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Matt Damon News Column
08:13 pm March 10th, 2010
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Green Zone interviews
  • The interview with Matt and Paul Greengrass on Charlie Rose is now available at the Charlie Rose site, and is a great 50 minute discussion about Green Zone, their collaboration, politics and the film-making process.

  • A fun interview with Matt and Greg Kinnear is now available at Moviefone.

  • Video interviews with Matt are at GMTV (which is discussed here), NY1 and E Online or YouTube. In the E interview Matt talks about taking a role in Happy Feet 2 because he loved (and his kids loved) the original movie. Other video interviews are at Soccer AM show and a playful radio interview (not about the movie) is at BBC's Scott Mills show.

  • A detailed print interview from the junket is at Coming Soon. An interview with Greengrass is at Latino Review, including:

    Question: Can you talk about each of the actors that you cast, what you saw in them that made you want to cast them?

    Greengrass: Well, Matt because he's pretty good and the world's greatest movie star.

  • Jude Law discusses his role in Contagion at Coming Soon, and says the film is due to shoot at the end of the year.

  • A quote from the SF Weekly review of Green Zone:

    Greengrass' pyrotechnics aside, Green Zone works mainly because of the hardworking, always-credible Damon. The ultimate good soldier in Saving Private Ryan, the cleverest of con men in The Talented Mr. Ripley, Damon is still a juvenile at 40. He has made a career of alternately projecting and parodying boyish idealism, sometimes in the same movie (e.g., The Informant!). For Green Zone, he's Bourne again with a difference, a gung-ho figure of incredulous righteous indignation.
    • 14 comments or Leave a comment
    Comments
    Comment by Anonymous
    From: (Anonymous) Date: March 10th, 2010 02:59 pm (UTC) (Link)

    Charlie Rose
    Wow, that interview is a first class example of why those guys make smart, interesting movies. Because they are smart, interesting, guys!

    And thanks for all the fabulous reporting. Much appreciated!

    Paula
    (Reply) (Thread)
    Thread started by Anonymous
    From: (Anonymous) Date: March 10th, 2010 06:52 pm (UTC) (Link)
    I agree about the Charlie Rose interview. Of course, when you do Charlie you had better be prepared to be substantive; Matt and Paul are always prepared, and they don't sound glib most of the time.

    Saw the Today Show interview. Once again, The two Matts cut to the chase and discussed such issues as the structure of GZ as a thriller and as an examination of serious political ideas. The N.Y. Times apparently called the film, "Bourne in Baghdad". Matt repeated his mantra about doing another Bourne in 5-10 years after the studio does prequels. The interview was not that long, but they packed a lot into it.

    The AP review was naive and a bummer. Hope the promos shown on tv that are so Bourne-oriented prevail. Here are my fingers crossed for a good opening.

    I.B.
    (Reply) (Thread)
    mattdamoncolumn From: mattdamoncolumn Date: March 11th, 2010 02:00 am (UTC) (Link)

    Reviews
    The reviews are really surprising to me. A lot of people are upset with the politics and the fictional nature of a story based in truth. It's one take on a real life subject, and it's entertainment, not propaganda or a documentary.

    The Australian reviews are really positive, with critics enjoying the political aspects and appreciating it as an entertaining thriller, which is all it claims to be. I'm not sure which side the UK critics will fall on.

    It opens in Australia today, so for once I'll be able to see it before it opens in the US.

