Matt Damon knew it would be hard to look as good on-camera with a golf club as Tiger Woods. But after spending eight hours a day with a golf pro, “I got a swing together,” he says, reported Mr. Showbiz.com.
Joel Gretsch, the Robert Redford look-alike who plays legendary golfer Bobby Jones in the period film, relates, “when I got down to Savannah [Ga.], Matt had blisters on every finger from hitting practice balls. He’d keep hitting even though he was blistered.”
Damon is undergoing training of a different kind for his next movie, The Bourne Identity: assassin school. “I’m learning how to kill people,” he says, flashing his killer smile.
For this big-screen version of the Robert Ludlum thriller, Damon is teamed with Germany’s Run, Lola Run star Franka Potente. The story presents Damon as a man who wakes to discover he has amnesia. “He’s trying to find out who he is; he doesn’t remember. As the movie progresses, he finds a number of things about himself: He can speak a number of languages, and he’s a good fighter.”
And, obviously, a good killer. “I can kill you a number of ways, but the best way is to shoot [you],” he jokes.
Bagger Vance precedes the Christmas release of Damon’s long-awaited, elegiac Tex-Mex Western All the Pretty Horses. One reason for the year-long delay was director Billy Bob Thornton’s tussle with the two studios that co-produced the film, Columbia Pictures and Miramax, over running time.
“The version that opens at Christmas in theaters will be two hours, 14 minutes,” Damon reveals. “But two hours, 45 minutes on the DVD.”
On his opinion on which version is better, Damon says, “It depends,” he says. “If you love the [Cormac McCarthy] book, longer is better, but most people probably didn’t read the book and they’ll enjoy the [shorter] version. But to … tell that story and not make it look like a jagged MTV cut-cut-cut movie, it takes time. [You also have to take into account] the pace of that part of the country.” Damon flashes that grin again and adds, “It’s hot down there, and they talk a little slower.” - Albawaba.com.
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