Matt Damon and Christian Bale are among some of the critically acclaimed actors in the industry. The actors shared the screen for the first time in James Mangold’s biographical sports drama Ford v Ferrari. However, before they collaborated on the 2019 movie, the duo clashed for the Oscar-winning role of Dick Eklund in the 2010 film The Fighter.
During a 2019 interview, Damon and Bale discussed their involvement in the acclaimed movie and how Damon leaving the film ultimately resulted in The Dark Knight star winning his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Matt Damon Reflected on His Role in Christian Bale’s Oscar Win
Christian Bale has been quite open about how many of his roles were initially declined by the iconic actor Leonardo DiCaprio. And it seems that Bale is ready to include another name on that list, as he said during an interview with GQ, “I think I’ve got a few projects that Matt [Damon] passed on.”
And according to the Jason Bourne star, the most famous among them is from the 2010 film The Fighter. Matt Damon shared that although the story was quite fascinating, “the script wasn’t there” until David O. Russell took over as its director.
“I read the script because I thought it was fascinating, but the script was not very good. And we had a different director at the time,” he said. After Damon backed out from the movie, Russell cast Bale alongside Mark Wahlberg in the film, for which he landed an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
The duo further discussed that if The Martian star had accepted the offer for the less-impressive version of The Fighter, Bale would not have landed the role in the acclaimed movie. And he wouldn’t have won the Oscar as well. “There’s a percentage that I owe you?” the Oscar-winning actor acknowledged his co-star’s hypothesis in good spirits.
Matt Damon Was Amused by Christian Bale’s Performance in The Fighter
Talking about the 2010 movie The Fighter, Matt Damon said that his fellow actor Mark Wahlberg was very much interested in the film. “And Mark [Wahlberg] really wanted to do it and was so excited about it,” he shared during the interview.
The Boogie Nights actor was cast in the film as the professional boxer Micky Ward and Damon was expected to play Dicky Eklund. The role later went to Christian Bale after Damon backed out from the movie. “I always laugh about Dicky Eklund [The Fighter] because I thought a lot about playing him,” he said.
Although he wanted to play the character, he was glad that it went to the right actor. “And I always do say the right actor gets the part,” he said as he recalled that there have been several similar cases, and he felt the same about them as well. “I watch the movie, and I go, ‘That was great. That worked out,'” he said.
The Fighter is available on Netflix.
Ford v Ferrari is available on Hulu.
