Casey Affleck Thinks Perfectionism Keeps Matt Damon from Directing
“You have to have faith in yourself,” Casey told Rob Lowe.
Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM
This week on SiriusXM’s “Literally! With Rob Lowe” podcast, Casey Affleck shared that he regularly tries to get Matt Damon to direct his movies, including “The Instigators” — but Matt always turns him down.
“I wish that Matt would direct, because he understands movie-making so well, and he is such a good writer,” Casey told Rob. “Every time I get a script, I send it to him to direct, including ‘Instigators.’ I sent it to him and I said, ‘Would you direct this?’ And, like as always, he said no.”
“Why does he not wanna direct?” Rob asked. “What reason does he give? Is it just the time [commitment] thing?”
“I think it was, yeah, maybe that is it,” Casey said. “It’s partly the time commitment. Because he likes to work and he wants to go from one to the next … He wants to do a lot of things and he thinks, ‘I don’t wanna be on one thing for 18 months,’ you know?”
He continued, “Then also, maybe, he’s waited so long that he thinks it has to be perfect. He’s never said that, and I don’t mean that as a slight, but I think he has to find something that is perfect. And I think, ‘Man, you’ll make it [perfect], whatever it is that you take on. If it’s the phone book or an adaptation of “Flintstones” or it’s something like “Ordinary People,” you will make it great. You have to have faith in yourself.’
“And I believe that about my own choices, things that I take on,” Casey added. “I think it’s gonna be whatever’s inside of me. You don’t have to guess at the quality of things. It’s gonna be whatever you decide to contribute to it and are capable of making it. And so, I try to get him to direct things all the time. And he says no.”
Casey Affleck joins Rob Lowe to discuss his new film, “The Instigators,” the value of sobriety, the understated genius of Matt Damon, their first movie theater memories, the “Outsiders” audition process, actors as directors (and directors as actors), some excellent advice from Michael Caine, and much more. New episodes of “Literally! With Rob Lowe” premiere every Thursday on the SiriusXM app.
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