The Story Behind The Greatest Movie Cameo Ever: Matt Damon In Eurotrip

Jeff D Lowe5/10/2020 5:17 PM

Before I say anything, I have to post the full video of the moment from the movie. It would be wrong of me not to!

There were so many small factors that went into "Scotty Doesn't Know" becoming a classic movie moment involving Matt Damon. The biggest reason is actually fairly surprising. They didn't just shoot a little bit of the movie in Prague, they shot the entire movie in Prague. Let's look at all of the things that fell into place for this scene to happen...

1. 'Eurotrip' filmed in Prague
2. SARS (ironic that we discuss this during a pandemic) and The Gulf War had people not traveling
3. They didn't have the budget for a major cameo
4. They all (directors and writers Jeff Schaffer, Dave Mandel, Alec Berg) went to Harvard together
5. The band in the movie, Lustra, knew the guys from Harvard (via Uproxx)
6. Some of those band members were friends with Matt Damon (via Uproxx)
7. They all went to Harvard with Matt Damon at the same time
8. Matt Damon was filming 'The Brothers Grimm' in Prague
9. Matt Damon had his head shaved so he could wear a wig in the movie
10. Matt Damon agrees to head on over and the rest is history

The song became wildly popular years after the movie's actual release as it became a cult classic, even charting on the Billboard Hot 100.
‘EuroTrip’ was not a hit movie upon release. But it found a new life on DVD and cable and, kind of crazily, in 2006 Lustra’s “Scotty Doesn’t Know” hit the Billboard Hot 100, two full years after the film’s theatrical release. “Scotty Doesn’t Know” became a song with a life of its own that helped bring ‘EuroTrip’ to the status of “cult favorite.”
Cloutman: One morning I got a call from this writer at Billboard and I was like who is this pranking me? He said we charted on the Hot 100 and we were one of the first unsigned bands, other than Lisa Loeb, to chart independently.
Schaffer: Really? It did?
Mandel: I’m not sure we knew that. No one alerted us to that one.
Cloutman: What happened was we got this overwhelming response from people on MySpace. The fans were ultimately responsible for us charting on Billboard.
Schaffer: You learn something new every day. I’m posthumously happy. (via UPROXX)

I love the idea that the song just endlessly follows Matt Damon, even amidst a career of massive, massive roles.

The Damon cameo is a staple of his career too, as he has shown up in more places than just Eurotrip…

Don't forget we also missed out on a cameo for Matt Damon in 'Ocean's 8' as it was cut from the movie.

If you want to hear our full interview with 'Dave' co-creator Jeff Schaffer (he also created 'The League' and wrote and produced 'Seinfeld' and 'Curb Your Enthusiasm') subscribe to the podcast here or listen below…

Until next time…