Matt Damon (44) gave an interview in a great mood suring the shooting of the super production, The Martian which is to be released next week, where a part of the planet Mars was set up in the gigantic Korda-studio.
Are you wearing a NASA-spacesuit?
Matt Damon: No, I don’t, but it’s very similar. The professionals from NASA have been giving advice since the beginning, and this was also made according to their instruction.
It’s comfortable but very heavy, as if someone was standing on my shoulder all the time. That’s why I took it half-way down.
Did you lose weight?
Matt Damon: Yes, I did. I have gone through a tough six month of time. I haven’t been shooting for one and a half year, I only played a supporting role in Interstellar, and so I could comfortably start training because an astronaut has to be in a good shape.
Has this been the biggest film production so far in which you play the main role?
Matt Damon: Yes, I think so, and everything proves this. Ridley (Ridley Scott, the director – the editor) is surrounded by many consultants and professionals, and this studio is also fascinating.
Have you seen that? It’s incredible! It’s the biggest scenery in the world.
Do you like Budapest as well?
Matt Damon: Oh yes, I’ve been here for a month, and I adore it. I think this is one of the world’s biggest walking cities, and people are very nice. It’s similar to Prague where I worked comparably a lot, and I’m delighted. I was just on the phone with one of my American friends yesterday, and when he asked me about Budapest I told him that if this city had been in America, I would have definitely moved there.
During most of the movie you are waiting lonely on the Mars. How did you prepare for it mentally?
Matt Damon: I kept on telling myself that if I had been left on the Mars I wouldn’t be alive twenty minutes later.
I can survive not even a shooting day without someone bringing me coffee. Jokes apart, I started with turning my phone off and leaving it home, and I went for a walk. During one of these strolls I realized that I really missed this kind of relaxing and the feeling of loneliness started to become self-defence against technology.
In the sci-fi, Interstellar, you impersonated a man left behind on the planet. Weren’t your friends joking?
Matt Damon: No, they weren’t, after I told them about my conversation with Ridley. I was explaining him that I was really interested in The Martian, but Chris Nolan’s new movie, Interstellar was in the cinemas that time in which I was impersonating a guy left on the planet, and then he wanted me to play the same roles twice?
Of course, he dissipated my doubts. He said that the two movies wouldn’t be similar; the characters were different, not even mentioning that by the time this got into the cinemas, viewers wouldn’t remember the previous one.
Why were you interested in The Martian?
Matt Damon: Because Andy Weir’s novel and Drew Goddard’s screenplay are love letters to science. They show very authentically what happens if a scientist stays alone on the red planet. I loved this kind of rationality.