New Sci-Fi Film appeared first on Cream.

• Matt Damon is in talks to star in The Daniels’ untitled follow-up to Everything Everywhere All at Once at Universal Pictures.
• Ryan Gosling was originally in line for the role but exited after asking for script changes that couldn’t be accommodated in time.
• The film involves global warming, time travel, and a possible superhero angle, with dual timelines set in the 1980s and present day.
• The project has a November 19, 2027 release date and is set to begin production in Los Angeles this summer.
• Damon is already set to lead Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey for Universal, opening July 17.

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Three years after Everything Everywhere All at Once swept the Oscars, The Daniels are finally ready to make their next movie — and they want Matt Damon to anchor it.

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Damon is in talks to star in Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s untitled follow-up at Universal Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which is also breaking the first real plot details on a project that has been shrouded in secrecy since it was set up at the studio in 2024. A deal isn’t finalized yet, but sources say Damon is very much on board.

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The film is described as involving global warming, time travel, and a possible superhero angle. It unfolds across two timelines — one set in the 1980s and one in the present day — with teenagers as the protagonists, at least in the ’80s-set portion. The Daniels have reportedly been casting those teen roles since 2024, pausing production multiple times while they worked through script and budget challenges. One significant factor behind the delays: the story was originally structured around three time periods before being streamlined to two, which required substantial rewrites.

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Now that Damon is close to locking in, the duo can turn their attention to finding the actor who’ll play his son.

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How Damon Got Here — and Why Gosling Didn’t

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The road to Damon was anything but straightforward. Ryan Gosling was the first big name The Daniels pursued, and he initially agreed to come on board. But Gosling’s role — the father of one of the teen protagonists — was supporting in nature, and he felt it should be larger. He asked for script changes, and the filmmakers weren’t necessarily opposed. The problem was time.

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The project had already pushed its schedule more than once, and it had received a California tax credit that required production to begin by the end of summer or early fall. Another round of rewrites simply wasn’t possible within that window. So in the span of a week or two, Gosling was in and then out. Jack Black was briefly considered before The Daniels pivoted to Damon.

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The pivot makes a lot of sense on paper. Damon is already a known quantity at Universal — not just from the Bourne franchise, but as the lead of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the studio’s massive summer tentpole opening July 17. After a grueling six-month shoot on that film, sources say Damon wasn’t in a hurry to jump back into work. He planned to rest, spend time with his family, and take his time reading scripts. But when The Daniels came calling, and after a meeting with the duo, he gave the thumbs up.

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The plan is for Damon to shoot the film in Los Angeles after he wraps his promotional commitments for The Odyssey.

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The Weight of Following Everything Everywhere

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It’s hard to overstate the pressure on this project. Everything Everywhere All at Once didn’t just win seven Oscars in 2023 — it became a cultural phenomenon, the kind of film that people pressed into friends’ hands and rewatched in tears. Following that up, at a bigger studio with a bigger budget, is a genuinely daunting task.

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The Daniels have been working on this project for three years, navigating challenges of budget, script, and now casting. The film has already been dated for November 19, 2027, which gives some sense of Universal’s confidence in it as an event release. The California Film Commission approved it for $20.8 million in tax credits based on $106 million in qualified spending — the most projects ever approved in a single application window for the state’s program.

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Kwan, Scheinert, and producer Jonathan Wang will produce through their Playgrounds banner, which operates under an overall deal with Universal. The trio previously produced The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist for Focus Features. Universal’s Sara Scott and Jacqueline Garell are overseeing the project for the studio.

\n\n

When the California tax credit was announced, The Daniels and Wang spoke about what the program meant to them. “We are L.A. filmmakers, with very dear L.A. friends, who happen to be some of the greatest creative talents we’ve worked with,” they said in a joint statement. “On Everything Everywhere All At Once we received the California tax credit, and had we not, it would have been utterly impossible to make that film.”

