Jimmy Kimmel plans to use his powers as the host of this year's Oscars to accomplish an important goal: preventing Matt Damon from getting an award — or at least getting acknowledged for any victory.
"I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that he doesn't win or doesn't know that he won," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "My goal is to keep him offstage."
Damon produced Manchester by the Sea, which is nominated for Best Picture. Casey Affleck won a Golden Globe for his performance in the movie. He's also nominated for an Oscar for the film, along with his co-stars Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges.
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Obviously, Kimmel has no control over the winners — and even if he did, he's not being serious. He and Damon have been taking jabs at each other for years, most recently with Damon joking that he's the father of Kimmel's child. Damon told Entertainment Tonight he hopes "horrible things" happen to Kimmel as a host.
Kimmel also told The Hollywood Reporter about his performance, saying his jokes will respond to the news and the Trump administration is fair game. But so is any politician, he told Vanity Fair. "Over the course of my career I’ve managed to speak to [red and blue state voters] at once, maybe sometimes in different ways."
He's going to record a sketch before the show, a custom Billy Crystal started. But that's not the only part of Kimmel's performance Crystal inspired. He also gave him some advice on his routine. "One very important thing he told me is that you have to play to the room, and not necessarily the people watching at home," Kimmel told Vanity Fair. "The people sitting in front of you are the people you have to make laugh."
If Kimmel does end up sharing the stage with Damon, we're sure their antics will succeed in that.