Actor Matt Damon paid a visit to the Criterion Closet, the well-known video series in which film industry figures pick out favourite titles from the archive of the Criterion Collection, while promoting his role as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, currently a box office and awards-season success. During the segment, Damon reflected on films that shaped his career and paid tribute to frequent collaborators, including director Steven Soderbergh, with whom he has worked on around ten films.

Among his picks were Purple Noon, the 1960s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr Ripley, which Damon deliberately avoided watching before making his own 1999 version with director Anthony Minghella; Soderbergh's Traffic, the Oscar-winning 2000 drama starring Benicio del Toro; and Kenneth Lonergan's You Can Count on Me, which Damon credited with sparking his introduction to Lonergan and later leading to his producing Manchester by the Sea. Discussing Traffic, Damon said Soderbergh's reluctance to repeat himself after winning the directing Oscar taught him an important lesson about not resting on past success, recalling Soderbergh's advice to "keep pushing" rather than doing "the same thing over and over."