Matt Damon on 'The Odyssey', the One Thing He'll Never Do for a Movie Again & Raising Four Daughters — Transcript

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1. 0:00I promised them I was gonna have pasta
2. 0:02with them. And right after I ordered it,
3. 0:04I just called the waiter back and I was
4. 0:06like, "I'll just please have a steak
5. 0:07instead." And the kids were like, "But
6. 0:09you promised." And I said, "I'll have a
7. 0:10bite of each of your pasta." So I took a
8. 0:12bite of each of theirs. I was just in
9. 0:13it. I I just It was going to be four or
10. 0:15five more months. It's all or nothing at
11. 0:17this point.
12. 0:18>> Let's go.
13. 0:21>> I really couldn't describe the hardest
14. 0:23day cuz there wasn't really an easy day
15. 0:25on the movie. It makes me uncomfortable
16. 0:26to be singled out because it was really
17. 0:28difficult for everybody. The real joy
18. 0:30came in in sharing that with everybody.
19. 0:32Like I've said to people, it felt more
20. 0:34like an expedition than a movie. And we
21. 0:36all were there together experiencing the
22. 0:38same things. Whether we were out in the
23. 0:40weather, whether we were cold,
24. 0:41uncomfortable, you know, getting rained
25. 0:43on, it was the same for everybody. So it
26. 0:45was a pretty egalitarian experience. And
27. 0:47what I think everybody had in common
28. 0:49there was they felt lucky to be there.
29. 0:52Lucky to be the ones to be able to tell
30. 0:53the story at this scale. this way. It
31. 0:56was really an ambitious project to shoot
32. 0:58it in IMAX that had never been done with
33. 1:01Chris directing. I definitely had the
34. 1:03feeling that I was with hundreds of
35. 1:04kindred spirits and people who just love
36. 1:06the this thing that I love to do.
37. 1:09>> Tell me you will come back.
38. 1:15>> What if I can't?
39. 1:16>> What was funny about the Trojan horse
40. 1:18was before we shot it, we were filming
41. 1:20the fall of Troy and then the following
42. 1:22week we were starting in on the horse. I
43. 1:24think it was a Friday and I think we
44. 1:25were shooting the horse on Tuesday and I
45. 1:27said, "Chris, how are you going to do
46. 1:28the horse?" And he goes, "Yeah, I don't
47. 1:30know." And it's that thing I love about
48. 1:32him. He gets all the elements he knows
49. 1:34he'll need, but he doesn't prescribe
50. 1:36exactly how they're going to work
51. 1:38together. He lets that unfold
52. 1:39organically and it's basically like it's
53. 1:42like an independent film. The way we
54. 1:44were going to shoot the horse was we
55. 1:46were all going to get in the horse and
56. 1:48figure it out. You know, Hoya is one of
57. 1:50the best cinematographers to ever live,
58. 1:53and he was going to get in there with
59. 1:54us, and Chris was going to get in there
60. 1:56with us, and we had this incredible
61. 1:58group of of guys who who who fil
62. 2:02the Odysius's crew, and and we were
63. 2:04together as a crew for the entire film,
64. 2:07and we just jammed in there and figured
65. 2:10it out. And also, John Bernthal was in
66. 2:12the horse with us, and there was a
67. 2:13sequence where John needed to be uh half
68. 2:16in in the water as the water was rising.
69. 2:18You can plan everything within an inch
70. 2:20of its life, but things always go wrong.
71. 2:22And there was supposed to be warm water.
72. 2:25And obviously, you know, we got there
73. 2:26and the water wasn't warm. And it it was
74. 2:28winter in Morocco, so it was it was
75. 2:30cold. And John just was so tough. Like
76. 2:34got in this water and what happens if
77. 2:37you're in cold water for anybody who's
78. 2:39ever done a cold plunge is, you know, c
79. 2:41at a certain point you start shivering
80. 2:43and you can't stop it. And John was at
81. 2:45that point and I just have this vivid
82. 2:47memory of being above him in the horse
83. 2:48and John was shaking and and putting his
84. 2:50hands together and pressing so that he
85. 2:53could just get the shivers out so he
86. 2:55could get one line of dialogue out and
87. 2:58Chris is saying, "John, are you okay?"
88. 2:59And John was going, "Just go, just go."
89. 3:01You know, and it was just and he was so
90. 3:03and all of us were in there and that
91. 3:06really it was early on in the shoot and
92. 3:08I think that set the tone for the cast.
