Latest Matt Damon Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• Clint Eastwood just runs an incredibly tight ship, but it's really laid back.

  Matt Damon

  Running, Laid Back, Ships

  Source: www.sheknows.com

• Maybe if we sit out for the next few years and let Clint Eastwood get a little experience, he's going to be a good director.

  Matt Damon

  Years, Directors, Littles

  Source: www.sheknows.com

• Clint Eastwood enables and allows things to happen. You walk on some sets and it's like walking into an emergency room. It's like, "Come on guys, we're just making a movie here." That tension runs into the performances and into the movie.

  Matt Damon

  Running, Guy, Rooms

  Source: www.sheknows.com

• I think Clint Eastwood is a well oiled machine. Everyone that works with him has the same reaction, "Can I stay with you?"

  Matt Damon

  Thinking, Machines, Reactions

  Source: www.sheknows.com

• The danger of course is always is caricature. The biggest challenge was to sound like Nelson Mandela. Everything else is easy to do, walk like him. He has a few ticks and things I noticed that I picked up. I didn't have any agenda, as it were, in playing the role other than to bring it as close to reality as I possibly could.

  Matt Damon

  Reality, Challenges, Sound

  Source: www.sheknows.com

• Clint Eastwood expects you to know what you're doing. He's going to take two giant steps back and let you do it. I have such appreciation for that part of him.

  Matt Damon

  Appreciation, Two, Giants

  Source: www.sheknows.com

• I knew very little about Rugby. But, I think it helps in terms of an American audience the game is enough like football in that it's a battle for field position and you score by running into what looks a lot like an end zone. I think in terms the nuance of the game, Americans won't get that stuff. I think in terms of the peanut butter and jelly version of what you need to know, I think it's pretty clear.

  Matt Damon

  Football, Running, Thinking

  Source: www.sheknows.com

• It was shameful and embarrassing that there were two years in a row without a single actor of color nominated. That's insane.

  Matt Damon

  Color, Years, Two

• The whole thrust of theatre is different, just because the writing is so much more respected in a play. Whereas in movies - and having been the writer, I can say from experience - the writer is lower down on the food chain.

  Matt Damon

  Writing, Play, Theatre

  Interview with Scott Tobias, www.avclub.com. June 12, 2002.

• I usually play characters that are a lot different than me. I mean, I'm never in a fight in a movie and if I'm in them, I'm usually losing.

  Matt Damon

  Character, Mean, Fighting

  Interview with Bill Herron, editorial.rottentomatoes.com. August 17, 2007.

• People do things in the names of good, and in the name of ideals, but the world isn't that simple. So they end up doing things that aren't necessarily good. Even if they think they're doing the right thing, but when viewed from a different perspective they can look barbaric and crazy.

  Matt Damon

  Crazy, Thinking, Simple

  "The Good Shepherd - Matt Damon interview". Interview with Jack Foley, www.indielondon.co.uk.

• I think it's something that the citizenry needs to be vigilant about - participating in democracy, and that includes issues like what's going on and how much secrecy and transparency there should be. That's an on-going thing - in a democracy you want checks and balances and oversight, but you need a covert agency to protect the country. It's a very tricky balance and I think it changes as the world changes and I think we all need to be mindful of that.

  Matt Damon

  Country, Thinking, Issues

  "The Good Shepherd - Matt Damon interview". www.indielondon.co.uk.

• Most films and directors lose their nerve and want to indicate [emotions] a bit more, to show that their story is clear. I'm not saying that's a good thing; as an actor its anathema to good acting, but to have someone with the confidence to say that should I be utterly natural and minimalist is great.

  Matt Damon

  Acting, Want, Directors

  "The Good Shepherd - Matt Damon interview". Interview with Jack Foley, www.indielondon.co.uk.

• Before the days of video village a director should stand right next to the camera, look with his naked eye and if he sees something that is real to him, he'd look up at the [camera] operator and if he gives the look to indicate he'd seen it to, then you print and you'd move on.

  Matt Damon

  Real, Moving, Eye

  Source: www.indielondon.co.uk

• There are people who just collect a bunch of footage and then edit it later. You definitely feel more protected when a director is moving on when you've actually felt something happen and you know they're watching intently.

  Matt Damon

  Moving, People, Directors

  "Invictus - Matt Damon interview". www.indielondon.co.uk.

• As actors, we react to the material that's out there, and I probably just react more strongly to things that I feel will have some social value.

  Matt Damon

  Social Values, Actors, Feels

  "Matt Damon Interview INVICTUS". Interview with Sara Wayland, collider.com. December 10, 2009.

• And you know, we were talking about American identity, and where we've come from and where we are and where we're headed. We knew that we wanted to have a hopeful ending and we wanted it to be pro-community, and a pro-democracy type of movie.

  Matt Damon

  Talking, Hopeful, Community

  "Matt Damon Talks ‘Promised Land’, Writing, Directing & Reuniting with Affleck". Interview with Tiffany Rose, screenrant.com. January 4, 2013.

• If we listen to the better angels of our nature, there are creative and good solutions to serious problems.

  Matt Damon

  Angel, Creative, Serious

  "Matt Damon Interview INVICTUS". collider.com. December 10, 2009.

• The ideal life is you don't sell a single magazine, nobody's interested, but they want to come see your movie. Because that gives you true freedom.

  Matt Damon

  Giving, Magazines, Want

  "Actor-screenwriter-producer Matt Damon, Part 1". "The Tavis Smiley Show", www.pbs.org. December 11, 2012.

• If you're just an actor you're reactive. You're saying, "Well, I hope Hollywood gives me a role, or gives me a chance at a role," whereas if you can generate your own content, then you can go where you want to go.

  Matt Damon

  Giving, Hollywood, Roles

  "Actor-screenwriter-producer Matt Damon, Part 1". "The Tavis Smiley Show", www.pbs.org. December 11, 2012.

• If there's an idea I think is really good and I feel like I can write it, then I'll do it.

  Matt Damon

  Writing, Thinking, Ideas

  "Actor-screenwriter-producer Matt Damon, Part 1". "The Tavis Smiley Show", www.pbs.org. December 11, 2012.

• All parents are trying to balance. Look, I'm lucky in the sense that I can control my hours. I can choose my jobs, and not everybody has that choice. But I definitely, it's a family decision every time I take a job.

  Matt Damon

  Jobs, Parent, Choices

  "Actor-screenwriter-producer Matt Damon, Part 1". "The Tavis Smiley Show", www.pbs.org. December 11, 2012.

• It's very frustrating [ to work under director's control], not just because you're getting rejected constantly, but also because you're at a time in your life where you have an enormous amount of creative energy, and there's no way to express it. That's why a lot of people get into drinking or drugs or whatever.

  Matt Damon

  Drinking, People, Creative

  Source: www.pbs.org

• The director's in charge of every single decision [in film]. It's a dictatorship.It's a benevolent dictatorship, but it's true. It's every single shot. There's nothing arbitrary.

  Matt Damon

  Decision, Directors, Arbitrary

  Source: www.pbs.org

• It's intuitive in terms of when I read a piece of material or I hear about a project. I'm a writer, so I've written movies. I've read at this point thousands and thousands and thousands of screenplays. So if something gets me, then I don't ignore that.

  Matt Damon

  Pieces, Projects, Term

  "Actor-screenwriter-producer Matt Damon, Part 1". "The Tavis Smiley Show", www.pbs.org.