Matt Damon on The Monuments Men and How it Felt Like Its an Oceans Movie

In September 2009, American writer and businessman Robert Edsel released “The Monuments Men,” a compelling account of a group of middle aged museum directors, curators and art historians tasked with going into Germany in the closing stages of World War II to try and rescue artworks requisitioned by the Nazis.

“The Monuments Men,” produced, directed and starred in by George Clooney along with a very impressive cast including Matt Damon, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, Leonidas Dmitri, Hugh Bonneville and Cate Blanchett is set amidst a war that cost the lives of 65 million people when mankind’s cultural and artistic fingerprint is at risk of being destroyed. Their small group of middle aged museum curators and artists and architects, called The Monuments Men, the most unlikely of spies, who volunteer to go into military service and try and save these things and ultimately recover them.

Matt Damon was one of the many to get the direct approach. Damon further discusses in the following q&a of his involvement in the film and working with a great cast.

Q: How did you first get involved with Monuments Men?

A: “I was on my way to pick up my kids from school and I got an email from George [Clooney] that said, “Are you busy in the spring?” So when I got home, I called him and he told me a little bit about what he was up to and then he sent me the script. I read it and instantly just loved it. That was maybe four or five months before we started shooting. But I literally had no notes on the script at all. Grant and George had done all of the heavy lifting already so it was a very easy movie to just kind of slide right into.

Q: Were you aware at all of the original Monuments Men story and their wartime activities?

A: No, I actually didn't know anything about it. I’m surprised that such a great story had eluded me in every history class I had ever taken about World War II. And this idea of these guys who were, you know, a little past their prime soldiering years, kind of dropping everything and going through basic training and going to the front, risking their lives to save artwork was just an incredibly compelling story.

Q: You’re friends with Clooney. Does that make the working process easier or trickier in any way?

A: It makes it much easier because, you know, there's just a shorthand. He doesn't have to spend any time worrying about my feelings. There’s an implicit trust there that goes both ways. If I'm screwing up a scene, he can say that to me!

Q: What kind of a director is Clooney?

A: He's both very in control and very relaxed, which is really the mark of a great director. He never raised his voice. There was never any tension on set. Even though this was a very big film, in terms of cost and production value, it went along like we were doing a tiny little kitchen sink drama. It was right on schedule and I think they even came in under budget.



Q: Would you say Monuments Men was similar to other ensemble films that you've been in, like the Ocean's movies?

A: Yeah, it's similar to the Ocean's movies, I think. Partly, hopefully, in tone. It should feel fun and entertaining, the way those movies did. And I think in terms of process, it was extremely similar as well: thea ctors had a blast. But these movies are always the hardest for the director and the producers. So for George, directing and producing and starring in it and having written it, and then Grant – who wrote it with George and then produced it – those guys were very focused and had a lot on their plate. I mean, we were all focused too; we just had less on our plate.

Q: Clooney is notorious for on-set pranks. Were you the victim of any on this film?

A: Well, he never copped to this to me, but he did give an interview saying that he was taking in my wardrobe by like, a 16th of an inch every few days. Which, I had attributed to my poor eating habits while I was making the movie. But it makes a lot of sense when I heard that! [Laughs] Honestly though, he was so busy on this one. He'd always have a big dinner on Saturday night with the cast and the crew. But that was like a two- or three-hour thing and the only free time that he really allowed himself. He and Grant had their heads down on this one.



The greatest heist story in history is about to be told when “The Monuments Men” opens February 12 in cinemas nationwide from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

2014's Best Actress Frontrunner Cate Blanchett in The Monuments Men

Cate Blanchett, this year’s Best Actress winner at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and Critics’ Choice Movie Awards (for her role in “Blue Jasmine”) and nominated at the 86th Academy Awards (Oscars) stars in a sweeping true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history where she is the only woman among “The Monuments Men.”

Based on the real history chronicled in the non-fiction book “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History” by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter, “The Monuments Men” is an action drama focusing on seven over-the-hill, out-of-shape museum directors, artists, architects, curators, and art historians who went to the front lines of WWII to rescue the world’s artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their rightful owners. The Monuments Men found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements.

