Saturday, September 2, 2017

Matt Damon answers, "Have you ever met Trump?"

HR:
And it’s become darker in the wake of Charlottesville.

We made the movie last year and it’s incredible to see what’s happened in Charlottesville. It’s horrible. A lot of people, myself included, are really waking up to the extent of the existing racism, and it’s so much worse than I naively thought. I just feel naïve at this point. It was shocking to see those kids — they looked 20 and 30 years old — in button-down shirts, with Tiki torches, walking down the street. I thought, “Those people are a lot younger than me. Who raised them?” Again, I naively thought that, behind our generation, [another one] was coming with more awareness and inclusiveness, and that everything was getting better with each generation. And to see these young, aggrieved, white boys walking with their torches and screaming “Jews will not replace us!” It was just shocking. Then the night that the President [made his] “many sides” comment was absolutely abhorrent. Sadly, I feel the movie was made at the right time.

Have you ever met Trump?

No. The deal was that if you wanted to shoot in one of his buildings, you had to write him in a part. [Director] Martin Brest had to write something in Scent of a Woman — and the whole crew was in on it. You have to waste an hour of your day with a bullshit shot: Donald Trump walks in and Al Pacino’s like, “Hello, Mr. Trump!” — you had to call him by name — and then he exits. You waste a little time so that you can get the permit, and then you can cut the scene out. But I guess in Home Alone 2 they left it in.