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For now, the rest of the cast remains to be built. The ensemble is expected to skew younger, with most roles going to actors who will audition — but Damon at the center gives Universal and The Daniels the star power they need to anchor what they’re clearly positioning as their next big swing.

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“category”: “Movies

The post Matt Damon in Talks for The Daniels’ Next Film appeared first on Cream.

• Matt Damon reprised his Brett Kavanaugh impression on the May 9 SNL cold open — his first time back in the role since 2018
• The sketch featured Colin Jost as Pete Hegseth and Aziz Ansari as Kash Patel in a Washington bar setting
• Damon’s Kavanaugh revealed Trump can serve a third term because he found the original Constitution and wrote “Psych!” at the end
• The episode marked Damon’s third time hosting SNL; Noah Kahan served as musical guest
• SNL Season 51 wraps May 16 with Will Ferrell hosting and Paul McCartney as musical guest

Matt Damon dusted off the Supreme Court robes for the May 9 episode of Saturday Night Live, reprising his legendary Brett Kavanaugh impression in a cold open that immediately took over the internet. The sketch — set in a Washington, D.C. bar — delivered what might be the most elegantly absurd political joke of the season: Trump can serve a third term because he found the original Constitution and, at the very end, wrote “Psych!”

Damon’s Kavanaugh burst through the bar doors to find Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, played by Colin Jost, already drinking solo. Hegseth’s excuse? “None of Trump’s people like drinking as much as I do.” Kavanaugh’s entrance line set the tone immediately: he told Hegseth he knew he’d find him there because he “saw all the women covering their drinks.”

From there, the two launched into a bragging contest of controversial achievements. Jost’s Hegseth boasted that he “started a war.” Damon’s Kavanaugh countered that he “ended abortion” — punctuating it with a cheery “Your body, my choice!”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7N68NjL9cMA%3Ffeature%3Doembed

A third drinking buddy eventually joined them: Aziz Ansari’s FBI Director Kash Patel, a character the Parks and Recreation actor debuted in the May 2 cold open. “Seriously, we’re all living the American dream,” Ansari’s Patel declared. “I’m the first person in my family to go to college — parties, many years after graduating.”

Then came the punchline. Kavanaugh leaned in to share a secret: “We’re going to let Trump do a third term.” When pressed on the small matter of it being unconstitutional, he explained that Trump “found the original Constitution, and at the end, he wrote, ‘Psych!'”

The sketch went viral almost instantly, and it’s not hard to see why. The joke works because the gap between the satire and the actual political moment feels uncomfortably thin. Above the Law noted it was “less ‘political satire’ and more ‘lightly fictionalized documentary'” — and that’s precisely the energy the cold open was going for.

A Character Eight Years in the Making

Damon first played Kavanaugh in 2018, during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the justice’s nomination — a performance that became one of the most talked-about cold opens in recent SNL history. The image of Damon screaming about beer and calendars is practically burned into the collective memory of anyone who watched that era of the show. Eight years later, the character hasn’t lost a step.

This episode also marked Damon’s third time hosting SNL overall, and his first time back since that 2018 appearance. In his monologue, he tackled the awkward timing of plugging The Odyssey — Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film, which doesn’t open until July 17 — while the show goes on summer hiatus before then.

“I have a new movie coming out,” Damon told the audience. “It’s called ‘The Odyssey,’ and it is in theaters not this weekend, not next weekend, but nine weekends from now.”

He also addressed the missing Mother’s Day tradition. SNL typically flies the cast’s mothers in first class for the Mother’s Day weekend episode — but not this year. “Apparently, that was going to happen again this year, but then Spirit Airlines shut down,” Damon said. “So for all of you waiting to see the cast’s moms, I’m sorry, it ain’t happening tonight.” One exception: Marcello Hernandez’s mom made a cameo in the audience as part of a bit involving an unusually enthusiastic audience member.

