Quentin Tarantino actually believes that Beatty made the right decision by backing out. He stated after the movie was released that he “was a little worried that Warren Beatty might look faintly ridiculous in this.”
Matt Damon, Brokeback Mountain
While it might be difficult to imagine a world where Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain stars anyone but Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, when the project was in its beginning stages, Gus Van Sant approached a multitude of different actors. One of them was Matt Damon.