Matt Damon has raised concerns about his new drama Stillwater being falsely marketed as a Taken-style thriller.
The film stars Damon as a blue-collar worker who tries to exonerate his daughter from a murder charge while she is imprisoned in France.
“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?” Damon said on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast this week.
The actor became concerned that Stillwater would be presented in a similar light in order to tap into Taken‘s existing audience.
“That’s why I worry if they sell it too much like a thriller,” Damon told Maron.
However, he also voiced his appreciation of the films that Stillwater may be falsely compared to.
“Those movies are great,” he said. “I’m the first guy, when Liam Neeson’s like, ‘I have a very particular set of skills,’ I’m like, ‘Fuck you dude, yeah. Let’s go! Let’s get ‘em.’”
Damon admitted that he was sharing his concerns as an actor as opposed to a producer. However, he added: “There are always these debates about do you bait and switch? Do you try to get people in the theatre and then they’re so wowed by the movie?”
He continued: “I’ve never ever believed that. I think you’ve got to be completely honest with the audience. This is what this movie is.”
Stillwater received its world premiere at Cannes this month. It received a standing ovation, which moved Damon visibly to tears at the time.
“I think we’ll all look back and remember this moment of launching out of COVID. And what a way to do it,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
“To be in the same room with 1,000 other people who are strangers, but are also part of the same community because we all love the same thing… it was such a great reminder of why we do this.”
Stillwater will be released in the UK on August 6.