It’s worth noting the cold open also continued a recent trend — for the second week running, James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump didn’t appear. The show has been rotating its political roster, with Jost’s Hegseth and Ansari’s Patel increasingly anchoring the opening sketches.

What’s Next for SNL Season 51

Damon’s episode was the penultimate installment of Season 51. The season finale airs May 16, with Will Ferrell returning to host for a record sixth time — and Paul McCartney performing as musical guest. After that, the show heads into its summer break, with new episodes returning in the fall.

As for Damon’s Kavanaugh, the “Psych!” Constitution bit may be the character’s most quotable moment yet. The original 2018 sketch made him SNL canon. This one reminded everyone why.

The post Matt Damon’s Kavanaugh Promises a Trump Third Term on SNL appeared first on Cream.

• Matt Damon returned to host SNL Season 51 and reprised his Brett Kavanaugh impression in the cold open
• Colin Jost played Pete Hegseth and Aziz Ansari played Kash Patel in the booze-soaked political sketch
• The sketch mocked Kavanaugh’s drinking history, Patel’s personalized bourbon bottles, and Trump’s third-term rumors
• Online reaction split sharply between fans praising the satire and critics calling the show repetitively political
• SNL’s Season 51 finale airs May 16 with Will Ferrell hosting and Paul McCartney as musical guest

Three political figures walked into a bar — and Saturday Night Live was waiting for them. The NBC sketch comedy institution opened its May 9 episode with one of its most talked-about cold opens of Season 51: a Georgetown bar crawl featuring Matt Damon back as Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Colin Jost doing his Pete Hegseth impression, and Aziz Ansari crashing the party as FBI Director Kash Patel, personalized bourbon bottles in hand.

The sketch was set inside Martin’s Tavern, the iconic Georgetown restaurant, where Jost’s Hegseth kicked things off by celebrating that he’d finally found a bar where he wouldn’t run into anyone from the White House. “None of Trump’s people like drinking as much as I do,” he quipped. Then Damon’s Kavanaugh strolled in and immediately ordered “six Bud Lights and three shots of Jameson” — prompting the bartender to deadpan that it was a “6-3 decision.”

The Kavanaugh jokes got sharper from there. When asked why he expected to find Hegseth at that particular bar, Damon’s character replied, “I just saw all the women covering their drinks” — a direct callback to the sexual misconduct and excessive drinking allegations that dogged Kavanaugh’s 2018 Senate confirmation hearings. Kavanaugh has consistently denied both drinking excessively and engaging in any misconduct.

Kash Patel Steals the Scene

Things escalated the moment Ansari burst through the door screaming, “Does this bar take Kash?!” — and the crowd lost it. Ansari, who bears a close physical resemblance to the real Patel, came loaded with material. He joked about getting mistaken for a kid with a fake ID because of his wide-eyed official photos, bragged about still living the American dream years after college, and held up a bottle of bourbon with his own name on the label.

“Yes, somehow this is a real thing, that I the FBI director had made. This is real,” Ansari’s Patel announced — a direct riff on an Atlantic report detailing how Patel distributes personalized bourbon bottles bearing his name and references to the FBI. In real life, Patel is currently suing The Atlantic over reporting connected to those allegations, which he has strongly denied.

The sketch kept piling on. Damon’s Kavanaugh grilled Ansari’s Patel over rumors that he’s been making FBI staffers take polygraph tests — but Patel pivoted immediately into chaos, joking that he actually wanted a chart of everyone at the FBI who’s “poly” because his girlfriend supposedly wants an open relationship. Hegseth and Kavanaugh responded with enthusiastic frat-style high-fives.

Trump’s Third Term and a Chumbawamba Finale

The cold open saved its most absurdist swing for last. Damon’s Kavanaugh leaned in and dropped what he called a “top secret” bombshell: “We’re gonna let Trump do a third term.” When Jost’s Hegseth pointed out that three presidential terms are flatly unconstitutional, Kavanaugh fired back with the explanation that Trump had apparently found the original Constitution and scribbled “Sike! We’re gonna live forever” at the bottom.