93. 3:10The message was like at some point
94. 3:12you're going to be the guy in the water
95. 3:14and you're not going to complain about
96. 3:16it. You know, you're going to push as
97. 3:17hard as you can. Um until until Chris
98. 3:20says that's enough. I you know, get out,
99. 3:22get him warm, get him warm. You know,
100. 3:23it's actually kind of a fond memory
101. 3:25watching uh thinking about that. Even
102. 3:26though it was temporarily uncomfortable
103. 3:29for John, it was a cool example that he
104. 3:31set for everybody.
105. 3:35>> Let's go home. every location we'd say,
106. 3:37"Well, I bet, you know, Italy will be
107. 3:39easier or Greece will be easier or
108. 3:41Iceland will be easier." And every
109. 3:43location was really difficult, but in a
110. 3:45really different way. We knew we were
111. 3:47ending at the water tank in Universal.
112. 3:50And nobody said, "Well, it'll probably
113. 3:52be easier once we get" And sure enough,
114. 3:55there were like these two jet engines,
115. 3:57like 737 engines like blowing water on
116. 4:00us. It was definitely about as hard as
117. 4:02you can make uh water work on, you know,
118. 4:05in a controlled environment.
119. 4:07>> No one could stand between me and home,
120. 4:10not even the gods.
121. 4:11>> I think if id put weight on that would
122. 4:13have been dangerous and it's not
123. 4:14something I I'll do anymore. I was happy
124. 4:16to do it earlier in my in my life. It
125. 4:18was more about um just getting really
126. 4:20really physically fit and and which just
127. 4:23really involves changing your diet. I
128. 4:25stopped eating gluten among other
129. 4:27things. Just kind of a whole lifestyle
130. 4:29change. You have to just be very very uh
131. 4:32intentional about everything you're
132. 4:33putting in your body.
133. 4:36>> I have one daughter who's really not
134. 4:37reverential at all about the and and
135. 4:39loves to give me and that's really
136. 4:41funny. She saw the Odyssey and at the
137. 4:43end of it she actually turned to me and
138. 4:45she said, "Dad, I'm proud of you." And I
139. 4:47literally she's never said anything like
140. 4:50that. Uh cuz we joke around a lot at
141. 4:53that point. I was kind of like, "I'm
142. 4:55good. It was all worth it." They love
143. 4:57that I work. They love that their mom is
144. 5:00producing movies now and working. They
145. 5:01love that for us, but our relationship
146. 5:03isn't the same relationship that other
147. 5:05people who have a relationship to our
148. 5:07work have with us. So, you know, there I
149. 5:10it's not like I push it on them at all.
150. 5:11I was raised with just a brother and so
151. 5:13it was a very different
152. 5:16energy, real different way to grow up
153. 5:18and and I feel like it was such a
154. 5:20blessing. I feel so lucky in my 30s
155. 5:22suddenly have this whole new world open
156. 5:24up to me. It's been just a real a gift.
157. 5:27um how how how
158. 5:31sophisticated women are from and how
159. 5:33fast. I used to joke that by the time my
160. 5:35daughter was two, she had me totally
161. 5:37wrapped around my finger and I was like,
162. 5:38"Oh, I get it now." Like men never had a
163. 5:40chance. Like two-year-old women can
164. 5:44completely just outf fox, you know, a
165. 5:46grown man. So, what chance does a does a
166. 5:48guy have against a grown woman? We have
167. 5:50family dinner every night and and that's
168. 5:53non-negotiable and that's it's always
169. 5:55been that way. And so we had a
170. 5:56conversation about the family dinner
171. 5:59became so routine that we weren't maybe
172. 6:02like there were some nights where you
173. 6:04know because we we have the company in
174. 6:06Los Angeles so sometimes there are there
175. 6:07are calls and there's work going on
176. 6:09during dinner in New York and you know
177. 6:12Lucy and I are you know I got to just
178. 6:14return this text or oh this person needs
179. 6:16an answer to this and one of my
180. 6:17daughters said well you know family
181. 6:19dinner you know last night we didn't we
182. 6:21didn't talk and we realized oh my gosh
183. 6:23you're right like we we sat down for
184. 6:25dinner and the you know and and there's
185. 6:28a you can get lost in that routine a
186. 6:30little bit and not not appreciate why
187. 6:32you established the routine in the first
188. 6:34place. We've been talking a lot about uh
189. 6:36presence and about
190. 6:38um really trying to be in the moment and
191. 6:42um because you can't slow time down. The
192. 6:44only way to really do it is to is to
193. 6:46really be there and and be in it. Having
194. 6:49two older kids who are out of the nest
195. 6:51and knowing how fast these final years
196. 6:54go, we're trying to be mindful of uh,
197. 6:56you know, holding on to what we can.
198. 7:02There's a lot of love and respect
199. 7:04underneath the relationship and a lot of
200. 7:06trust and and so it's built on a very
201. 7:09sturdy foundation and that foundation
202. 7:11can kind of take that, you know, we we
203. 7:13continue to grow and evolve as people.
