Christopher Nolan’s take on The Odyssey comes out on July 17. I remember being entranced by the 1997 TV mini series as a kid, and I really enjoyed Oppenheimer, so I have high hopes for this adaptation. I might even spring to see it in IMAX! We’ve seen early press with the ladies of The Odyssey, and now Odysseus himself is on the promo trail. On Friday, Matt Damon filmed an episode for The Dodo’s Dream Date series, which is just about the most fun an actor can have on official promotional duties, save maybe for BuzzFeed’s puppy interview.
For this Dream Date, Matt got to hang with four dogs at the Eastwood Ranch Foundation’s Animal Rescue in California. Matt was an old pro hanging with each dog, as he and his wife Luciana have five rescue dogs in their Brooklyn home. Each doggo had their own personality (because of course!), got their own one-on-one time with Matt, and got to select a toy from the basket Matt carried to each pen. And, most importantly, they’re all ready to be adopted! But out of the four, one was the officially designated “dream date,” a Miss Betsy, who’s been at the shelter for nearly two years and is ready for her forever home already!
Matt Damon just scored the ultimate “dream date” — with permission from his wife, of course.
The Odyssey star, 55, paid a visit to Eastwood Ranch Foundation’s Animal Rescue and Adoption Facility in Agoura Hills, Calif., where he spent the afternoon with a few dogs looking for new homes, including one particular cutie: Betsy, a pit bull who has been waiting to be adopted for nearly two years.
“So Betsy was my date today,” Damon, who owns a number of rescue pets, says in a video shared to Instagram by the foundation — a rescue that specializes in saving pets from high-kill shelters — on Friday, June 5, just ahead of the state’s Adopt-A-Pet Day on Saturday, June 6.
“For one reason, it was the first date my wife has allowed me to go on in 23 years,” he jokes about Luciana, before explaining why he’s hanging out with the canine. “But the other, the real reason, was that Betsy’s been here the longest. She’s been here for a year and a half. And while this is a great place for a dog, it’s not a permanent place for a dog. And what she really needs is a family to take her in.”
In the caption of the video, Eastwood Ranch wrote that Betsy is “a people-loving, toy-obsessed pit bull who’s been waiting over 1.5 years for a home,” adding that it hopes someone will eventually “choose her.” During his visit, Damon also met “Jojo, an endlessly playful pup; Piper, a deaf and blind sweetheart; and Duke, a Doberman who can’t get enough toys,” all dogs looking for new owners and homes.
For seven minutes of heaven, watch the video of Matt hanging with all the pups, that’s below. Not only are they all adorable — Piper especially stole my heart; she has a contraption attached to her harness that looks like a basketball hoop, but is actually an ingenious mechanism to keep the blind little lady from bumping into things — Matt also sprinkles in little tidbits about his own dogs. Basically, Luciana calls the shots, and more often than not, the shots are: “We’re adopting this dog.” Even on vacation! Matt said they were staying in Costa Rica at an Airbnb for a month in 2014 (tell me you’re rich without telling me you’re rich), and ended up bringing home a street beach dog and cat with them. The cat sadly passed away a couple years ago, but Osita the dog is alive and well, though apparently has never shaken off the street kid mentally. I totally get that; I rescued my dearly departed My Girl when she was about a year and a half, and her relationship with food never changed from “I don’t know if I’ll ever get any more ever again!” Luciana was actually with Matt at Eastwood Ranch (though not on camera), and Matt said, “I wouldn’t bet against us leaving with a dog today.” I checked out Eastwood’s website, and it looks like all the pups Matt met with were adopted… except for Betsy! C’mon, someone MUST adopt Betsy!!
Photos via YouTube and credit: Sadou Faye/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon