Movies
Matt Damon Recalls Clint Eastwood Asking Him, ‘You Wanna Waste Everybody’s Time?’ on Movie Set
Matt Damon recently reflected on his experience working with the legendary Clint Eastwood.
Earlier this month, the Jason Bourne star, 55, appeared on an episode of the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast and discussed starring in two movies directed by the Oscar winner, 95, including 2009’s Invictus and 2010’s Hereafter.
For Invictus, Damon said he had to put on a South African accent, and after working with a dialect coach for months, he expected to have a few takes when he got to set.
“I showed up, and I’m ready. It’s like my chance to work with, you know, one of my heroes,” Damon recounted. “The very first take, I did it. Meanwhile, I’ve done this so many thousands of times. I have a number of different ways I’m thinking of doing the scene. He goes, ‘Cut. Print. Move on.'”
“And I go, ‘Hang on. Hang on. Boss, you want to do another one?’’ Damon recalled asking. “And he goes, ‘Why? You wanna waste everybody’s time?’ And I went, ‘No, I guess we’re moving on.’ And it was one take.”
However, the Good Will Hunting writer noted that “there was a kindness” in Eastwood’s words, as “he’s a lovely guy.”
The Talented Mr. Ripley actor also explained that The Bridges of Madison County star wasn’t opposed to multiple takes when needed, as was the case with Hereafter.
“What was really interesting was the second movie I did with him, it builds to a head, a scene with me and this 9-year-old kid. And the 9-year-old kid was a non-actor,” Damon shared. “We had done one take for everybody all through Invictus, Morgan Freeman, everybody gets one take. We must have done 40 takes with this little boy.”
Overall, Damon said Eastwood’s “whole mentality was your crew will go to the ends of the earth for you as long as you’re not taxing them on every shot.”
“When we need to get in there, we get in there,” Damon added of Eastwood’s mindset. “For the most part, we can, you know, professional actors are going to show up with something good, and we keep the momentum.”
