2020-01-23 The Hollywood Reporter

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 21 JANUARY 2020 AWARDS 1

From left:

Disney Studios

co-chairman

Alan Horn,

actor Christian

Bale, producers

Peter Chernin

and Jenno

Topping,

actor Matt

Damon and

Disney Studios

co-chairman

Alan Bergman

at the film's

Nov. 4

L.A. premiere.

Were you surprised by Ford v
Ferrari’s box office success?
I wasn’t surprised, because I feel
like making movies, in a funny
way, is like having a relationship
or falling in love. You’re so con-
vinced that you can’t believe that
anybody would see it any other
way. But, yes, I always breathe
a sigh of relief when it finds its
people. And the thing that really
pleased me about this movie is
that women didn’t necessarily
know it was for them. And yet,
they loved the movie so much.
And we experienced that in the

preview and screening process.

And it was true, after the movie

was released, with kids, too. It

actually plays as an all-audience

movie, an intergenerational

movie in a way that was really

gratifying and hard to predict.

Were there any conversations

around making Caitriona Balfe’s

role not fall into the “wife waiting

by the phone” category?

I think one of the really mov-

ing things about Christian’s

character is that he had a real

partnership with his wife. It

was an unconventional portrayal

of a marriage in that era. I think

it was important to Jim to be

true to the story, and the story

was about the two guys, but to

have that aspect of Miles’ life

fleshed out in a nuanced and

interesting way. Yes, there were

conversations about [Caitriona’s

role]. It’s not like, in terms of

real estate, she occupies a ton of

screen time, but she does have a

pretty big impact in terms of the

way people perceive his charac-

ter and his choices. And she is

such a great actress. Honestly,

it’s hard figuring out who can go

toe-to-toe with Christian Bale in

a scene. There were much more

veteran actresses who [Mangold]

might have chosen for that

role, but she’s so watchable and

engaging and had a little bit of a

surprising spark. She really held

her own with him.

What are some of the best reac-

tions you’ve gotten to the film?

Well, the film was very emotional

to me. I still cry at the end, every

time. But you never know how

that is going to impact other peo-

ple. I was thrilled, surprised and

ecstatic that people were so on

the edge of their seats during that

final race — because that’s a long

time to ask people to stay with

a single event. I have seen the

movie in a theater with people so

many times now, and it happens

every time. You look back at the

whole theater and people [have]

“At this stage in our careers, we just

wanted to have fun.” MATT DAMON

their hands over their mouths

or their eyes or they are gasp-

ing, and you feel like you are in

a very different type of movie.

I love how much humor people

found in the film. When you see

it with big groups of people, there

is a lot of laughter. On a personal

note, I feel like we are in such an

ugly moment politically, socially,

culturally; even though the

’60s were not exactly a peaceful

time, this movie in particular

depicts people who care so much

about what they are doing and

one another that I found it really

personally moving. I think part of

it is the contrast in terms of what

we are surrounded by right now.

As someone with a long history of

working with female directors, what

are your thoughts on the all-male

directing nominees this year?

I mean, it sucks. A journalist

told me the other day that I’ve

produced more movies with

women directors than any other

producer working in Hollywood.

I have no idea if that is true or not,

but it’s a huge value for me. Of

course, I want more representa-

tion, and everybody has to just

keep working at it. It indicates

that something is a little bit

screwy — this is the second film

I’ve had that the director didn’t

get nominated but the movie did.

So the pain Greta [Gerwig], Lulu

[Wang] and various other people

are feeling is real, but it’s also the

pain Jim is feeling.

What other nominated film or per-

formance did you admire?

I, like everybody else, thought

Parasite was just insanely good. I

really loved it and admired it. I just

saw The Two Popes, and I thought

that was great. All of them. I think

it’s a really strong year. It’s weird

how that happens. There are years

when it seems it’s a desert, and

there are years where there’s just

so much good work being done.

Interview edited for length

and clarity.