Wednesday, February 29, 2012

We Bought a Zoo – Matt Damon on acting with a bear and snakes

We Bought A Zoo - Matt Damon
A happy Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) © 2011 Twentieth Century Fox

Cameron Crowe's new movie We Bought a Zoo is based on a memoir by Benjamin Mee, entitled We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Broken-Down Zoo, and the 200 Animals That Changed a Family Forever.

The story has been transplanted from England to America with Matt Damon starring as Benjamin Mee, a Los Angeles newspaper columnist and adventure writer, who as a single father faces the challenge of bringing up two young children alone when his wife dies.

Hoping that a fresh start with restore his fractured family, Mee quits his job and buys a zoo named Rosemoor Animal Park, where dozen of animals reside under the care of head zookeeper Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson) and her team.

Matt Damon spoke about the joy of playing a father, a role that reflects his real life, and working with writer/director Cameron Crowe.

What was it about this project that appealed to you?

We Bought A Zoo - Matt Damon
Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) gets up close and personal with one of his new four-legged neighbors © 2011 Twentieth Century Fox
The reason I came aboard was a hundred percent Cameron. He sent me a script, but he also gave me over an hour's worth of music that he had selected, as well as the film Local Hero. He kind of gave this whole bundle to me and said, 'This is kind of the feeling of what I want to do.'
He explained that Local Hero is a dramatic movie that's also a very funny movie, giving you a wonderful happy-sad feeling. It really gave me a great sense of the movie he wanted to make. Cameron's sensibility is unique and he's such a brilliant writer and director that I thought the film could really fly with him at the helm.
In fact I think every character is some version of him. He kind of infects everybody around him with that little piece of him that we all relate to. It's why the films are tonally so tight and coherent, because in some ways it comes out of him.

Was it fun to play something that reflects your own life, being a father?

We Bought A Zoo - Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson. Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Patrick Fugit and monkey, Carla Gallo, Elle Fanning and Colin Ford
Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) gets the grand tour of his newly-purchased zoo from head zookeeper Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson). Along for the expedition are: Benjamin’s young daughter Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones, far right), zookeeper Robin Jones (Patrick Fugit) and monkey, Rhonda Blair (Carla Gallo), Lily Miska (Elle Fanning) and Benjamin’s son Dylan (Colin Ford, rear) © 2011 Twentieth Century Fox
It was great to have all these kids around and have my kids come to set and interact with them. I would have been unable to play this character ten years ago, I wouldn't have been able to relate to him.
I think that whatever Cameron has gone through in his personal life and whatever I've gone through in my personal life has kind of lined us up to be interested by this material.

Can you talk about Benjamin's relationship with Kelly in this?

You would think that they would get together and the movie becomes about that love story, but it's not. Among other things, the film is about two characters who both love the zoo. They build a friendship and closeness out of their shared passion for this project they're working on together.
Out of that comes this really genuine thing between them, which by the end of the movie probably becomes something else.

Was this the first time in your career where you have worked with big animals and were there any close calls?

We Bought A Zoo - Colin Ford with Matt Damon
Dylan (Colin Ford) with his fahter Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) who shows off a poster of the Zoo's grand re-opening © 2011 Twentieth Century Fox
It's the first time I've done a movie with big animals, other than horses. I've done a lot of movies with horses. I've never done anything like this. You're never supposed to work with children or animals because they always upstage you.
So we joked that we were just getting it all out of the way in one movie, with the cutest kids and animals you've ever seen.
The reality was we all acted with incredible deference to the trainers, and when the animals were on the set it was really all about them, particularly the really big, scary ones. And so those sessions were very regimented by the trainers.
Cameron would troubleshoot with them where he could put the camera and what was allowed and what wasn't allowed, and then we staged the scenes around that.
When the lion is coming out of the cage it's a big deal. It's not like everyone's sitting around talking to each other like on a normal movie set. Everybody's very quiet and very observant of the fact that the 'King of the Jungle' is amongst you. So those were the most disciplined moments that we had in the entire process.

Can you compare and contrast your scenes with the bear and the snakes?

