Matt Damon is one of the finest actors in Hollywood who is coming back on the big screen with the upcoming film, Oppenheimer. He gained prominence with his leading roles in films like The Talented Mr. Ripley, the Bourne franchise, and the Ocean’s trilogy. One of the films where his craft was explored further was Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.
Matt Damon Talked About Getting Hated by His Co-stars in Saving Private Ryan
In an interview with GQ magazine, Matt Damon recalled the time when the $485 million film, Saving Private Ryan director, Steven Spielberg intentionally made the filming process difficult for him. He planned it so meticulously that Damon was resented by his co-stars which ultimately enhanced their acting potential.
After the cast for the film was finalized, the film director decided to put some of the cast into some intense training and BootCamp for the project. However, that eventually became the stepping stone when they all started hating him.
“Spielberg made me not go to boot camp so that the other guys would resent me.”
He continued,
“They all went through this experience, and they all bonded, but because I was the character they were looking for, and they resented this guy that they were risking their lives to go find, Steven purposefully kept me away from them.”
Due to their fury, their emotions on the screen turned out to be quite realistic, thus producing quite “amazing” scenes in the war epic. While the film’s production process was quite a story on its own, he also revealed how he got cast in the project.
How Matt Damon Got Cast in Steven Spielberg’s Film
“I got that part because of Robin Williams. When we were in Boston, we were rehearsing, and Spielberg came in because he was shooting Amistad and was shooting a scene with Anthony Hopkins at the Capital. [Robin] knew it was never bad to meet the greatest filmmaker of all time”.
He recalled,
“He met me in person and said, ‘I think I know you from somewhere’. I said, ‘Well, I did this movie, Courage Under Fire’. He said, ‘You know, that’s funny because that’s the exact type of person I want to play Private Ryan.”
He eventually got the role, with the film becoming one of the greatest films ever made in history. The film ended up winning 5 Oscars. It was even nominated for Best Picture however got lost to Shakespeare in Love which is considered one of the upsetting Oscar snubs in history.
Source: GQ