Kenan Thompson, playing the bartender, eventually called last call — and the three characters stumbled into a slurring sing-along of Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping.” It was a fittingly chaotic button on a sketch that had gone fully off the rails in the best possible way.

The episode was Matt Damon’s third time hosting SNL, and it came ahead of his leading role in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, due in theaters this July. Musical guest Noah Kahan also performed — his second appearance on the show, following the April release of his album The Great Divide.

The Internet Had Thoughts

Reaction online divided almost immediately along predictable lines. Critics of the sketch flooded social media calling the show stale and one-note. “It’s really frustrating to watch a handful of angry activists placate their audience,” one user wrote. Another went further: “Nobody watches SNL, it’s not funny.”

Supporters pushed back just as hard. “SNL has been poking fun at presidents and politicians for quite some time now,” one fan pointed out. Others specifically praised Damon’s energy in the sketch, with one viewer calling it “high-fashion red carpet energy” for political comedy.

It’s a cycle the show knows well. Back in November, SNL drew similar backlash when James Austin Johnson’s Trump impression anchored a cold open built around the unsealed Epstein files — complete with jokes about Trump being “the dog that hasn’t barked” and a closing gag about pardoning “a turkey that was a sex criminal.” That sketch drew the same split reaction: fury from one side, applause from the other.

Whether you loved it or hated it, Season 51 is nearly done. The finale airs May 16 with Will Ferrell returning to host for the sixth time — his first time back since 2019 — alongside musical guest Paul McCartney, whose new album The Boys of Dungeon Lane drops May 29. If the season has been this chaotic, it’s hard to imagine Ferrell and McCartney toning things down for the exit.

The post SNL’s MAGA Bar Sketch Has the Internet Divided appeared first on Cream.

• Matt Damon returned as Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in SNL’s May 9 cold open — his first time in the role since 2018
• Colin Jost’s Pete Hegseth and Aziz Ansari’s Kash Patel joined Kavanaugh for a boozy night at Martin’s Tavern in Washington, D.C.
• The sketch ended with Kavanaugh dropping a “top secret” bombshell: Trump is getting a third term because he found the original Constitution and wrote “Sike!” at the bottom
• This was Damon’s third time hosting SNL — the penultimate episode of Season 51 — with musical guest Noah Kahan
• Season 51 wraps next week with Will Ferrell hosting and Paul McCartney as musical guest

Matt Damon dusted off his gavel and his beer gut for the May 9 episode of Saturday Night Live, reprising his iconic Brett Kavanaugh impression in a cold open that turned into the most unhinged MAGA boys’ night out television has ever seen.

The sketch opened at Martin’s Tavern — the legendary Georgetown watering hole — where Colin Jost’s Pete Hegseth arrived looking for a quiet drink away from the office. “It’s just nice to have my sneaky bar here, where I’m not going to run into anyone from work,” Jost’s Hegseth declared, “because none of Trump’s people like drinking as much as I do.”

He hadn’t even settled onto his barstool before Damon’s Kavanaugh came roaring in, robe and gavel in hand. “Wrong!” The justice immediately ordered what he called a “six-three decision” — six Bud Lights and three shots of Jameson — and Kenan Thompson’s bartender deadpanned, “Yep, a 6-3 decision coming right up.”

When Hegseth asked if Kavanaugh had accidentally included him in a Signal chat, the justice shook his head: “No, I just saw all the women covering their drinks.”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7N68NjL9cMA%3Fsi%3Do3vV_-CVQe2Wm9Io

The Gang’s All Here

The two wasted no time catching up on their greatest hits. Jost’s Hegseth crowed, “Dude, can you believe I just, like, started a war?” Damon’s Kavanaugh shot back, “Can you believe I ended abortion? Your body, my choice!” When asked how the war in Iran was going, Hegseth offered: “Oh, it’s totally chill. It’s like me at a DWI checkpoint: completely blew over.”

