Michael Moore backs Matt Damon for president

The filmmaker recently gave Damon the thumbs-up, saying that his popularity means he could win the US presidency.

It seems you've not made it in Hollywood until at some point you've been tipped for presidency.

Reagan obviously went all the way, and Schwarzenegger got as far as an Austrian ever had before the blasted constitution blocked his path to the White House. Then there was Will Smith, whose bid to become the first black Commander-in-Chief was scuppered by Barack Obama.

And now, it's the turn of Matt Damon, who has recently been given the thumbs up by Michael Moore.

"I think that he's been very courageous and not caring about who he offends by coming out and saying the things that need to be said here," the documentary maker said in an online discussion for firedoglake.com. "If you wanna win, the Republicans have certainly shown the way: that when you run someone who is popular, you win. Sometime even when you run an actor, you win."

And Damon is certainly popular, recently winning over fans in the US education system by appearing at a rally for schools (his mum is a teacher) and slamming a right-wing interviewer's argument for incentivising teaching.

Then there was the time he called Sarah Palin's republican nomination "a bad Disney movie".

"I need to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago, because she's going to have the nuclear codes." He also did the voice-over for Inside Job, the Oscar-winning documentary that opened the lid on the banking corruption that led to the financial crisis.

It might be a tough task - even for Jason Bourne - to topple Obama in time to run in the 2012 elections. But who knows what could happen in five years?