Matt Damon has revealed that his castmates on Saving Private Ryan deliberately resented him – and that it was all part of director Steven Spielberg’s plan.
In a conversation with GQ about his most iconic roles, Damon discussed how Spielberg purposely kept him away from the rest of the cast during filming of the 1998 Second World War epic, in order to replicate the emotional tension written into the story.
Set during the Allied invasion of Normandy, Saving Private Ryan follows a squad of soldiers, led by Tom Hanks’ Captain Miller, sent deep behind enemy lines to find and bring home Private James Francis Ryan – played by Damon – after his brothers are killed in combat.
While the rest of the main cast underwent intensive military-style training before filming, Damon was intentionally excluded.
“He didn’t make me go to boot camp separately”, he told GQ, which would have already been a reason for the cast’s resentment. “He made me not go to boot camp so that the other guys would resent me.”
“So they all went through this kind of experience and they all bonded. But because I was the character they were looking for – and they resented this guy that they were risking their lives to go find”.
“Steven purposely kept me away from them and let them know that I hadn’t been made to go to boot camp. They’re a very tight, kind of cohesive unit. I’m an outsider, who they… they resent.”
Released in 1998, Saving Private Ryan earned widespread critical acclaim and went on to win five Academy Awards, including Best Director for Spielberg. Its unflinching depiction of combat – particularly the D-Day landing sequence – has since become one of the most referenced and studied scenes in modern war cinema.
Though Damon had auditioned for the role of Ryan, it wasn’t until a chance encounter arranged by the late Robin Williams that the part became his. At the time, Damon was rehearsing Good Will Hunting in Boston with Williams and Ben Affleck when Spielberg happened to be filming Amistad nearby.
“Robin took Ben and me to meet Steven, because he knew it was never a bad thing to meet, like, you know, the greatest filmmaker of all time,” Damon recalled.
Although Damon had lost 40 pounds for a role in Courage Under Fire, Spielberg recognised him and connected the dots. “He met me in person, and he said, ‘I think I know you from somewhere.’ And I said, ‘Well, I did this movie called Courage Under Fire,’ and he goes, ‘That’s the one!’”
Damon credits Williams with facilitating the meeting. “So Robin not only got our dream in Good Will Hunting made – he actually got me the role in Saving Private Ryan as well, in a way.”