From: (Anonymous)	Date: April 28th, 2008 10:06 am (UTC)		(Link)

The rebuttal comment about the type of film The Green Zone will be was really interesting. Like United 93 and Sunday Bloody Sunday I think it will be pretty controversial when it's released. Paul Greengrass isn't afraid of making a political statement but his movies are always well made and entertaining.

My view is that most people are going to think it's another film made by a liberal eliteist with an anti-war agenda taking cheap shots at American foreigh policy, a really hard thing to overcome from an outsider (Greengrass being British certainly won't help), and that will be a big turn-off for many; I think getting over that hurdle will be a major obstacle to overcome when it comes to marketing the film.

The source material doesn't lend itself to a thriller very easily, and I don't know how Greengrass is going to make that work; but like the article said, no-one knows what the final film will look like, as a thriller I'm not particularly interested, I'd much rather see an honest depiction of what went on during the early stages of the war, the fact that they have got military support and manpower suggests this might be the case.

I haven't seen any of the Iraq movies. I always run a mile when a Hollywood celebrity comes over all moralistic, the morality they display in their personal lives leaves a lot to be desired I think and I'm certainly not going to alter my own moral compass to align with people who change their partners as often as I change my bedsheets! And those are the nice ones.

I'll check with the newsagents where I work and see if they have the copy of Emire you're after. They keep their magazines a bit longer so might still have it. Marcia

	From: mattdamoncolumn	Date: April 28th, 2008 10:37 am (UTC)		(Link)

Thanks for your comments Marcia. I think Green Zone will be a fascinating movie, and ripe for interpretation. They've got so much support from the military and troops in making the film, and it's such a day to day proposition in production - it's going to be vastly different from the original script anyway.

Can't wait to see it, and see how the thriller concept translates to the finished film. It's still being filmed in London and Morocco, and may continue filming until the end of May, according to one report (Matt's scenes were front-loaded to allow him to escape within two weeks of his original end-date). A potentially great project that will be endlessly criticised and commented upon, whatever the end product.

If you can check the magazine that's great, but I should have got onto this earlier!

From: (Anonymous)	Date: April 28th, 2008 12:05 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Sadly no joy on Empire's May issue, I just missed out (the June issue with the Hulk cover is hideous!).

Just to be clear I will definitely go and see Green Zone; but if it's done as a thriller it better be really good. M

From: (Anonymous)	Date: April 29th, 2008 12:02 am (UTC)		(Link)

Why is it when a celebrity tries to contribute something to society, they get bashed for it and those who support corporate welfare get elected to public office? It's not like we heartlanders are that much better. We have our own demons, I can assure you.

As for your view about Green Zone's reception, I don't think its criticism of American foreign policy would be that big of a deterrent. Plenty of everyday citizens do that already. If anything, the movie business is behind the curve.

The problem with the recent Iraq-related movies has been that they put message ahead of story. As a result, they have not been that good, not to mention dated upon release. GZ looks to be handled differently. The fact that they were able to get 300 actual soldiers is impressive and shows that the filmmakers have genuine interest in the experiences of those soldiers. Plus, Greengrass is a far better director than Haggis, Pierce, Hood (though he does have promise), and lately Redford (he hasn't had a really great movie since Quiz Show). The current crop of Iraq films also lack anything compelling enough to interest anyone. A film about the soldiers and what they experienced might be that film.

From: (Anonymous)	Date: April 28th, 2008 11:39 pm (UTC)		(Link)
Libertas commenters

I don't know about the rest of you, but some of the commenters on that Libertas site made me really angry. It's obvious many of them have drunk the Kool-Aid and become vicious admirers of a truly calamitous administration. More than that, some of them bordered on being fascistic. I'm a liberal and proud of it, but I respect conservatives who are capable of expressing their views without being jerks (Joe Scarborough for one, and George Will isn't too bad most of the time). That respect does not extend to the commenters on that blog. If they don't wan't to see the film, good riddance!

	From: mattdamoncolumn	Date: April 29th, 2008 02:08 am (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: Libertas commenters

I wouldn't usually have linked to that site and I could have included a warning about its tone and content (it's a little too much for me). I had not been able to find the same information on another site, so that's why I linked to it.

Matt's already being criticised for his stance against violence on the Bourne videogame (now that the truth's come out about his reasons for not being involved - they were claiming before it was the lack of potential sequels that stopped them involving Matt).

As per this article:
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/28/developer-bourne-game-too-violent-for-matt-damons-liking/

From: (Anonymous)	Date: April 29th, 2008 04:24 am (UTC)		(Link)
Re: criticism

I'm so glad the truth has come out about Matt's refusal to support the selling of a first-person shooter game. The timing is perfect - any critics can be referred to Nancy's book!

And as regards Green Zone, to argue about it now is simply ridiculous. we'll all be able to make up our own minds when it comes out. Personally, I think the public have a suprising amount of good will stored up for Matt and Paul Greengrass due to Bourne and United 93. As people they are both liked and respected and very articulate. It's likely they will have an opportunity to make their case, although the right will do whatever they can to shout them down. The studio could do worse than to feature the soldiers/actors in the press as much as possible, as well as saying, "from the people who brought you the Bourne Ultimatum".

From: (Anonymous)	Date: April 29th, 2008 10:34 pm (UTC)		(Link)
Re: criticism

It would be lovely to have charity premieres that would support veteran's support groups or organizations - VA hospitals are desperately underfunded.

	From: mattdamoncolumn	Date: April 29th, 2008 10:41 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	MTV story re violence in game

I wrote to MTV to correct the story above, which didn't even link to Matt's comments about his reasons for not being involved in the game.

They've now added a new story with the quote by Matt (without crediting me), and note another error by the journo in the Boston Globe story (I think that's at least four errors she made).

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/29/matt-damon-never-spoke-with-bourne-developers-wanted-a-game-like-myst/

From: (Anonymous)	Date: April 30th, 2008 01:42 am (UTC)		(Link)
Re: MTV story re violence in game

Thank you so much for caring enough to pass on the information to them - although they didn't give you credit, you at least get the satisfaction of a 'correction'. Too bad more professional journalists don't have your standards. You always are concerned about being responsible here, and it's what makes your site such a pleasure. Well done.
Paula

	From: jeka_ooie	Date: April 29th, 2008 07:24 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Thank you so much for the great news!
Another chance to see Matt at onexone! :D