204. 7:15So, I guess that foundation is really
205. 7:17really everything. She reads everything
206. 7:19I'm doing. She looks at cuts of movies.
207. 7:21I've really relied on her notes for 23
208. 7:23years. While I was doing the Odyssey,
209. 7:25she was producing the movie that Ben was
210. 7:27directing. And so they have their own
211. 7:29work life, creative, you know,
212. 7:31professional relationship. We have one
213. 7:33all together at the company, but they,
214. 7:35you know, they went off and did this
215. 7:36movie um while I was away. And and
216. 7:39that's great to see, you know, how, you
217. 7:40know, he came out of that experience and
218. 7:42said he wouldn't direct a movie if she
219. 7:43wasn't producing it. So he's grown to
220. 7:46understand how valuable she's been to me
221. 7:48all these years. We're at very similar
222. 7:51stages with the kids and it's definitely
223. 7:52a new phase of life. It doesn't take
224. 7:55much to get us emotional at this point.
225. 7:57It was one of the reasons we started the
226. 7:58company getting into our 50s and going
227. 8:00this is the time to do this. We're we're
228. 8:02young enough to have the energy and to
229. 8:04make really good good movies with um
230. 8:06with our friends and with people we want
231. 8:08to work with. and our dreams came true.
232. 8:10And the greatest disservice we could do
233. 8:12to our younger selves would be to not
234. 8:14work together. And I think Ben and I
235. 8:16bolstered each other when we were young.
236. 8:18We were in our teens and we were coming
237. 8:20down here to New York on the train or on
238. 8:22the bus, you know, to audition for
239. 8:24things, you know, for like the Mickey
240. 8:26Mouse Club. We were the only people who
241. 8:28believed in each other. Um, you know, we
242. 8:31had families, but they weren't in the
243. 8:32entertainment business. They didn't. We
244. 8:33were the only people who feel like felt
245. 8:35like we had a foot in little foot in
246. 8:37this door who said, "Yeah, you know,
247. 8:39you're going to make it. You're, you
248. 8:40know," and and I think you need to have
249. 8:41that kind of defy the gods mentality to
250. 8:43go into this life because it's it's a
251. 8:45bit of the circus life and it's it's not
252. 8:47a it's not a kind of a normal way to go.
253. 8:51At this stage of my life, I'm I I'm I'm
254. 8:53I'm feel more at peace. I don't feel
255. 8:55myself in competition with with uh other
256. 8:58people. Whereas when you're young and
257. 8:59people other people get jobs, you're
258. 9:01like, I could have done that, you know?
259. 9:03Now I'm like, uh, I'm just really happy
260. 9:06for people who are doing a good job. And
261. 9:07that's just kind of where I am.
262. 9:12My life is still pretty much divided up
263. 9:14into work and my family and then
264. 9:16water.org and those kind of three three
265. 9:19things. And that's where most of my time
266. 9:20goes. In terms of work, yeah, it's to
267. 9:23continue to um grow artist equity and
268. 9:26and make the kind of movies that we
269. 9:29started the company so that we could
270. 9:31make and and make them together. I love
271. 9:33working with Ben and Lucy in all
272. 9:35different ways, you know. I mean, it
273. 9:37doesn't mean that we have to be in the
274. 9:38movies or direct the movies. Sometimes
275. 9:39it's just about,
276. 9:41you know, identifying good material and
277. 9:43facilitating that work for our friends
278. 9:45and putting them in a position to do the
279. 9:47work that they want to do and supporting
280. 9:49them. You know, that's a very full life.
281. 9:55It's been an incredible journey. I
282. 9:58remember 25, I uh I got the part in the
283. 10:02rain maker. Francis gave me the that
284. 10:04job.
285. 10:05>> Just
286. 10:08do what you think is right in your
287. 10:11hearts.
288. 10:12>> I'll still never forget that. It's been
289. 10:14an amazing journey. You know, ideally in
290. 10:16another 10 years, I'd like to just keep
291. 10:19doing things that I'm really um
292. 10:22that that I can feel really proud of.
293. 10:24Keep doing things that be really
294. 10:25intentional with my choices. You know,
295. 10:27you get on the other side of 50 and at
296. 10:29least for me um I really started feeling
297. 10:33like uh time is the the most precious
298. 10:37commodity there is. And um I just want
299. 10:40to be intentional with with what I do
300. 10:42with it and make sure that I'm spending
301. 10:43it where exactly where I want to spend
302. 10:46it. I feel like I've calmed down a
303. 10:48little bit and I'm not chasing
304. 10:49something. I just want to do work that I
305. 10:51think is really stellar on my own terms
306. 10:53in on things that I really believe in.