Matt Damon appeared on the podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend and recalled how Clint Eastwood shushed him on their first day filming together. Damon has appeared in two of Eastwood’s films. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for 2009’s Invictus and 2010’s Hereafter.
“So I was playing a South African rugby player, and it was a really difficult accent,” Damon recalled of his first Eastwood film, noting that he “spent six months” with a dialect coach to get rugby player Francois Pienaar on board. “(Coach) was here Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. It was a lot of work.”
“I showed up[to set]and I was ready. It’s a chance to work with one of my heroes,” Damon continued. “On the very first take, I did it… There are so many ways we could do this scene, but he just said, ‘Cut, print, move on.’ I said, “Hold on, hold on, boss.” I also want to do other things. That was the first! He said, “Why?” Do you want to waste everyone’s time? ‘And I said, ‘No, I think we’ll move on.’ ”
Damon emphasized that there was “kindness” to Eastwood’s rejection, calling the filmmaker a “nice guy” and adding, “His whole ethos was… the crew would go to the ends of the earth for you as long as you didn’t strain every shoot.”
Eastwood is famous in Hollywood for not giving his actors too many takes during filming. The 95-year-old icon’s latest film was 2024’s Juror No. 2, which was touted as his last directorial effort.
Watch Damon’s full interview on the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” in the video below.