Kavanaugh then pulled out what appeared to be a gerrymandered Tennessee voting district map — shaped suspiciously like a dinosaur — before correcting himself. “Oh, wait. Actually, no. That’s a field sobriety test. They told me to draw a circle.”

The real emotional gut-punch came when Kavanaugh confessed his deepest worry. Not the war. Not the courts. Male loneliness. “I used to have all my buddies to hang out with,” he lamented. “I just wish there were more people in this administration who could really hang.”

Right on cue, the doors swung open.

“Does this bar take Kash?!”

Aziz Ansari’s FBI Director Kash Patel — eyes bulging, energy unhinged — slid into the booth carrying personalized bourbon bottles engraved with his own name. “Somehow this is a real thing that I, the FBI director, have made,” Ansari’s Patel marveled. “This is real!” The bottles are, in fact, a real thing that exists.

Patel explained why he brings his own alcohol to bars: “Sometimes people think I’m a kid with a fake ID. They say, ‘Nobody would make this face in official photos.'” He then reflected on his journey. “We are all living the American dream. I’m the first person in my family to go to college — parties, many years after graduating.”

When Kavanaugh pressed him on rumors that he’s been ordering FBI staffers to take polygraph tests, Patel denied it emphatically. “No, I told them to make a graph of everyone in the FBI who’s poly. My girlfriend wants to open up our relationship!” The trio exchanged frat-style high-fives. “She says she wants to bring other guys into the bedroom and for me to stay in the living room.”

The Top Secret Bombshell

Just when things couldn’t get more chaotic, Damon’s Kavanaugh leaned in conspiratorially. “Can I tell you guys a secret?” he asked. “We’re gonna let Trump do a third term.”

Hegseth and Patel lost their minds — until Hegseth caught himself. “I thought that was unconstitutional?”

“It was,” Kavanaugh replied, “until Trump found the original Constitution, and at the end, he wrote, ‘Sike!’ We’re going to live forever!”

The sketch closed with the trio — plus the rest of the bar — belting out Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping,” with drink orders subbed in for the lyrics. It was the perfect ending for a sketch that leaned hard into the real-life fact that both Hegseth and Kavanaugh faced pointed questions about their drinking during their respective confirmation hearings.

A Solid Night for Damon Overall

The cold open was the highlight of what turned out to be a genuinely strong episode. Damon — hosting for the third time, his first since 2018 — threw himself into everything. He played himself in a pre-taped Mother’s Day sketch called “Mom: The Movie,” a film deliberately stripped of all conflict because, as the premise went, “Moms have enough stress. Why not let them feel good for a day?” In it, Ashley Padilla’s character is blissfully married to Matt Damon, and they met when he noticed her giant turquoise necklace. It streams on HomeGoods Plus.

In his monologue, Damon addressed the elephant in the room: he’s hosting SNL nine weeks before his summer blockbuster The Odyssey opens on July 17, because the show will be on hiatus by then. He also explained why the beloved Mother’s Day tradition — flying cast members’ moms in for the show — wasn’t happening this year: Spirit Airlines shut down. The one exception was Marcello Hernández’s mom, who made it to the audience and got her own little moment.

The standout non-cold-open sketch of the night was a late-show bit pairing Damon with Sarah Sherman as two auctioneers having a marriage-ending fight — auctioneering their way through infidelity, their sex life, and eventual divorce terms in front of four young sons (played by adult cast members holding numbered signs). It was a genuinely bold piece of live comedy, and Damon’s acting chops gave it real weight underneath the absurdity.

Weekend Update featured Marcello Hernández and Mikey Day as government-employed kamikaze dolphins, Jane Wickline in a musical rant about always being late, and Jeremy Culhane’s Tucker Carlson impression — which leaned hard into Carlson’s tendency to see everything through a very particular lens. Describing ASAP Rocky’s Met Gala pink robe, Culhane’s Carlson noted the performer was “wearing my least favorite color… African-American.”

