
Oscar winners Matt Damon and Chris Cooper, “Rhoda” actress Valerie Harper, and “American Idol” champ Phillip Phillips were a few of the VIP guests at the Mass. General Cancer Center’s event Tuesday honoring 100 people or groups fighting the good fight against cancer. Damon, whose father, Kent, has been treated at MGH for multiple myeloma, has attended the annual event for a few years, while Harper, who was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in 2009, says she’s benefited greatly from research led by Dr. Daniel Haber , director of MGH’s Cancer Center.

“I feel more than honored,” Harper told us of being one of this year’s “hundred.” “I feel so privileged and thrilled to have the opportunity to thank the people who have helped me stay on this planet.” Harper, who was joined at the event by her husband, Tony Cacciotti, told us that she doesn’t mind talking about her illness. She’s spent much of the past year explaining her diagnosis, which is often reported as brain cancer. In reality, Harper suffers from a metastasis of her lung cancer. “People can be ignorant,” she said, adding that she’s one of the many non-smokers to have been diagnosed with lung cancer.
Phillips, who joined Harper for interviews before the gala, said he was thrilled to help the cause and that he’d perform his hits “Home” and “Raging Fire” for the VIP crowd. He seemed nervous about the event, and explained that he’s a big fan of Damon’s. “I just want to thank him . . . for ‘Good Will Hunting.’ ”
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Damon couldn’t conceal his disappointment that the Whitey Bulger movie he and Ben Affleck hoped to make had been preempted by “Black Mass,” the Bulger biopic that is shooting now starring Johnny Depp as the South Boston mob boss.
“They had a script they thought was ready to go,” he said. “They kind of beat us to the punch.”
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No one is unhappier that Damon isn’t making the Bulger movie than his dad, who said he was looking forward to having his son in Boston for three months. But Whitey’s is a rich and complicated story and Damon didn’t rule out revisiting it at some point down the road.
“They make another ‘Spider Man’ movie every five years,” he said.
Asked if he’s inclined to follow in Affleck’s footsteps and play a superhero, Damon joked that he wanted to be Robin to Ben’s Batman.
“I’m a pretty good swimmer. Maybe I could play Aquaman,” he said. “I’m just joking. I don’t want to play Aquaman.”
