Matt Damon Honored with American Cinematheque Award

Over the weekend, actor Matt Damon was honored at the 2010 American Cinematheque Annual Award Presentation for lifetime achievement. The ceremony took place at The Beverly Hilton hotel and included speeches from longtime friends Ben Affleck and his wife Jennifer Garner, archrival Jimmy Kimmel and his ex, Sarah Silverman, all of them saying what an accomplished artist and wonderful friend Matt was, People magazine informs.

Jimmy Kimmel, with whom Damon has a mock love-hate relationship stemming from an incident of a few years back when Kimmel cut the actor off as he was about to say something, telling him he’d run out of time, said Vanessa Hudgens would have been a more appropriate recipient for the award. True to tradition, Damon did not lose the opportunity to make fun of himself, and said, when he got up on stage later, that next year would certainly be Hudgens’ year. And Kimmel didn’t even stop here with the roast.

“He doesn’t deserve this award. I don’t know who they weren’t able to get, but I’d go with Tom Selleck before I’d go with Matt Damon,” Kimmel said. Sarah Silverman, on the other hand, with whom Damon made the 2008 crude viral video for Kimmel’s birthday, said this was the first time when she’d like to have something bad to say but couldn’t find anything worth mentioning. “The worst thing I could say is, you know, Matt Damon is like, maybe he’s a perfectionist. And his breath is like, Jesus! And his hair plugs are really obvious. Besides that, there’s like nothing. So sorry, roast not possible!” Silverman said.

“Damon also took some barbs from his best friend Ben Affleck – and Affleck’s wife, Jennifer Garner. ‘Ben is half of one of the greatest love stories ever told. Not with me,’ Garner said. ‘The actual prototype for the great Hollywood Bromance... Here’s proof that love is alive and well in Hollywood. At least for my darling husband and my husband’s darling husband.’ Cracked Affleck: ‘Matt always said to me, “Ben, there are two things that are more important to me than anything else in this world.” Folks: fame, money. You did it, Matty! You got there!’” People writes.

When it came for Matt to take to the stage, the good-humored actor said that he could almost see Ben hand the award to Vanessa Hudgens next year.