IMAGE COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL Matt Damon is quite likely to be nominated again this year for an Oscar, for his lead role as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. If he were to win, it would be his first for acting, but he already has one as a writer for Good Will Hunting. It’s been a lengthy and varied career since then, from starring in big mainstream hits like The Bourne Identity and The Martian to character parts in movies like Syriana and Che. His is a resume with no obvious gaps, yet there are roles he has turned down along the way. And one that he regrets passing up is the lead in Ted, as he recently told GQ. Ted, the Seth MacFarlane-directed comedy about what happens when a kid and his magical talking teddy bear both grow up to be pot-smoking adults, has since become a franchise. After it got a movie sequel, it became a live-action streaming series, and will get an animated series next. The bear was always going to be voiced by MacFarlane; Damon would have played John Bennett, the role that went to Mark Wahlberg. Matt Damon Was Afraid the Bear in Ted Would Upstage Him IMAGE COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.$WBD Damon loved the Ted script when he read it, saying, “I’ve never had this experience where I laughed so hard reading a script. I literally took it to dinner and was reading parts of it out to my friends at dinner.” One might think that would lead to a guaranteed yes for him, but one might not be thinking like a movie star. “I overthought it and I talked myself out of it,” he said. “I just got too clever by half. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was like, Well, maybe the teddy bear’s actually the best part...” On that, he’s not wrong. The bear is the best part of Ted; the movie isn’t called John for a reason. But the bear doesn’t work without a costar who can absolutely sell the illusion that it’s alive. Wahlberg, who can expertly play dazed and guileless as a natural state, feels like he could really be a plush animal’s drinking buddy. Damon usually plays characters who are smarter than John; Wahlberg has no problem playing dumb and aggressive. Even Damon concedes that, “the right actor got the part. Mark’s great, and the movie’s great, and I wouldn’t have made it any better.” He does have one lingering regret, though. “[B]ecause it shot in Boston, it would’ve been a chance for me to be home,” he says. “My father’s passed away now, and I look back and I go, Man, that would’ve been six months back.” As Odysseus knows, sometimes the adventure keeps you away from home for too long. Wahlberg got arguably his best franchise out of the deal, but we missed seeing Damon play those scenes opposite 1980 Flash$FLSH Gordon actor Sam J. Jones. Perhaps the inevitable awards coming his way this season can heal any lingering regrets. And with Ted going animated, maybe MacFarlane can throw Damon a voice cameo. Would you rather have seen Matt Damon in Ted than Mark Wahlberg? Or did that casting work out exactly the way it was supposed to? Tell us your thoughts