The film is directed, co-written, co-produced and starred in by George Clooney with a phenomenal ensemble cast including Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett.

Cate Blanchett rounds out the cast as Claire Simone, a Frenchwoman in a unique position in Occupied France. “This story opens up the Second World War in a way that gives you a different perspective on it,” says Cate Blanchett, who plays a key role as Claire Simone, a woman who holds the key to the secret location of thousands of priceless pieces of stolen art.

“These men were spurred on by a higher ideal. So many of the works that we take for granted in the great museums of the world were returned by this band of men – it was a near impossible task. Absurd, in a way: non military men going to the front lines and asking generals to stop bombing a certain church or area to save a window, or a sculpture or mural – you wonder how they were able to save anything at all. It’s an extraordinary, selfless thing that they did, done to preserve history.”

“Claire Simone is a curator at the Jeu de Paume – once an art museum but became a kind of depot for art looted by the Nazis,” Blanchett explains. “But her real work goes on at night, when she records the provenance of the works and where they were being taken in an obsessively detailed way. She’s the catalyst for the third act of the movie – the Monuments Men know the works are disappearing but they don’t know where they are going, and they need her information.”

Blanchett says that there was truly something different about the ways the Nazis went about looting art. “In every war, there’s looting. What was shocking to me was the mathematical, calculated and systematic way the Nazis went about their looting, and the fact that their acquisition of works began as early as 1938.”

The other element that made the Nazi looting different was the so-called Nero Decree. “When Hitler realized he was going to lose the war, he ordered that everything the Nazis had amassed was going to be destroyed. He was going to leave nothing in the hands of the victors,” Blanchett explains. “In relation to the art, what the Nero Decree meant was that everything that they had stolen was to be destroyed.”

“Matt’s character, Granger, must win her trust,” Blanchett continues. “There was an understandable fear on the part of the French that, if the works were recovered by the Allies from the Nazis, they’d simply go to collections or collectors in Russia and the United States. From that standpoint, did it really matter whether it was stolen by the Germans, the Russians or the Americans?”

Ultimately, Granger and Simone forge an unusual bond, Blanchett says. “I think the love story that exists between them is a mutual love of art, of culture.” Blanchett says. “They are both gripped – passionately gripped – by the importance of saving this work for all time. They believe that no single person can ever truly own a masterpiece. It’s for everyone. So, I think they’re united in the nobility of the cause.”

Blanchett’s character is inspired by Rose Valland, a French woman who bravely and secretly kept track of the Nazis’ systematic tracking, risking her life in the process. “Rose Valland was, at first, a volunteer and then overseer at the Jeu de Paume, which adjoins the Louvre. During the war, it was a depot for looted Jewish art collections and other objects. Hermann Göring basically used the Jeu de Paume as a shopping mall – the Nazis set it up like an exhibition space for the pilfered art,” Blanchett explains. “Her work singlehandedly saved crate-loads, castle-loads full of works of art that otherwise could have easily been destroyed. The fact that she was working alone was an act of extraordinary bravery. I think she was able to achieve what she did because she didn’t stand out – she was the woman least likely.”

“The Monuments Men” opens February 12 in cinemas nationwide from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

ELYSIUM Review

Neil Blomkamp packs an emotional punch with his new film ELYSIUM gritty visuals with something missing in the formula.

The film is a roller coaster ride of emotion with Matt Damon's Max as the central POV. There's a lot of cool moments in the film but I feel that there's a missing piece in the movie that could've made it really, really stunning. Still, as it is, the movie is a smart addition to the sci-fi genre and poses an important question. "What gives the rich the right to deprive the poor?"



THE GOOD

- Matt Damon's take on the character was nice. Not awesome just nice. Blomkamp and co. definitely made the right choice for casting Damon as the down-on-his-luck Max. The actor channels 'tortured hero' pretty good.

- It's nice to see Diego Luna back in Hollywood movies again. The Y Tu Mama Tambien star has been absent for a while now and seeing him on screen was nice. Too bad the dude hasn't really broken into Hollywood big leagues.

- Sharlto Copely was a great villain here in Elysium. His Krueger is menacing and annoying at the same time. Plus points for his insane looking gear which includes a force field and a sinister sword/machete.

