Matt Damon Wasn't Use To Clint Eastwood's Directing Style Of Using One Take On "Invictus"

Dan Lalonde
45 minutes ago
1 min read

What do you think of directors like Stanley Kubrick and David Fincher, who are famous for using multiple takes of up to 100?

Matt Damon was on 'Conan O'Brien's Need A Friend Podcast', where he talked about working with director Clint Eastwood on the 2009 rugby biopic film 'Invictus', where he wasn't use to Eastwood's filmmaking method of using one take for a shot.

“I showed up [on set] and I am ready and it’s my chance to work with one of my heroes,” Damon continued. “The very first take, I did it… There are a number of ways I’m thinking of doing the scene and he just goes, ‘Cut, print, move on.’ I go, ‘Hang on, hang on, hang on, boss. I want to, you know, I want to do another one. That was the first one!’ He goes, ‘Why? You wanna waste everybody’s time?’ And I went, ‘No, I guess we’re moving on.'”

Damon went further into his process for playing rugby star Francois Pienaar: “So I was playing a South African rugby player, and that’s a really tough accent to do. The coach would come in from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. It was a lot of work.”

Damon appreciated Eastwood's approach in making the set a relaxing atmosphere: “His whole mentality was… your crew will go to the ends of the Earth for you if as long as you’re not taxing them on every shot.”

What is your favorite Clint Eastwood film? Comment below with your thoughts.