We Bought A Zoo - Matt Damon
Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) is pleased with the purchase for his family © 2011 Twentieth Century Fox
The closest we got to the bear was the scene where I was in the car and the bear actually did come right up to the window. But they put a little snack on the roof, so the bear didn't really see me, he was more interested in the snack.
When we did the scene out in the field, that was split screen, because we didn't want to relive Grizzly Man!
I was actually much more nervous about the snakes until Scarlett starting making fun of me, and then I tried to get over it as best I could. I think there was something about their being so many and watching the little kids handling them that eventually I got over it and was okay with it.
There were all different kinds of snakes and none of them were poisonous and none of them bit, so it was cool.

This is a movie that talks a lot about letting in the light. It's a particularly dark, cynical time in America, do you think it's important for films to hold out a glimmer of hope because people may not be able to find one elsewhere?

I know when Cameron talked to me about the movie very early on, one of the first things he said was, 'I see this as a piece of joy, and I think this is a good thing to put out into the world right now.' I always held onto that, because I think I intuitively agreed that that was true.

Hereafter (2010)

Hereafter, Matt Damon | OUT OF BODY Matt Damon sees dead people in Hereafter
Image credit: Ken Regan
OUT OF BODY Matt Damon sees dead people in Hereafter

The great philosopher Woody Allen once said, ''I do not believe in an afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear.'' For his foresight in travel planning, Allen deserves a discount from George (Matt Damon), a reluctant psychic in the cloudy and tremulous life-after-death drama Hereafter. Much to his own dismay, George is the real thing: He can connect with residents of the beyond simply by touching the hands of those who come to him pining for messages from loved ones no longer on this earth. And Damon — reunited with director Clint Eastwood following their work on Invictus — makes a sincere, low-key medium, conveying information like a reporter rather than a precious mystic. Anyway, George hates the gig. ''It's not a gift. It's a curse,'' he says. This is why, desperate to be ''normal,'' the tormented fellow takes a blue-collar factory job in San Francisco.

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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

THE MATT DAMON ACTING REVIEW

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Matt as Bourne
About Matt Damon (1970 - )
Matt Damon was born on October 8, 1970 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. With only 12 credits short of graduating to start his acting career, Matt dropped out of Harvard. He would appear that year in 1988's MYSTIC PIZZA; landing a one-line part for his first film role.
The following year Matt was an extra for the classic FIELD OF DREAMS (1989). During the shoot, Matt jumped on to Boston's Fenway Park to take some blades of grass for his father who's an avid "America's favorite pastime" fan.
His next role would be more profound, and highly demanding. In 1996 Damon would star in the blockbuster COURAGE UNDER FIRE after working diligently to shed 40 pounds for his role. The following year Damon would catapult to star status with his co-star Ben Affleck with their self-cast, co-writ screenplay-turned-major blockbuster, GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997).
An avid poker fan, in 1998 Damon played in a $10,000 buy-in Texas Hold 'Em tournament at the 1998 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas; lost during first day of tour. That same year, Damon's love of the cards landed him a role in the film ROUNDERS.
Matt has appeared on Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show" 2 times thus far. His first appearance was to promote the 2002 blockbuster, THE BOURNE IDENTITY. He would reappear in 2004 to promote the sequel, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY. He also lost another 22 pounds while training for the highly anticipated sequel. For fun, Damon started a bowling league in Berlin during the shooting of the SUPREMACY.
As of recent, Matt has starred in 7 movies where the title contains some part of his character's name in that movie: GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997), SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998), THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999), GERRY (2002), SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON (2002), THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002), and THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004).
Matt was chosen by People Magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1998. In June, 2002 Matt was named as one of E!'s "25 Most Eligible Bachelors".
Matt's uncle, George Brunstad, swam the English Channel on 29 August 2004 at the age of 70. He completed the 21 mile swim in 15 hours and 59 minutes, making him the new world record holder as the oldest person to complete the swim. In the process Mr. Brunstad raised $12,000 for a Haitian children's group.
Damon visited a hypnotist in LA to quit smoking.
Matt Damon's notable credits include...
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (2011)
HEREAFTER (2010)
GREEN ZONE (2010)
THE INFORMANT (2009)
MARGARET (2009)
YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH (2007)
OCEAN'S THIRTEEN (2007)
THE DEPARTED (2006)
SYRIANA (2005)
THE BROTHERS GRIMM (2005)
THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE (2000)
ALL THE PRETTY HORSES (2000)
DOGMA (1999)
RAINMAKER (1997)
CHASING AMY (1997)
GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND (1993)
MYSTIC PIZZA (1988)
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Matt Damon in THE GOOD SHEPHERD (2006)
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Matt Damon in TRUE GRIT (2010)
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Matt Damon in OCEANS THIRTEEN (2007)
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Damon in INVICTUS (2009)
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Matt Damon in ROUNDERS (1998)
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Matt Damon in THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999)
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Matt Damon in THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (2007)
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Matt Damon in DOGMA (1999)
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Matt Damon in OCEAN'S TWELVE (2004)
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Damon in THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004)
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Matt Damon’s GREEN ZONE Reviews