Musical guest Noah Kahan performed “The Great Divide” and “Doors.”

Next Saturday, Season 51 wraps with Will Ferrell returning for his sixth time hosting, alongside musical guest Paul McCartney. After that, SNL heads into its summer hiatus. Damon’s Kavanaugh, one assumes, will keep ordering 6-3 decisions until the show needs him again.

The post Matt Damon’s Kavanaugh Is Back and SNL’s Bar Tab Is Huge appeared first on Cream.

• Matt Damon hosted Saturday Night Live for the third time, with musical guest Noah Kahan.
• Damon reprised his Brett Kavanaugh impression in a bar-set cold open alongside Colin Jost’s Pete Hegseth and Aziz Ansari’s Kash Patel.
• A Mother’s Day fake movie trailer called Mom featured Damon as the world’s most ideal husband.
• The episode — the penultimate of Season 51 — aired ahead of the May 16 finale with Will Ferrell and Paul McCartney.
• Damon also promoted his upcoming role as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey during his monologue.

Matt Damon walked back into Studio 8H on Saturday night and made it look easy. Hosting Saturday Night Live for the third time in his career — following stints in 2002 and 2018 — the Cambridge native delivered one of the more cohesive episodes of Season 51, anchoring everything from a raucous political cold open to a pitch-perfect Mother’s Day fake movie trailer that will absolutely be texted to your mom tomorrow morning.

And yes, Brett Kavanaugh is back.

The Cold Open: Beers, Bourbon, and a Third Term

Damon first played Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in September 2018, at the height of the judge’s contentious confirmation hearing, channeling simmering frat-boy outrage in a performance that’s still talked about. Saturday’s cold open brought a very different Kavanaugh — looser, cockier, and very much at home in a bar.

The scene was set at Martin’s Tavern, the legendary Georgetown watering hole, where Kavanaugh runs into Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, played once again by Colin Jost. Aziz Ansari — returning as Kash Patel following his debut last week — rounded out the trio, arriving with his own branded bourbon.

“Pistol Pete,” Damon’s Kavanaugh said. “I kind of figured I was going to find you here.”

“Oh, did I include you on a Signal chat by accident?” Jost’s Hegseth asked.

“No, I just saw all the women covering their drinks!”

Both characters, of course, faced questions about heavy drinking during their respective confirmation hearings — and the show leaned all the way into it. “Hey, can I just say that we are both kicking ass right now,” Damon’s Kavanaugh offered. “Dude, can you believe I just, like, started a war?” Jost’s Hegseth replied. Kavanaugh shot back: “Can you believe I ended abortion? Your body, my choice.”

“Order. I find in favor of six Bud Lights and three shots of Jame-O,” Damon declared at one point, playing judge from a barstool.

The kicker came when Kavanaugh leaned in to share “something top secret” with his new pals. “We’re gonna let Trump do a third term,” Damon said, sending Hegseth and Patel into screaming excitement. Kenan Thompson’s bartender called last call, and the whole bar — political figures included — broke into Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” to close it out.

It was the show’s best cold open in a while. The Jost/Damon/Ansari combination of repulsive frat-boy energy had a genuine comedic momentum to it, and Damon’s easy comfort in the role — especially the way he casually name-drops Kavanaugh’s famously alleged friend “Squee” — made it land.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7N68NjL9cMA%3Fsi%3DJFsaTBbgW3-mdMak

The Monologue and a Very Busy Career

Damon kept his opening monologue short and warm, offering a “personal message” to moms ahead of Mother’s Day and mentioning his upcoming role as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated The Odyssey — a cast that also includes Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Robert Pattinson. Not a bad résumé to casually drop on a Saturday night.

