Matt Damon says Clint Eastwood called him out for asking to break director’s strict film set rule

Actor swiftly realised he had to up his game while working with Eastwood

Matt Damon has revealed that Clint Eastwood once called him out for asking to break his hard and fast directing rule.

In 2009, the actor first worked with the actor-director, who famously likes to shoot just one take before moving on to the next.

Damon was asked how he found that experience during an interview with First We Feast, replying: “It was a little terrifying ‘cause I was playing a South African and that’s a really hard accent to do.”

The actor, who was starring in Invictus, says getting the accent right “required a lot of practice” and that the first take “went pretty well”, but he wanted to give it another go.

“Clint says, ‘Cut, print, check the gate,’ which means, ‘We’re done here, let’s move on,’” Damon recalled, adding that he then asked if they could repeat the scene.

“I say, ‘Boss, do you think maybe we can get one more?’” Damon said.

Here, Eastwood called the actor out, with Damon revealing: “He just turns and he goes, ‘Why? Do you want to waste everybody’s time?’ I was like,’ OK, we’re done! Alright, let’s move on.’”

Damon can currently be seen in Stillwater, the latest drama from Spotlight director Tom McCarthy.

Matt Damon in new film ‘Stillwater’ (Entertainment One)

The actor came under fire this month for saying he only recently decided to stop using a homophobic slur after his daughter criticised him for doing so.

“I made a joke, months ago, and got a treatise from my daughter,” he said. “She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous. I said, ‘I retire the f-slur!’ I understood.”

Damon issued a response to the furore, claiming that he has “never called anyone” the slur in his “personal life”, adding that “this conversation with my daughter was not a personal awakening”.