Green Zone: Amy Ryan, Matt Damon (top); director Paul Greengrass, Matt Damon on the Green Zone set

Paul Greengrass' Iraq War thriller Green Zone follows a US Army officer (Matt Damon) who discovers there's a government conspiracy at work to dupe Americans into believing Saddam Hussein's Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction." As to be expected, right-wingers have called the movie "anti-American," while US critics have given it mixed reviews.

An expensive production — $100 million, plus marketing and distribution costs — Green Zone took in only $14.5 million at the North American box office on its debut weekend, following a pattern of poor receipts for film productions set in Iraq. Unless Green Zone does exceedingly well on home video and pay per view, Universal and partner Relativity Films will in all likelihood lose a lot of money on this one. Not helping matters is the fact that the film's overseas box office hasn't been all that promising, with less than $10 million earned in several key territories.

Also in the Green Zone cast: Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, and Amy Ryan.

Consensus: Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass return to the propulsive action and visceral editing of the Bourne films — but a cliched script and stock characters keep those methods from being as effective this time around. Rotten Tomatoes.

"Green Zone looks at an American war in a way almost no Hollywood movie ever has: We're not the heroes, but the dupes. Its message is that Iraq's fabled 'weapons of mass destruction' did not exist, and that neocons within the administration fabricated them, lied about them and were ready to kill to cover up their deception. … Green Zone, directed by Paul Greengrass, is a thriller that makes no claim to be based on fact, but provides characters and situations that have uncanny real-life parallels." Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times.

"You have to hand it to Green Zone. Made with daring and passion, it attempts the impossible and comes remarkably close to pulling it off. So close, in fact, that the skill and audacity used, the shock and awe of this highly entertaining attempt, are more significant than the imperfect results." Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times.

"In Green Zone, director Paul Greengrass brings the frenetic, run-and-gun style with which he utterly transformed the movie thriller in the Jason Bourne series to a different kind of thriller, one with a sharper political edge. For Green Zone explores the Bush administration's willingness to embrace palpable lies over murky truths in order to sell the Iraq War to the American public." Kirk Honeycutt in The Hollywood Reporter.



Amy Ryan, Matt Damon in Green Zone
Paul Greengrass, Matt Damon Gree Zone

Monday, February 27, 2012

I guess I missed the memo about Matt Damon becoming...



Matt Damon Wallpapers

Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting (1997), from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck. The pair won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay for their work and Matt Damon received multiple Best Actor nominations, including the Academy Award, for his lead performance in the film.

Below you can find Matt Damon Wallpapers to decorate your desktop, hope you like them. I'll be updating the blog with latest Matt Damon Wallpapers as often as possible.

Matt Damon Wallpapers

Matt Damon Wallpapers

Matt Damon Wallpapers

Matt Damon Wallpapers

Matt Damon Wallpapers

Matt Damon Best Wallpapers

Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting (1997), from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck. The pair won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay for their work and Matt Damon received multiple Best Actor nominations, including the Academy Award, for his lead performance in the film.

Below you can find Matt Damon Best Wallpapers to decorate your desktop, hope you like them. I'll be updating the blog with latest Matt Damon Best Wallpapers as often as possible.

Matt Damon Best Wallpapers

Matt Damon Best Wallpapers

Matt Damon Best Wallpapers

Matt Damon Best Wallpapers

Matt Damon Best Wallpapers