Page 25 - The Hollywood Reporter (January 2020)

was an unconventional portrayal their hands over their mouths
Were you surprised by Ford v
Ferrari’s box office success?
I wasn’t surprised, because I feel
like making movies, in a funny
way, is like having a relationship
or falling in love. You’re so con-
vinced that you can’t believe that
anybody would see it any other
way. But, yes, I always breathe
a sigh of relief when it finds its
people. And the thing that really
pleased me about this movie is
that women didn’t necessarily
know it was for them. And yet,
they loved the movie so much.
And we experienced that in the
T H E
preview and screening process.
And it was true, after the movie
was released, with kids, too. It
actually plays as an all-audience
movie, an intergenerational
movie in a way that was really
gratifying and hard to predict.
Were there any conversations
around making Caitriona Balfe’s
role not fall into the “wife waiting
by the phone” category?
I think one of the really mov-
ing things about Christian’s
character is that he had a real
partnership with his wife. It
H O L L Y W O O D R E P O R T E R 2 1 J A N U A R Y
of a marriage in that era. I think
it was important to Jim to be
true to the story, and the story
was about the two guys, but to
have that aspect of Miles’ life
fleshed out in a nuanced and
interesting way. Yes, there were
conversations about [Caitriona’s
role]. It’s not like, in terms of
real estate, she occupies a ton of
screen time, but she does have a
pretty big impact in terms of the
way people perceive his charac-
ter and his choices. And she is
such a great actress. Honestly,
it’s hard figuring out who can go
toe-to-toe with Christian Bale in
a scene. There were much more
veteran actresses who [Mangold]
might have chosen for that
role, but she’s so watchable and
engaging and had a little bit of a
surprising spark. She really held
her own with him.
What are some of the best reac-
tions you’ve gotten to the film?
Well, the film was very emotional
to me. I still cry at the end, every
time. But you never know how
that is going to impact other peo-
ple. I was thrilled, surprised and
ecstatic that people were so on
the edge of their seats during that
final race — because that’s a long
time to ask people to stay with
a single event. I have seen the
movie in a theater with people so
many times now, and it happens
every time. You look back at the
whole theater and people [have]
“At this stage in our careers, we just
wanted to have fun.” MATT DAMON
From left:
Disney Studios
co-chairman
Alan Horn,
actor Christian
Bale, producers
Peter Chernin
and Jenno
Topping,
actor Matt
Damon and
Disney Studios
co-chairman
Alan Bergman
at the film's
Nov. 4
L.A. premiere. and clarity.
2 0 2 0 A W A R D S
or their eyes or they are gasp-
ing, and you feel like you are in
a very different type of movie.
I love how much humor people
found in the film. When you see
it with big groups of people, there
is a lot of laughter. On a personal
note, I feel like we are in such an
ugly moment politically, socially,
culturally; even though the
’60s were not exactly a peaceful
time, this movie in particular
depicts people who care so much
about what they are doing and
one another that I found it really
personally moving. I think part of
it is the contrast in terms of what
we are surrounded by right now.
As someone with a long history of
working with female directors, what
are your thoughts on the all-male
directing nominees this year?
I mean, it sucks. A journalist
told me the other day that I’ve
produced more movies with
women directors than any other
producer working in Hollywood.
I have no idea if that is true or not,
but it’s a huge value for me. Of
course, I want more representa-
tion, and everybody has to just
keep working at it. It indicates
that something is a little bit
screwy — this is the second film
I’ve had that the director didn’t
get nominated but the movie did.
So the pain Greta [Gerwig], Lulu
[Wang] and various other people
are feeling is real, but it’s also the
pain Jim is feeling.
What other nominated film or per-
formance did you admire?
I, like everybody else, thought
Parasite was just insanely good. I
really loved it and admired it. I just
saw The Two Popes, and I thought
that was great. All of them. I think
it’s a really strong year. It’s weird
how that happens. There are years
when it seems it’s a desert, and
there are years where there’s just
so much good work being done.
Interview edited for length
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