His hosting history on the show is a bit of a running joke at this point. Damon has made four additional cameo appearances on top of his three hosting gigs, and even joked about it during a 2024 appearance — when he was handed two “Five-Timers” jackets before the actual honoree, Kristen Wiig, got hers. In the promos for this week’s episode, cast member Ben Marshall pointed out that at his current pace, Damon would reach Five-Timer status sometime around 2052.

The pre-show promos also leaned hard into Good Will Hunting — the 1997 film Damon co-wrote and starred in, which earned him an Oscar. In one bit, Sarah Sherman and Jeremy Culhane were found staring at a chalkboard covered in comedy equations, trying to crack the formula for the perfect SNL sketch. Damon recognized the bit immediately. “That movie is like 30 years old,” he said. Neither Sherman nor Culhane had seen it — Sherman because she just hadn’t, Culhane because he grew up in a cult.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=CA3VtWgnGtw%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Mom: The Movie Your Mother Actually Wants

The highlight of the night for many viewers will almost certainly be Mom — a fake movie trailer timed perfectly to Mother’s Day that is, as its own voiceover declares, “completely devoid of conflict, suspense and dramatic tension.”

The premise: an empty-nester mom (Ashley Padilla) is visited by her three adult children, who have the best possible announcement. They’re all moving back in. She is thrilled. The house is clean. The kids are home.

And the husband is, straight up, Matt Damon.

“I just love being married to you, Matt Damon,” mom says.

“I feel the same way, Rhonda. Rhonda Damon,” he replies. “You want to go upstairs?”

“To make love?” she asks.

“No — to do a fashion show with everything in your closet!”

She lights up. The audience loses it.

The sketch keeps going from there, each beat more specifically calibrated to mom-brain wish fulfillment. When a daughter panics that her baby shower and a big pickleball tournament are on the same day, mom checks the calendar and reports, completely unbothered: “They’re on different days.” In another scene, her kids need their birth certificates. She has them all. And when someone named Judith — the same Judith who once called mom’s porch pillows ugly — turns out to be sick, mom smiles and moves on without a second thought.

“And rest assured,” the voiceover adds, “if something bad happens, it will be to someone you don’t like.”

Mom, an “Isn’t This Nice?” production, hits theaters Sunday.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=u8q1H3H6SOQ%3Fsi%3DUz7xBeXFCEJe9JRe

The Rest of the Night

Beyond the cold open and the trailer, Damon spent the episode doing exactly what the show needed: playing middle-aged doofy everymen with the kind of ease that reminded you why Will Ferrell’s era worked so well. A sketch about tough guys recounting increasingly elaborate ways they’d been beaten up felt like it could have been written in 1993. An auctioneer sketch with Sarah Sherman had the energy of an early Dan Aykroyd bit. A fake Tidy Care Kitty Litter ad — in which Damon’s character slowly comes to believe his son has been urinating in the cat’s litter box — landed firmly in the show’s more recent absurdist mode.

As a whole, the episode had a surprising coherence to it. Damon’s persona — the boyish bro who grew into a dependable dad-fave — gave the night a through-line that made even the looser sketches feel intentional. It was a good night to be in the audience.

Musical guest Noah Kahan, a fellow New Englander, performed as well. Next Saturday brings the Season 51 finale, with Will Ferrell returning as host and Paul McCartney as musical guest.

The post Matt Damon’s SNL Return: Kavanaugh, Mom & More appeared first on Cream.

• Miami-Dade officers Jonathan Santana and Jason Smith filed a federal defamation lawsuit against Artists Equity and Falco Pictures
• The suit claims Netflix’s The Rip falsely portrayed the real cops behind its “inspired by true events” story as corrupt
• The officers say colleagues and family started asking them “how many buckets they kept” after the film dropped
• A cease-and-desist was sent in December 2025 — months before the suit was filed this week in Florida federal court
• Netflix is not named as a defendant; Artists Equity has not responded to requests for comment

The real Miami cops behind Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Netflix thriller The Rip aren’t just frustrated — they’re suing. Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies Jonathan Santana and Jason Smith filed a federal defamation lawsuit this week against Artists Equity, the production company founded by Damon and Affleck, and co-producer Falco Pictures, alleging the film destroyed their reputations by depicting them as corrupt, cartel-connected officers who considered stealing millions in seized drug money.