- The visuals here were top notch. Really worked extremely well with the IMAX technology. Giving twice the dose of greatness because it played on the Blomkamp's penchant for using wide angle establishing shots.

- Another Blomkamp related remark. Props to the director's consistency when doing sci-fi stuff. He just love dumpsite/ Payatas looking setting. Made me suddenly wish that Blomkamp's location crew discovers Payatas and other outlying dumpsites and use that for the setting of his other sci-fi flicks.

- I love the meta/ visual representation of the social classes here. The rich are so far away, so isolated and so ABOVE everything in Elysium while the poor live in crappy living quarters where they die needlessly. That actually is a good mirroring of current events and society. I'll give like a hundred points on Blomkamp for doing this movie.

THE BAD

- Seriously they marketed the film as a movie with Jodie Foster but the actress was barely there. Hell, William Fitchner had more stuff going on here than Foster. I'd say that was a total waste of good casting. They could have tried somebody else to deliver all those lines Foster just wasted. And if you're hoping for a juicier villain role for this Academy nominated actress, you're in for a hell of a disappointment.

- For the love of god I had a hard time understanding Copely's dialogues. Yeah, the actor played Krueger pretty damn well but they could've toned down the accent by a bit. Another case of good acting thrown down by bad accents.

- If you're expecting more slam bang action here in ELYSIUM you'll seriously be disappointed because whatever trailer you've seen, those are the only key action scenes. They should've left out other stuff like this for when people actually see the movie and not before.

Verdict: (- B) I'm good with ELYSIUM. Something OK, but not something to write home about. It's a decent film with lots of things going on and a big social commentary as well. But if you'll be seeing the movie for the sci-fi fight scenes and exoskeleton man breaking down robots then you'll surely be disappointed. BUT AGAIN, I can't stress enough that the movie is exceedingly good if you don't throw it amongst other science fiction films that came out lately.

Special thanks to Columbia Pictures Philippines for the invitation and for the photos. ELYSIUM now showing!

Futuristic Thriller "Elysium" Lands in IMAX Starting Sept 4

IMAX Corporation along with TriStar Pictures and Media Rights Capital recently announced that “Elysium,” filmmaker Neill Blomkamp's (“District 9”) futuristic action film starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, will be digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX® format and released in IMAX® theatres worldwide.

In the Philippines, “Elysium” opens in IMAX theaters on Sept. 04, simultaneous with 2D and regular cinemas nationwide.



"Neill Blomkamp is the kind of innovative, creative storyteller that moviegoers seek out, and we are thrilled to bring this highly anticipated film to IMAX audiences worldwide," said Greg Foster, CEO of IMAX Entertainment and Senior Executive Vice President IMAX Corp.

"`Elysium' is one of the most highly anticipated films of the summer, so we're pleased that audiences will have the chance to see Neill Blomkamp's vision for the future in IMAX's immersive format," said Rory Bruer, president, Worldwide Distribution for Sony Pictures.

The IMAX release of Elysium will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX's customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

About Elysium



In the year 2154, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined planet. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the crime and poverty that is now rampant throughout the land. The only man with the chance to bring equality to these worlds is Max (Matt Damon), an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission – one that pits him against Elysium's Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces – but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.

Written and directed by Neill Blomkamp. The QED International / Alphacore Studios / Kinberg Genre production is produced by Bill Block, Neill Blomkamp, and Simon Kinberg.

“Elysium” is distributed in the Philippines by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Matt Damon, at the Center of Two Worlds in "Elysium" (Opens Sept 04)

Matt Damon takes on the lead role of Max in TriStar Pictures' futuristic action thriller “Elysium” whose socio-political message underneath the gripping action scenes isn't lost on the actor.

“I like to think it’s a hopeful message,” Damon says. “Even in a future where it’s every man for himself, it’ll be possible for a human being to hold on to his humanity.”

In the year 2154, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined planet. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the crime and poverty that is now rampant throughout the land. The only man with the chance to bring equality to these worlds is Max, an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission – one that pits him against Elysium’s Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces – but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.

At the center of the chaos on Earth, between the two worlds, is Max. “Max needs to get to Elysium to save himself, but in his desperation, he gets involved in a plot that makes him realize that the problem is much bigger than him,” says director Neill Blomkamp. “And he ends up fighting for something more than himself, fighting to save other people on Earth.”

