Matt Damon has said that he “worries” about his new film Stillwater being potentially mis-marketed as a Taken-style thriller.
Stillwater is the latest drama from Spotlight director Tom McCarthy, and sees Damon play Bill Baker, a “roughneck from Oklahoma” who tries to exonerate his daughter from a murder charge while she is imprisoned in France.
Damon discussed the film on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. Maron introduced the film by saying: “When my producer told me about the movie, and what it’s about, it’s a guy who goes to save his daughter, I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be a franchise thing?”
“That’s the thing. It feels like it’s gonna be a Liam Neeson movie, right?” replied Damon.
“That’s why I worry if they sell it too much like a thriller. It’s a thriller set-up, but it really is a drama.”
The podcast host then asked Damon whether he had a “discussion” about how the film would be sold to audiences, and whether the film’s writer was upset about how it had been marketed.
“No, no, no, this is me kind of lobbing a grenade from the sideline,” Damon responded. “I’m not a producer on the movie. I’m just an actor on this one.
“Listen: there are always these debates about, do you bait and switch? Do you try and get people in the theatre and then they’re so wowed by the movie...? But I’ve never, ever, ever believed that. I think you gotta be completely honest with the audience. This is what this movie is.”
The film has earned broadly positive reviews from critics, with Damon’s performance often singled out for particular praise.
Stillwater is out in UK cinemas on 6 August.
