Was Matt Damon Cut from "Ocean’s 8"? An Investigation

Matt Da-gone?

Ocean’s 8, the all-female spin-off to the George Clooney-led Ocean’s Eleven franchise, is now in cinemas. And it’s good fun!

Though it's centered on Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) and her ragtag group of grifters, this new film still finds time for a few surprise cameos from the previous trilogy.

Unfortunately, if you were hoping to see Clooney or Brad Pitt or even Julia Roberts in action, you are out of luck.

(Now, beware, because there are mild spoilers for Ocean’s 8 ahead.)

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(No, seriously, if you don't want to know about any cameos, obscure as they may be, don't read on.)

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Instead, Debbie Ocean runs into Elliott Gould’s spiffily dressed Reuben Tishkoff at the grave of her brother Danny (who is usually played by George Clooney... just not here).

Later, Debbie's compadre Lou (Cate Blanchett) reveals she enlisted the acrobatic help of "The Amazing" Yen, played by Shaobo Qin, for their big Met Gala heist.

And that's it.

But, hang on a second. Didn’t Matt Damon say he had a "very small cameo" back in February?

Yes, yes he did.

"I’m not really in the movie a lot," he added, and boy, did that turn out to be prophetic, because this writer didn’t spot him once.

Could it be that Damon filmed an unrecognisable cameo, as he did for Deadpool 2? Seems unlikely. I mean, wouldn't director Gary Ross want us to notice Damon's character, Linus Caldwell, just like Reuben or Yen?

So, I tracked through the trailer, just in case he was hiding.

No luck.

I then wondered if he appeared in an after-credits sequence, like a thieving Thanos. We've reached out to the studio to find out if there's indeed a button featuring Damon at the end of the credits. However, early reports seem to confirm our initial assessment: that Damon's cameo was cut from the film.

It seems the petition to boot Damon from the feminist flick (following his controversial and widely panned comments about the #MeToo movement) actually worked.

Almost 30,000 people signed that petition, which specifically called on producers Clooney and Steven Soderbergh to "toss Damon's Ocean's 8 cameo where it belongs: on the cutting room floor."

Did the producers listen? All we know is that Damon is nowhere to be seen in Ocean’s 8.