The Heartbreaking Reason Matt Damon Wishes He Didn't Pass On This Huge Comedy Film

It's hard to imagine "Ted" without Mark Wahlberg, but sure enough, the lead (human) role of John Bennett was originally offered to Matt Damon. Of course, the "Good Will Hunting" star didn't take the job, a decision Damon still regrets for one particularly devastating reason. From the moment it was released back in 2012, "Ted" was an instant hit with viewers, drawing in an eyewatering $54.1 million in its first weekend alone and ultimately going on to gross $549 million worldwide. All things considered, it would make sense for an actor to have some remorse over being offered a starring role in the film and turning it down. 

However, while speaking to GQ in 2026, Damon explained that he had a far more personal regret about the project. "Because it shot in Boston, it would've been a chance for me to be home — my father's passed away now, and I look back and I go, Man, that would've been six months back [home]," he said. Damon was incredibly close with his father, who died at just 74 back in 2017, so we can totally understand the sentiment. As for why he refused the role, the "Odyssey" star clarified that it had nothing to do with not liking the script. 

Far from it; as he shared, "I've never had this experience where I laughed so hard reading a script. I literally took it to dinner and was reading parts of it out to my friends at dinner." But Damon began second-guessing if Bennett was really the reason the film was so funny, admitting, "I just got too clever by half. I don't know what I was thinking. I was like, Well, maybe the teddy bear's actually the best part [...] So I overthought it and I talked myself out of it."

Matt Damon might not have spent that precious six months in his hometown shooting "Ted," but fortunately, he got quite a lot of time with his dad before he passed away. During a rather touching appearance on "Off Camera with Sam Jones," the "Dogma" star discussed moving back to Boston for the last year of his father's life. They also spent time bonding over their shared love of baseball, and in particular the Red Sox. "I watched probably every game last season because my dad was too weak to move, so that was all he could do [...] We would sit there and watch baseball, and he'd go in and out of sleep," Damon sweetly recalled. As devastating as losing his dad was, the actor pointed out that he was simply grateful to have had such an incredible father in the first place. 

As the "Martian" star gushed, "What [an] incredibly lucky person I was to have him as my dad, you know." Damon also confirmed that he wanted his own children to feel the same way about him, and given how much of a hands-on dad he is to the daughters he shares with wife Luciana Barroso, we have no doubts he's on track for that. Going back to "Ted," even though the Oscar winner regretted not doing it so he could be closer to his dad, he also told GQ he believed Mark Wahlberg was the perfect fit. "The right actor got the part," he acknowledged. "Mark [Wahlberg's] great, and the movie's great, and I wouldn't have made it any better." We're pretty sure Damon would have done a stellar job in it too, but we'll agree everything worked out as it was meant to.