Matt Damon says he passed on 'Ted' after overthinking the role

Mixed · 2Matt Damon said in an interview with GQ that he passed on starring in Seth MacFarlane's 2012 comedy Ted. 1 2 Left · 2Damon said he laughed harder at the script than at any other he had read, and took it to dinner to read parts aloud to friends. 2 3 Mixed · 2He said he then got "too clever by half" and wondered whether the teddy bear was the better part, concluding that he overthought it and talked himself out of it. 1 3

Centre · 1Mark Wahlberg played the lead, John Bennett, a Boston native whose childhood wish brings his teddy bear Ted to life. 1 Mixed · 2Damon said the film shot in Boston, which would have given him about six months at home; he noted that his father has since died. 1 2 Mixed · 2Damon said he has since watched the film and that the right actor got the part: Wahlberg is great, the movie is great, and he would not have made it better. 2 1

Mixed · 2Deadline and The A.V. Club also note other roles Damon passed on: Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, which he attributed to scheduling conflicts, and Dan White in Gus Van Sant's Milk (Deadline only), which went to Josh Brolin after a schedule change pushed the shoot. 1 3 Left · 1Variety adds that Ted spawned a sequel film and a Peacock prequel series, and that Damon's current film, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, has earned over $652 million worldwide and is returning to Imax 70mm theaters in December. 2