Why Matt Damon compared the action genre to “porn”
Everyone working in the film industry will want to put their best foot forward on every project that comes across their desk. No actor or director sets out to make failures, and every artist will want to spin even the flimsiest premise into something worth using in the long run. Though Matt Damon has been able to turn everything he touches into something substantial, he admits that one genre has inched closer towards adult entertainment.
When Damon first started in the film industry, though, he was already looking to make movies that emphasised a heavy element of the story. Although there may have been some operatic elements to his first handful of films, movies like Good Will Hunting were more in line with what Damon wanted to do as an actor, letting the audience see his artistic voice rather than marvel at the dramatic elements.
While Damon would carry that emotional weight into every other movie he made, there were times when the drama also took a back seat to the massive sets. Despite the heartbreaking story going on in Saving Private Ryan, for instance, the storming of the beach on D-Day that kicks off the film remains one of the most gut-wrenching scenes in cinema, featuring overly dramatised shots meant to depict what soldiers had to suffer through.
As the new millennium was dawning, the blockbuster films of old slowly started to give way to the massive sets that make up action movies. Whether it was the oncoming wave of superhero films that dominated the box office or the mass influx of franchises, fans were looking to movies to see the massive action rather than the depth of the characters.
When talking about the inflow of action setpieces, though, Damon thought that a certain amount of story was lacking throughout each new release. As much as fans may have had fun watching different badasses pummeling random thugs within an inch of their lives onscreen, Damon compared the experience to watching porn.
As opposed to the emotional weight of a drama, Damon thought that most action movies were about the pleasure of the audience, telling Moviehole, “They’re like porn movies. A porn movie’s got really bad writing, bad acting, and really thinly drawn characters. Then they have a really shitty scene, sit there and talk like, ‘Hey, I’m the milkman’, then you know what’s going to happen. Then there’s some action, for which you don’t really feel anything”.
For all of his critiques of the genre, though, Damon also saw the artistic value that came with action movies. When putting together films like The Bourne Identity with Paul Greengrass, Damon was interested in taking on a role that worked on multiple levels, where audiences could see both the stunning action scenes going on as well as the complex story of a cold-blooded assassin trying to piece together who he is.
Though Damon didn’t claim to be the one to fix the film genre, he always hoped that any of his action films would take a more nuanced look at the characters, explaining, “What I want to do is a character-driven porn movie! It’s all going to be about the characters and the porn’s going to grow out of the characters, and it’s going to serve as character development”.
