Oppenheimer’s Matt Damon dishes on unforgettable kiss with Scarlett Johansson

Sometimes, an unexpected sandwich can make for a memorable kissing scene. Just ask Matt Damon, who recently shared his “hellish” experience filming a post-lunch kissing scene with Scarlett Johansson. 

The encounter occurred during the shooting of their 2011 film, We Bought a Zoo, and Matt’s recounting of the story is as delightful as it is amusing.

The discussion emerged while Matt was participating in LADBible TV’s Agree to Disagree alongside his Oppenheimer co-star, Emily Blunt. 

The conversation veered towards whether it’s acceptable to tell someone they have bad breath, a situation that both stars agreed should be addressed, albeit delicately. 

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A producer then nudged the conversation towards the topic of bad breath during intimate scenes, and that’s when Matt’s anecdote came to light.

“I had to kiss Scarlett — had to kiss. Can you imagine how horrible that was for me? — but we did,” Matt confessed, with Emily humorously ribbing him about how terrible the experience must have been.

“It was hell, ok? What happened was we did a shot before lunch and it was like this nice little two-shot that ended in the kiss,” he admitted. 

MORE: Emily Blunt on her stuttering battle, lessons for her daughters, John Krasinski’s support

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Continuing with his story, Matt explained: “And it was really good. And we went to lunch, and she and I both thought it was over. 

“She ate like an onion sandwich for lunch. And she came in and [We Bought a Zoo director] Cameron Crowe had set the camera up and it was like a tight shot of the kiss. And she goes, ‘Oh s**t.’ She goes, ‘I literally just had an onion sandwich. I thought we did this.'”

While Matt playfully teased Scarlett about her breath, he was quick to clarify that, ordinarily, “her breath smells like roses.”

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Matt and Emily have been conducting a significant amount of press work together recently as they promote the successful Christopher Nolan-directed drama, Oppenheimer. 

Their relationship goes back a long way, thanks to Matt’s friendship with Emily’s husband, John Krasinski.

Interestingly, John once teased Matt for passing up on the leading role in James Cameron’s 2009 blockbuster, Avatar. 

In a CNN interview with Chris Wallace, Matt reminisced about telling John he had to decline the part due to his contractual obligations to the Bourne franchise. 

John’s cheeky response was: “Nothing in your life would be different today if you had done that movie, except you and I would be having this conversation in space.”