“Max, like a lot of people on Earth, has always aspired to get to Elysium,” says Damon. “That was his dream. But he grew up. You get the idea that he’s been a petty criminal, but on an Earth where resources are so scarce that everybody’s hustling in some way, he’s just doing what he’s got to do to get by. He’s been beaten up by life and now, he’s resigned to his life on Earth. He doesn’t dream about Elysium anymore. But in the movie, he’s put in a position to become the only person who can change things.”



Max is an entirely different look for Damon – shaven, tattooed, muscle-bound. “Neill was very specific about every detail and how he wanted the character to look,” says Damon. “He provided us all with pictures of the characters. I don’t think anybody had ever done that for me before – literally handed me a picture of the character with his shirt off. So I went to my trainer and I said, ‘Make me look like that,’ and a great trainer can do that.”

Damon says that he was inspired to join the project by the chance to work with Blomkamp. “Like everybody, I saw `District 9,' and like everybody, I freaked out,” he says. “Neill jumped to the top of the list of people that I wanted to work with. So when I heard that he wanted to meet with me about his next movie, I met him for coffee. He pulled out a kind of graphic novel that he had designed himself that explained the whole world of Elysium. He’d designed it all, built it all already. He just needed us to help him bring it to life. And that was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”



Matt Damon has been honored for his work on both sides of the camera, most recently earning Academy Award®, Screen Actors Guild Award® and Critics’ Choice Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of South African rugby hero Francois Pienaar in Clint Eastwood’s true-life drama “Invictus.” In addition, he also garnered dual Golden Globe Award nominations that year: one for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “Invictus” and one for Best Actor for his starring role in Steven Soderbergh’s “The Informant!” Earlier in his career, Damon won an Academy Award® for Best Screenplay and received an Oscar® nomination for Best Actor, both for his breakthrough feature “Good Will Hunting.”

Opening across the Philippines on Sept. 04, “Elysium” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.columbiapictures.com.ph to see the latest trailers, get free downloads and play free movie games.

First Look Photos and The Untold Story of The Monuments Men Revealed

A whole lot of art loot is at stake in the action-thriller “The Monuments Men” produced, directed and starred by George Clooney along with an all-star, high-caliber cast including Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman and Jean Dujardin.

Based on the non-fiction tome by Robert Edsel, “The Monuments Men” takes us back to World War II when Western Allies protect heritage sites at risk during the war and recover art treasures from the Nazis.

Clooney who also produced the Oscar-winner “Argo” collaborates with writer/producer Grant Heslov in “The Monuments Men” to film an untold chapter during WWII when a group of men and women from different countries recovered thousands of stolen artworks perpetrated during the war. The task began with a small group of determined art professionals drafted for war – architects, designers and museum staff who will identify and protect museums, churches and other significant “monuments” from damage. As the Allies pressed farther into occupied territory, the team had to determine what had been stolen and where it was hidden.

An impossible mission with an unlikely set of platoon trapped within enemy lines, “The Monuments Men” found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture and risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements.

“The Monuments Men” will soon screen in local cinemas (January 2014) from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

More Details for Matt Damon's Character in New Elysium Trailer

Now we finally find out why Matt Damon's character is seen wearing that robotic frame thanks to the new trailer for Columbia Pictures' Elysium directed by District 9 director Neill Blomkamp.

The science-fiction thriller “Elysium” starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster has launched its second trailer which can be viewed here .

In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) will stop at nothing to preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium – but that doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in by any means they can. Max (Matt Damon) agrees to take on a life-threatening mission, one that could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

Matt Damon Fights the Future in Elysium

Columbia Pictures' upcoming science-fiction thriller “Elysium” starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster releases its teaser trailer which can be viewed here at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmbbjECrCmo.

In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) will stop at nothing to preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium – but that doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in by any means they can. Max (Matt Damon) agrees to take on a life-threatening mission, one that could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

Sneak Peek: Matt Damon in Elysium

Columbia Pictures gives a sneak peek of Matt Damon who headlines the upcoming science-fiction thriller “Elysium.”