Matt Damon used the Mumbai press conference for The Odyssey to speak about a missed chance from earlier in his career. The actor, who was in South Mumbai with Christopher Nolan, Tom Holland and producer Emma Thomas, said he still regrets not working with Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur on The Four Feathers.
The press meet was held at a five-star hotel as part of the film’s Mumbai promotions. During the interaction, Damon was asked whether he would like to work with an Indian filmmaker, and if there was a name he had in mind. His answer was direct: Shekhar Kapur.
Matt Damon names Shekhar Kapur
Damon said that Kapur was a filmmaker many people wanted to collaborate with. He then recalled that he had once been unable to do The Four Feathers, which Kapur directed. The film came at a time when Damon was tied to another major project.
“The filmmaker that everybody wanted to collaborate with is Shekhar Kapur. I remember when I couldn’t do The Four Feathers for some reason and I was really upset about that,” Damon said at the event. He added that he thought he was already signed up for a Bourne movie at the time.
The actor described the missed opportunity as something that has stayed with him for years. “I guess he’s always been on my list. I’d like to have another go. That’s like a 20-year-old debt that I have been carrying around in my pocket,” he said.
The remark drew attention because Damon did not answer in broad terms or with a general statement about Indian cinema. Instead, he named a specific filmmaker and connected it to a project he had missed earlier in his career.
Working with Christopher Nolan on The Odyssey
Damon also spoke at length about his experience on The Odyssey. He said the role came to him after decades of acting experience, and that he felt ready to take on a character he described as complex and fascinating.
He credited Christopher Nolan’s way of filming as a major part of the appeal. Damon said the production used practical work and in-camera methods, which made the experience feel like his chance to make a large-scale David Lean-style film.
“I felt such gratitude the moment he called me. I had a sense of what it was going to entail,” Damon said, referring to Nolan approaching him for the film.
The actor also pointed to the size of the production and the effort involved from people across different countries. He said the team worked in Greece, Iceland, Morocco and Italy, collecting crew members in each place for specific parts of the shoot.
According to Damon, each location brought in skilled crew members for that portion of the film. Once a section was completed, the unit moved on to the next country and the next set piece. He described the group as exceptional and said everyone involved seemed fully committed to the work.
Damon jokes about Emma Thomas producing the film
One of the lighter moments came when Damon spoke about producer Emma Thomas and the scale of coordination required for The Odyssey. He said he told Thomas early in the process that he was relieved not to be producing the film himself.
“I asked her, ‘What is wrong with you?’” Damon said, drawing laughs. He added that the level of coordination was beyond what most people could imagine.
Damon said Thomas explained the challenge by comparing the film to several productions being made together. He recalled her saying that the team had already handled difficult settings in earlier Nolan films, including underwater work in Dunkirk and mountain sequences in Batman. That experience, she told him, had prepared them for this film.
For Damon, the project required him to rely on everything he had learned over his career. He said he drew on every tool and every experience he had gathered to prepare for the role.
He ended his comments by saying he had the privilege of working alongside an extraordinary group of people. The Mumbai event, which brought together Nolan, Damon, Holland and Thomas, gave Indian audiences a closer look at the making of The Odyssey and also revealed Damon’s long-held wish to work with Shekhar Kapur.
Source: Bollywood Hungama.