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  • 6 weeks ago
Matt Damon and Tom Holland opened up about working with Christopher Nolan, their experience in India and The Odyssey in an exclusive chat with India Today. While Damon praised Nolan's unique work ethic, Tom spoke about Zendaya, Bollywood and his dream of exploring India.

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00:04hi Tom hi Matt welcome to India today and congratulations on what an amazing film that
00:10you guys have managed to kind of set up thank you and tell me but like if Odyssey was were
00:15to be
00:15written today instead of thousands of years back which aspect of the story do you think would have
00:21sparked the biggest debate oh I don't know I think it depends on who you are I think it's a
00:27it's the
00:28story's endured for 3,000 years because clearly it resonates with every generation that that comes
00:34in contact with it and it's about so much it's about homecoming it's about family it's about war
00:39it's about death it's about regret it's it's about a coming of age it's so so I think it kind
00:46of depends
00:46who you are what what what resonates for you or what you want to talk about or discuss yeah yeah
00:53and our people often describe a Christopher Nolan said almost like a secret society where there's
00:59no mobile there's handwritten notes and everyone's just engrossed in their work but tell me uh what is
01:05that one assumption that people have about working with Nolan that is absolutely wrong that he's oh
01:15well something that I found really surprising is just how collaborative he is you know like he he leads
01:20from the front and there's there's no question that he's the boss but there is such an openness
01:27to him he really is someone that you know there's no bad time to go and talk to him and
01:32ask him
01:32questions about your character and he loves to try things you know something that you've said that I
01:38really love is that he has all the elements he needs to make the movie he wants to make but
01:44he doesn't
01:44necessarily know on the day in which way he's going to execute those elements and for me
01:49it makes it feel like you're working on an indie movie but just on a monumental scale so I think
01:57that would probably be something that would be surprising to people you've of course collaborated
02:01with him multiple times what sets a set a new line set different from other film sets well it's
02:07exactly what Tom just said uh he really is an independent filmmaker he's just doing it at this scale
02:13that's bigger than anything I've ever done or seen um uh but it makes it a really vibrant
02:20exhilarating work atmosphere because everyone knows that they're contributing and and and you don't
02:27know I mean I remember asking him about the horse before we shot the interior of the horse I said
02:32I'm so
02:32excited to shoot this how are we going to do it and he just turned to me goes I don't
02:36know he goes
02:37we're just going to jam in there and we're going to figure it out and and so there's that that
02:41that
02:42real kind of wonderment when you go to work like anything could happen and uh and and he he really
02:49is open to the ideas of the people he's collaborating with and and uh and and his crew is so
02:55good that
02:56they immediately adjust like we'd be on the boat and and he'd we Himesh Patel and I would rehearse a
03:03scene
03:03and and he'd go okay the camera's on Himesh uh we're going to be here and then suddenly you'd
03:08see the marine coordinator on his walkie-talkie and suddenly boats would real boats that were out
03:14at sea because nothing is computer generated it's all real would just suddenly drift into place
03:19behind Himesh perfectly lined up and you know that kind of execution at speed and at you know that scale
03:25is really really fun and Matt of course the odyssey talks about how one decision can change the
03:31course of your life uh looking back which is that career decision that seemed riskiest when at that
03:38time but ended up kind of defining the actor that you are today the the riskiest decision that that we
03:45ever made was there was a studio that was willing to make goodwill hunting with a director that uh
03:52I'm sure would have done a fine job but but wasn't the exact director we were looking for
03:56and so Ben Affleck and I uh risked losing the movie we said we're going to go set it up
04:03somewhere
04:04else and they said if you can't we're going to get the movie back and you guys are out and
04:09uh and so
04:11we could have gone for the version that might not have been the best it could be but it was
04:17a sure
04:17thing but we decided to to roll the dice and see if we could set it up somewhere else and
04:23in an earlier
04:24interview the team joke that's India was the only one who got a perfect from right as her partner
04:30and of course you must be thrilled but as a fellow actor as a contemporary was there a tiny part
04:35in
04:35you were like come on i wanted that too no yes there was for me i don't know i can't
04:42speak for tom
04:43for me you know i i got everything from chris that i needed to as an actor and you know
04:49we're really
04:49lucky at the minute that there are really positive reactions to the movie online and i've deliberately