    Matt's talking about the poor box office of Informant and Invictus in a few interviews today. The Green Zone's in trouble before it opens due to the subject matter, delays, budget (although Greengrass says the budget is far less than a Bourne movie) and simplistic advertising campaign. My fingers are crossed too.
    (Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
    Comment by Matt Damon News Column
    mattdamoncolumn From: mattdamoncolumn Date: March 11th, 2010 01:15 am (UTC) (Link)

    USA Today
    A good USA Today interview by Donna Freydkin (of course), confirming that Matt and family are staying in NY:

    http://www.usatoday.com/LIFE/usaedition/2010-03-11-Damon11_ST_U.htm?csp=34

    Profile:
    http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/10/2030409/matt-damon-is-hollywoods-man-of.html

    Australian critics are appreciating Green Zone a lot more than US critics:
    http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2820921.htm

    Today show interview
    http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/35796112#35796112

    Edited at 2010-03-11 02:06 am (UTC)
    (Reply) (Thread)
    Thread started by loganx2
    loganx2 From: loganx2 Date: March 11th, 2010 02:08 am (UTC) (Link)
    I've read a lot of the reviews and most of them seem to be influenced by the writers own personal views of the war and not so much on the movie itself. There are ones who think the movie is too political and there are ones that feel it isn't political enough and takes the easy way out. Because of this they seem to be lowering their "numbers" on the movie. When they talk about the actual movie itself, the only real majority complaint is the shaky cam. They all seem to love the action, and even though most say it isn't a Bourne movie, they also say if you enjoyed Bourne you will enjoy Green zone. When you do a political movie political reviews are to be expected, but in my opinion the "numbers" on Green Zone are going to be a little tilted.
    (Reply) (Thread)
    mattdamoncolumn From: mattdamoncolumn Date: March 11th, 2010 06:46 am (UTC) (Link)
    I'm sure the movie used to be even more political but they've changed it tonally and bumped up the action to try and make it more commercial. And it still probably won't play.
    (Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
    Comment by Anonymous
    From: (Anonymous) Date: March 11th, 2010 06:52 pm (UTC) (Link)

    reviews
    You are right about people's response to the movie often being a very personal reaction to the subject matter (as opposed to the quality with which the subject matter is presented). The Chicago Tribune reviewer said nothing negative about the movie, but still gave it a negative review, saying he personally found it too painful to go there.

    A lot of subconscious guilt evident in some of the US comments, I think (as a US citizen I feel free to say that, but feel free to delete this if you think it too political).

    I'm looking forward to seeing it this weekend.

    Paula
    (Reply) (Thread)
    Thread started by Anonymous
    From: (Anonymous) Date: March 11th, 2010 09:01 pm (UTC) (Link)

    Interview on Today show
    Is there any place where I can see Matt Today show's interview? Youtube?
    (Reply) (Thread)
    mattdamoncolumn From: mattdamoncolumn Date: March 11th, 2010 10:53 pm (UTC) (Link)

    Re: Interview on Today show
    It's available on the Today show's site - it's linked in my comment above (title of 'USA Today').
    (Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
    Thread started by Anonymous
    From: (Anonymous) Date: March 11th, 2010 10:41 pm (UTC) (Link)

    Handsome Men Club
    I found this on pop sugar - what is this? Is this something going to air or has aired on Jimmey Kimmel?

    http://www.popsugar.com/home?page=4

    Matt is at 1:22 laughing
    (Reply) (Thread)
    mattdamoncolumn From: mattdamoncolumn Date: March 11th, 2010 10:54 pm (UTC) (Link)

    Re: Handsome Men Club
    It was posted after the Oscars and I've linked to it previously - look for the link at The Sun.

    Matt filmed it last Saturday with no other actors present (except for Kimmel)
    (Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
    From: (Anonymous) Date: March 11th, 2010 11:14 pm (UTC) (Link)

    Re: Handsome Men Club
    Thank you, just watched it, that was funny but the original with Matt and Sarah is still the best.
    (Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
    mattdamoncolumn From: mattdamoncolumn Date: March 12th, 2010 01:12 am (UTC) (Link)

    Re: Handsome Men Club
    Agreed. Everything else just tries to match the Sarah Silverman skit and is forced.
    (Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
    Comment by tommycruises
    tommy50702 From: tommy50702 Date: December 29th, 2014 04:57 am (UTC) (Link)
    This was a great movie. It's original and the cinematography is excellent.
    (Reply) (Thread)
    14 comments or Leave a comment
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