Matt Damon On Diverse Roles, Ties To South Florida

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Matt Damon is back in action on the big screen in the new sci-fi thriller Elysium.

Whether he's fighting the bad guys in the new action flick, where he's shaved bald and strapped into an exo-skeleton suit, or playing a gay limo driver who falls in love with Liberace in the HBO film "Behind The Candelabra," it seems Matt Damon can do just about anything he wants.

"It's good those two characters never messed up and I might have worn the wrong costume.  That would been confusing," Damon laughed as he chatted with CBS4's Lisa Petrillo.

Set in the year 2159,  two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth.

Damon plays Max, a man desperate to get to Elysium to save his own life and then possibly the people on Earth as well.

"The director was really specific about how he wanted him to look with the shaved head and tattoos, that whole exo-skeleton he wears it was really fun. That stuff is really fun for me. I get to dress up and pretend like a little kid," said Damon.

The R-rated film is directed by Neil Blomkamp, who earned critical praise for his first big hit, an action thriller called "District 9."

"This is like District 9 on steroids," Damon said.

This high action film is filled with intense stunts which Damon said he did many of them himself.

"As many as I can always" he said. "They don't let us take big risks because if we get hurt or break a leg, the movie shuts down for 3 weeks and that's not great for anybody, but everything I can do, I do."

For years, Damon has called Miami home but now his house is for sale. He's moving his family to California later this summer but he said he will always come back to Miami.

"We still have family here and the kids still have cousins so we're very connected here."

Elysium is rated R.