NEW YORK, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Hollywood actor Matt Damon says he went with police to raid a crack house while preparing to play a Boston cop in the new crime drama, "The Departed."
However, Damon said fans shouldn't think he did anything heroic during the outing.
"I'm sure I was in no real danger. They brought twice as many cops as they do on those raids and I was in the back of the line with my bullet-proof vest on ... and I didn't go in until they cleared the house, but I got to see them do it," he told reporters in New York.
"Did you ever see 'The Hard Way,' with Michael J. Fox?" Damon joked, referring to a 1991 comedy, in which Fox played an actor shadowing a real-life officer to prepare for a movie role. "That was me. 'Hey guys, do I get a gun?' They were like: 'Absolutely not! Shut up!'"
Because the real-life Boston native didn't have to spend time learning a Boston accent like his co-stars, Damon said he concentrated on talking to actual cops, so he could make his character seem authentic.