04:54not read them because i felt such a i felt at service to chris throughout this process and he
05:01told me that he was really happy with the work that i had done and that i had i had
05:06brought telemachus
05:07to life in a way that he had imagined and for me that's it that's all i need and i'm
05:12so grateful for
05:13that um you know a perfect on set would have been nice would have been nice it would have been
05:17nice
05:17but uh it's kind of awesome that it went to see yeah but is it as tough to impress nolan
05:22well he's
05:24very circumspect and and i and listen i i joke about it but i don't mind that at all we
05:31we view work the
05:32same way we we we want to keep going he builds enormous momentum around the camera and that whole
05:38department it just you know it's once we get a shot and i remember on uh interstellar there was a
05:46sequence where uh my we're on this ice planet where i'm stranded and and my uh habitat explodes yeah
05:54and i talked chris into letting me be in in one of the angles and tying me into the explosion
06:00because
06:00i love to do real practical effects like that and so we do this shot and we stage it so
06:05i'm coming up
06:05this thing i walk over and then as the camera hinges this thing explodes i acknowledge it and
06:10i keep going and obviously we've got one take and so we do it it goes well everyone cheers and
06:17chris is
06:17already marching off and he's like we're over here now and he's already going to set up the next shot
06:21so i see him later in the we're all staying in the same little hikers motel and and i and
06:28i mentioned
06:28that and he said yeah yeah he goes he goes it went perfectly he goes but but if we had
06:33stayed to
06:33celebrate we would have been congratulating ourselves for another hour and a half we would
06:36have gotten nothing done he goes and when i knew we were going to meet up back here and i
06:40could tell
06:40everybody good job like once the shooting was done so i love that momentum and yeah it just means he
06:45doesn't spend a lot of time holding your hand and telling you how great you are uh he just wants
06:50to get on with it so and not as a romantic partner but matt you and ben share i think
06:55hollywood's
06:55one of hollywood's longest relationship from childhood friends to co-actors to co-producers
07:00and if i'm not mistaken he was the only guest allowed on the odyssey set also tell me what
07:06has that relationship taught you about having your own people your own home in an industry like this
07:11well it's everything it's uh you know we've been the closest of friends since we were really young and
07:17so we experienced a lot of life together uh at different stages you know from adolescence to our
07:24teenage years to our struggling years we obviously uh you know wrote the screenplay together that
07:30changed both of our lives and and then experienced that change together and and uh then became husbands
07:37and fathers and you know so it's it's there's nothing like having somebody like that who can walk
07:44walk next to you through life and uh and we'll be there when things are good but we'll be there
07:50when
07:50things are tough and and uh i mean he always has yeah yeah and probably the last question but as
07:55stereotypes exist in it every cinema indian cinema has often for the longest time been looked upon as
08:01something more to do with song dance and colors and while that makes it unique there's some so much
08:06more to it tell me what has been your perception of indian cinema and has there been any work that
08:11you
08:11saw that interested you and kind of challenged the stereotype that the west has we were just saying we
08:16wanted to do a bollywood movie but because tom actually could do it because he's a phenomenal
08:20dancer and i i would i would try to learn i would do my best i find them so fun
08:25and so uh just just
08:28the energy and the and the and the joy and uh the older i get uh the more i i
08:34just want more joy in my
08:36work and more joy in my life and so uh so i would i would love to try that especially
08:41if i had a co-star
08:42like him because he could really he's the only person i think could do uh what like fred astaire did
08:48right there there used to be a skill set that that some of our great movie stars had uh that
08:54that
08:55because the nature of film has changed uh in in hollywood is disappearing and uh and so i would love
09:03to see him apply that skill set uh that he has tom what's your take on indian cinema and indian
09:08audiences
09:09that completely adore you well it's two things i think you know indian cinema feels like a real
09:14celebration and i think what is so amazing is the way you guys experience cinema is unlike anything
09:20i've seen before you know i'm so blessed to be a part of the mcu and it's so well received
09:24here and i
09:26have so much fun on youtube watching you guys react to those big moments in the cinema it feels more
09:32like
09:32a rock concert than it does going to the cinema so if there was a way that i could deepen
09:37that
09:37relationship with you guys in in a you know a bollywood movie or an indian movie i would i would
09:43jump at the opportunity we would love that thank you so much and all the best for the
09:46future primers and of course the film next week thank you so much
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