Clint Eastwood Shut Down Matt Damon on Set, Asking 'Why Waste Everybody's Time?'

Clint Eastwood bluntly shut down Matt Damon's request for another take while filming "Invictus," the actor said while recounting an early lesson from the veteran director.

Damon, who starred as South African rugby captain Francois Pienaar in the film, said on the "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" podcast that working with Eastwood challenged many of his expectations.

While discussing the directors he has worked with, host Conan O'Brien said he struggled to pinpoint Eastwood's directing style, prompting Damon to share an early experience from their first collaboration.

"I worked with him twice, and the first time was 'Invictus,'" Damon said. "So I was playing a South African rugby player, and that's a really tough accent to do."

Damon said he spent six months working with a dialect coach to master the accent, arriving on set prepared and eager to impress Eastwood, whom he described as one of his heroes.

"It was a long ... it was a lot of work," Damon said. "And I showed up and, and I'm, I'm ready. It's like my chance to work with, you know, one of my heroes."

According to Damon, Eastwood showed little interest in extended takes or experimentation during filming. Damon said that after the first take of his initial scene, Eastwood immediately moved on.

"The very first take, I did it. And meanwhile, I've done this so many thousands of times. I have a number of different ways that I'm thinking of maybe doing the scene. So he goes, 'Cut, print, move on.'"

Damon said he asked to try the scene again, explaining that he was not yet in costume and wanted another attempt. Eastwood's response, Damon recalled, was blunt.

"He goes, 'Why you wanna waste everybody's time?'"

Damon said he quickly accepted the decision and moved on.

"I went, 'No, I guess we're moving on.'"

Despite the exchange, Damon said he later came to appreciate Eastwood's approach on set.

He cited a later scene in "Invictus" involving a non-professional child actor.

"He is a lovely guy. What was really interesting is the second movie I did with him, there was this ... it builds to a head with this, a scene with me and this 9-year-old kid," Damon said. "The 9-year-old kid was a non-actor, and we had done one take for everybody, all through 'Invictus.'"

Damon said the production shot dozens of takes to help the child deliver an emotional performance.

"We must have done 40 takes with this little boy ... we were trying to get this; it was this kind of huge moment in the film, and we were trying to get this stuff out of him. Clint was right next to me ... like, we were right next to the camera together just working with this boy."

Damon said Eastwood generally avoided multiple takes unless they were necessary.

"His whole mentality was ... your crew will go to the ends of the earth for you if as long as you're not taxing them on every shot. When we need to get in there, we get in there. But for the most part we can ... professional actors are gonna show up with something good. We keep the momentum."

"Invictus," which stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, depicts South Africa's 1995 Rugby World Cup victory and its symbolic role in uniting the country after apartheid. 

While the film received critical acclaim, it has also drawn criticism from some figures involved in the real events.

Earlier this year, former All Blacks head coach Laurie Mains said he refused to watch the film, arguing it presents what he views as a distorted version of history. Mains said he avoided the movie entirely.

"I haven't seen it," he replied when asked if he was happy with the actor cast to depict him. "I would have had trouble believing that it was a true account of what happened, so I didn't want to get infuriated by going to see someone's twisted version."

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