Matt Damon’s Harvard Experience Comes in Handy for ‘School Ties’

Matt Damon should have received his B.A. in English from Harvard this past June. But he’s 12 credits shy of graduating because he took time off to appear in Paramount’s “School Ties,” opening next Friday. In the drama set in the 1950s, Damon plays Dillon, a struggling senior at a fancy New England prep school who resorts to cheating so he can follow into his family’s footsteps and attend Harvard.

Damon said his Harvard experience really helped to play Dillon. “I actually went to public school in Cambridge, Mass.,” he says. “I couldn’t really relate to the prep school, but going to Harvard there are no shortage of Dillons. I know a lot of kids who went to prep schools and some of them are these legacies of Harvard and do feel the pressure from their family.”

In his case, Damon says he put pressure on himself. “Only five or six people a year in a class of 550 get into Harvard from (my high school),” he says. His parents, though, were “really cool and they wanted me to be happy. They didn’t care if I went to Harvard. They just wanted me to do what I wanted to do. It was unbelievable to have parents that are that open-minded.”

But there was a time when they weren’t so open-minded. “When I was 16 I got a local commercial. I took that money and went to New York and got an agent against my parents’ wishes. They thought I was too young.”

In hindsight, Damon says, his parents were right. “I am glad I didn’t get any work when I was 16 because I think that would have messed up (my college education). I am sure I wouldn’t have ended up at Harvard. I don’t think it is a healthy perspective for a teen-ager.”

Damon hopes that his classmates don’t treat him differently because of the movie. “I imagine I am going to be carrying some extra luggage. But I hope I am not reacted to differently. I am really a normal person.”