Matt Damon has starred in a plethora of movies all the while working with various directors throughout his Hollywood career. From working with Steven Spielberg to Ridley Scott, Damon has hundreds of stories to share.
But none story would be as good as the story of working with veteran director Clint Eastwood. Being notoriously famous for doing only single takes, Damon talked about his experience with Eastwood while shooting the 2009 film Invictus and it was pretty… interesting.
Matt Damon Had An Iconic Exchange With Clint Eastwood
Invictus is a 2009 film that is based on the story of how President Nelson Mandela decided to unite his people by supporting a rugby team in their bid to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in the lead roles, the film was quite a success.
Since it was the first time Damon worked with Clint Eastwood, the actor had no idea how Eastwood behaved on the sets. While eating spicy chicken wings on First We Feast’s Hot Ones, Matt Damon talked about his time working with Clint Eastwood and how a certain South African accent affected his performance but the director did not change his one-take policy.
“Well, it was a little terrifying because I was playing a South African and that’s a really hard accent to do. If you think about what our tongue does in an American accent, it’s like the polar opposite in a South African accent.”
He further continued,
“And it’s like ‘The f*ck just happened,’ right? It’s something that required a lot of practice and I treated it like a job. And I tested that theory on day one of shooting. We did the first take. It went pretty well, but Clint says ‘Cut print, check the gate’. And I said ‘Hey boss, maybe you think we can have one more?’ And he just turned and he goes ‘Why you want to waste everybody’s time?’ I was like ‘Okay, we’re done'”
Not that the director was rude or anything but that’s just Clint Eastwood’s style (just ask Judy Dench). In a separate interview, the director talked about how Matt Damon was worried about appearing too short in front of professional rugby players. Well, Eastwood solved that issue without breaking a sweat!
Clint Eastwood Solved Matt Damon’s Height Issues In Invictus
Since Damon had to work with professional rugby players, the actor realized that he was a bit short in height. In an interview with Emmanuel Levy, Eastwood talked about the problem and how he provided the solution for the same.
“Matt may not be the same height as Francois, but he has the same tenacity and power. He also worked out very hard and got himself in terrific shape for the film. And, by structuring setups and camera angles, you can make a person look the way you need them to look.”
Starring in Invictus, the 2009 film received a rating of 7.3/10 on IMDB and a strong 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. With Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood working side-by-side in the movie, Invictus is available to stream on USA Network in the U.S.
