‘Cillian’s films are a return to classic cinema’ – Damon
OSCAR-nominated Cillian Murphy has bonded with his Oppenheimer co-star Matt Damon over their shared passion for old fashioned ‘movie magic’ in the era of streaming giants.
Damon and his Goodwill Hunting (1997) co-star Ben Affleck’s production, Artists’ Equity, has backed Murphy’s latest project, Small Things Like This, based on the award-winning novella by Claire Keegan, and filmed in New Ross, Co. Wexford.
A source said Damon was very taken with the smallbudget drama, the likes of which, he noted, are often overlooked at cinemas now dominated by superhero blockbusters.
The source told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘Matt was talking to Cillian about Good Will Hunting and other films from the 90s and how he is passionate about bringing films to cinemas.
‘The two of them believe that the magic of movies is the cinema experience.’ According to the source, Damon said of the drama – the storyline of which centres on a Magdalene Laundry and has already received an extraordinary 100% rating on the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes: ‘This film doesn’t pander. It’s asking the audience to care about cinema.
‘I believe there is enough of an audience in the world that still does. I am really grateful to bring a movie like this into theatres and we will see what happens.’
Damon’s comments echo comments he made in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter in which he said that, although the film deals with a serious subject matter, the road to making the movie was ‘blissful’ and marries ‘kismet’ with ‘serendipity,
Murphy, 47, is tipped to become the first Irish-born actor to win the Best Actor Oscar at the Academy Awards next Sunday.
Damon, 53, recently joked that his Oppenheimer costar’s dedication to his craft made him the ‘worst dinner companion ever’.
Asked about Damon’s description of him, Murphy responded, laughing: ‘Yeah, I mean, I’ve always been like that, I think,’ but added that he had had ‘lots of lovely dinners’ with Damon ‘since the movie’s finished and we’ve been out promoting it and stuff’.
Oppenheimer’s starstudded cast also features Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jnr, Florence Pugh, Gary Oldman and Casey Affleck. The epic leads this year’s Oscar pack with 13 nominations including the big one, Best Picture.