Apart from a solid and powerful narrative, many films in Hollywood become blockbusters owing to the choices of actors who embody their characters perfectly. Sometimes, when the casting goes awry, it has the opposite effect and invites severe backlash from audiences and critics everywhere.
Hollywood stars Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson are two seasoned actors who have an impressive repertoire of films under their belt. But both stars also made some questionable choices. While Johansson’s film Ghost in The Shell was heavily criticized for erasing the Asian face in films by casting the Caucasian star as a Japanese character, Damon’s film The Great Wall did not serve The Martian star well either, despite him receiving a massive sum of money for the role.
Matt Damon and The Debacle Of The Great Wall
A multifaceted personality in Hollywood, Matt Damon has made his mark in the industry not just through smart choice of roles, but also through his award-winning writing skills with good friend and associate Ben Affleck. But there have been times when the Oscar nominee has made some wrong decisions that he has regretted. One of these choices included his role in the American-Chinese production The Great Wall which co-starred Pedro Pascal.
In the film, Pascal and Damon play two European mercenaries who are imprisoned by the Chinese Emperor in The Great Wall of China and join forces with the local army to protect the kingdom from destruction. While Matt Damon received a near $25 million for the film, netizens and critics took to social media to question his hefty payday. Many viewers targeted the controversial ‘white savior’ trope that the film encouraged, thereby unconsciously demeaning the importance of the Asian experience. Damon too concurred with the general opinion about the tone deafness of the film in a statement to Parade.
“I was like, ‘This is exactly how disasters happen, It doesn’t cohere. It doesn’t work as a movie. That’s as s***ty as you can feel creatively, I think. I hope to never have that feeling again”.
The Ocean’s Eleven star went on to add that while he regretted doing the film, his family at home including his daughters, also gave him flak for accepting the role.
Air Was A Full Circle Dream For Matt Damon
Long-time friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck started their own production company called Artists Equity and the first film to come of their new venture was Air. This inspiring sports film which won hearts, follows one of basketball’s greatest legends Michael Jordan, and his association with the iconic brand Nike, which resulted in the Air Jordan shoes.
More significantly, the film was a full circle moment for Damon who, at age 16, first became the basketball champion’s fan despite being a supporter of the Boston Celtics and not Jordan’s team Chicago Bulls. Recalling his first live experience seeing Jordan as a young teenager, Damon told USA Today,
“I couldn’t buy Air Jordans, they were out of my price range, But I was a huge MJ fan. Bird was the most ornery guy, but after Jordan scored 63 points against us one game, he said, ‘That wasn’t Michael Jordan, that was God disguised as Michael Jordan.’ That was the green light to root for him.”
From being an overawed fanboy, Matt Damon went on to produce a film based on his idol and also played the character of Sonny Vacarro who was a key figure in Michael Jordan’s relationship with Nike.
Source: Parade
