It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 20 years since Cole Sprouse and his twin brother Dylan became Disney famous via their sitcom The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. What the former CW actor has been up to since his time at Disney ended has included starring in the teen series Riverdale and appearing in movies like Five Feet Apart, Moonshot, and even displaying zombie-like grunts in Lisa Frankenstein.o Enough time has passed he's now able to look back on aspects of his career, and he's said he’d like to apologize to Matt Damon for being a jerk to him during his Suite Life years.
While then-teens Cole and Dylan Sprouse were Disney stars, they were still often most engaged in everyday kid activities like playing video games. So much so that they were unfazed by the chance of meeting Hollywood A-lister Matt Damon. On an episode of the podcast Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, Cole Sprouse recounted the story of how he and his brother were told they’d be meeting the bankable star while in the middle of playing a game.
So my brother and I were in set school at the time, and we were really into World of Warcraft. One of the PAs comes knocking on the set school door and goes: ‘Oh, you guys won’t believe it, Matt Damon is going to be here today. His kids love the show, so he’s going to be here in, like, 30 minutes,’ And I remember Dylan and I turning to each other and just going: ‘Ugh, I can’t believe we have to get off World of Warcraft right now.’ We must have been 15.
I wonder if the Sprouse twins knew how much of an iconic figure Matt Damon was back then. Matt Damon's impressive movie resume would have already included stuff like Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan, The Bourne Identity, and more. But then again, I didn’t know too much about Damon at their age either. Here’s how the former Disney stars acquainted themselves with the Air actor:
Sure enough, 30 minutes, Matt Damon knocks on the door, and there’s every crew member behind him in the hall just looking, like, amazed at Matt Damon. And I don’t know if we even turned away from our computers to say ‘hi’ ... this is how ridiculous we were as children! I think he came in and was like: ‘Hey guys, wow, so nice to meet you!’ and we were like: ‘Hey man, hey, how are you doing' and went right back to the game.
I can imagine the two brothers kicking themselves now for what their meeting with Matt Damon was like back then. But hingsight is 20/20. As Cole Sprouse looked back at how he treated Matt Damon during his youth, he told Kelly Ripa he knows he owes the Oscar winner an apology.
I look back on that story now, and I actually love it. Because the whole ethos of whatever was around us didn’t really affect us more than we were just being kids and playing video games. And I’m sure, you know, if I ever meet Matt Damon again, I’m just going to say I’m sorry and it’ll be all good.
I hope Matt Damon heard Cole Sprouse’s apology loud and clear... and maybe one day they'll even have the chance to work together and put their first meeting behind them, once and for all.
Meanwhile, though The Suite Life of Zack and Cody helped Cole Sprouse become a household name, don’t expect to see him take part in a reboot as the former child actor said he felt the show had a great finish and would be too old to reprise Cody. But, Sprouse joked that he’d rewatch some old episodes with his bro as long as he’s “drunk or feeling really narcissistic. Still, you can relieve your favorite episodes, as The Suite Life of Zack and Cody as well as the spin-off The Suite Life on Deck is available to watch with a Disney+ subscription.
