Matt Damon Talks About "The Good Shepherd"

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Were you worried the character was too unsympathetic? He lets and/or watches a lot of people die. He’s pretty ruthless.
“Well, nobody sees themselves as ruthless. If you look at it from his point of view, if you look at the stakes of the game he’s playing, you’re talking about the middle of the Cold War and in his mind he’s doing things to stop huge conflagrations. It’s like, ‘World War III is going to happen if I don’t do what I have to do.’ These tough choices have to be made. He’s the good shepherd and he’s taking care of his flock. He’s sacrificing, essentially, his own soul to make those decisions. That is another way to look at it.”

Does working on this character in The Good Shepherd change the way you look at Jason Bourne in that film series?
“It doesn’t affect the way I think of the Bourne character because they’re very different. To me, the Bourne character allows me to do… In between these two Bourne movies I did Syriana, Departed and Good Shepherd. Departed, at the time I signed up for it, it was thinking that it was not going to be a hit because Marty, classically, his movies don’t make a lot of money. So I felt like, bookended by the Bourne movies, I felt like I had a chance to make the movies I really wanted to make, that maybe were a little more challenging.

Syriana certainly was kind of a more challenging story. I was really happy to be able to be a part of it. I’m really proud of that movie. Departed, obviously, just surprised all of us, how well it’s done. And then this, which is very kind of epic, but it’s a tougher sell when you’re talking about getting a mass audience to the movie. It’s longer. Departed is over two and a half hours, also. But, as you say, the lead character, the protagonist, I’m not out there trying to get sympathy, elicit sympathy from the audience. It’s a tougher character, which I really like. I really like that kind of challenge.

I have a real limited chance to choose certain movies and I’m happy with the choices so far, because I think they’re a little more challenging. It doesn’t last forever. You guys see everybody come and go. I know the deal. I’ve been around. It’s like you breathe this rarefied air for a real short time and then there’s an ebb and flow to everything. Particularly with the choices I make, and the material I tend to be drawn to, I can’t be up here for long.”

Speaking of future projects, there’s a rumor you’ll play Captain Kirk in the next Star Trek movie.
“No, that was a total rumor.”

Do you want to play Kirk?
“If the script was good I'd do it. But, yeah, I heard that. I think J.J. Abrams or somebody said that at a press junket or something.”

What’s happening with The Bourne Ultimatum? Can Jason ever be happy?
“Yeah, that's a good question. Well, we're almost halfway through. I don't know if that guy can ever be happy.”

Does he know who he is?
“Well, he will by the end of this one. I don't know how long we can ride that pony. I'd like to think - maybe he'll get a bump on the head at the end or something.”

How’s it going?
“Really well. Paul [Greengrass] is directing it again, which is huge. I mean, that's the reason to do it because he's really just a great filmmaker. We have a story, and we have a story to tell. But looking at it, to be fair, we go, ‘Okay, I think this should be the last one.’ I'm half joking, but how long can you [last]? His search for identity is definitely going to come to an end.”

Maybe in 20 years you can do what Sylvester Stallone has done with the Rocky movie franchise.
“I would love that. If I'm like 100 pounds heavier, 'They pulled me back in! They won't let me go!' They're like, 'No, we don't give a s**t about you. What are you talking about?' Yeah, I think that's actually probably the only way to do another Bourne movie would be to do it 20 years down the road.”