Why Matt Damon's Post-Lunch Kiss With Scarlett Johansson Became A Nightmare

Matt Damon and Emily Blunt may not have interacted on-screen much in "Oppenheimer," but the two have shown off their chemistry doing interviews for the movie. The two always seem to have a blast discussing the dour Christopher Nolan film while reflecting on their careers. Many interesting tidbits have emerged from these conversations, including Damon's thoughts on kissing Scarlett Johansson for "We Bought a Zoo."

Kissing Scarlett Johansson would be many people's dream come true, but Damon had a unique experience. When he initially brought it up with Blunt for LADbible TV, the two joke about how that must've been awful for him, entirely in jest, of course. Damon even jokingly said, "It was hell." However, there was one aspect of the experience the actor would've changed.

He explained, "We did a shot before lunch, and it was like this nice little two-shot that ended in the kiss. And it was really good. And we went to lunch, and she and I both thought it was over." Blunt could see where this was going and assumed she ate garlic or salmon. It wasn't much better, as Damon mentioned how she pretty much had an onion sandwich for lunch right before they picked up where they left off. 

Actors are only human, and they can easily get grossed out kissing one another, depending on the circumstances. In this instance, both Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson probably wished they had asked what they were doing after lunch so that they could plan accordingly. As it stands, they went into the scene with director Cameron Crowe setting up for a tighter shot of the kiss, which Damon said, "And [Johansson] goes, 'Oh s***!' She goes, 'I literally just had, I had like an onion sandwich. I thought we did this.'"

Somehow, Damon managed to power through to kiss his co-star. Blunt actually teased the actor, saying, "But were you still sort of slightly aroused getting to do that with her or not?" He admits that he made fun of her for her onion breath but points out how he couldn't even smell it before declaring, "Her breath smells like roses."

At the end of the day, it sounds like it wasn't all that bad. It certainly beats falling into a depression because you know the movie you're working on is bad, which Damon admitted to Jake's Takes earlier in 2023 (without specifying what the movie was). Dealing with some potentially stinky breath for a few moments while kissing isn't terrible, especially when it's with Scarlett Johansson.