“When you rip something, you’re stealing something,” Santana, the lead detective on the original 2016 bust, told NBC 7News Miami. “We never stole a dollar.”

Released in January and marketed as “inspired by true events,” The Rip is built around a real Miami-Dade narcotics investigation from June 29, 2016, in which officers discovered $21,970,411 in cash hidden inside orange buckets behind a false wall in a Miami Lakes home — the largest cash seizure in Miami-Dade Police Department history. Santana led the investigation. Smith supervised the operation. Writer-director Joe Carnahan has previously discussed the bust as the film’s foundation.

What the Lawsuit Actually Claims

The complaint, filed in Florida federal district court, alleges that The Rip didn’t just borrow the broad strokes of the case — it recreated specific, recognizable details while layering on fabricated storylines involving police corruption, theft schemes, direct cartel dealings, and murder. According to the suit, the film depicts officers discussing stealing seized cash, lying to suspects, concealing evidence from superiors, and being implicated in the killing of a fellow officer and a DEA agent.

Santana and Smith say anyone familiar with the real case could immediately connect them to the fictional characters played by Damon and Affleck. The lawsuit states that after the film and its trailer dropped, family members, colleagues, and even prosecutors approached the officers asking “which character they were” and — pointedly — “how many buckets they kept.”

Santana told 7 News Miami that while he was once celebrated for his work on the decade-old case, he’s now mocked by people “pretty much saying, you know, how many buckets of money did I steal?”

Their attorney, Ignacio Alvarez, didn’t mince words: “They portrayed police officers as dirty, they portrayed my clients as dirty. Now their reputations are hurt. My clients are now hurt for the rest of their lives with everybody perceives that they’re dirty.”

The suit seeks unspecified damages for defamation, defamation by implication, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

They Warned the Filmmakers — Twice

This wasn’t a surprise attack. According to the complaint, Santana and Smith sent a cease-and-desist letter in December 2025, objecting to the trailer and promotional materials before the film even hit Netflix. The warning apparently went unheeded.

There’s another detail that cuts deeper: the lawsuit alleges that a Miami-Dade officer who did consult on the film later reached out to the plaintiffs on behalf of director Carnahan to apologize — and to offer them consulting roles on a future project. The officers also argue they should have been brought in as consultants on The Rip itself, claiming producers instead used a different cop who they say had no involvement in the actual 2016 bust.

Artists Equity — which Damon and Affleck founded in 2022 with backing from RedBird Capital, with Affleck as CEO and Damon as chief creative officer — did not respond to requests for comment. Netflix, which is not named as a defendant in the suit, also did not respond.

This Isn’t the First Controversy the Film Stirred Up

While The Rip opens with a disclaimer that it’s “inspired by true events,” the film is set in Hialeah — a city northwest of Miami — rather than Miami Lakes where the real bust occurred. That geographic choice drew its own backlash at launch. Hialeah Mayor Bryan Calvo held a press conference after the film’s release to call it out directly.

“I know Hialeah has been the butt of the joke for a long time,” Calvo said at the time. “But that ends now. This movie is a slap in the face to our law enforcement personnel.”

The film stars Damon and Affleck as the lead officers on the drug raid, with the story pivoting to what happens to the team’s trust and alliances after they discover an enormous cache of cash. Teyana Taylor, Sasha Calle, Scott Adkins, and Steven Yeun round out the cast.

For Santana, the personal toll is the whole point. He was the one who cracked the case. He was the one who got praised for it. And now, nearly a decade later, that legacy is the thing people are asking him about — just not in the way he’d hoped.

The post Matt Damon & Ben Affleck Sued Over Netflix’s The Rip appeared first on Cream.