'Air': Matt Damon, Chris Messina break down how they filmed movie’s explosive, hilariously vulgar phone call
The costars of new film documenting the creation of Air Jordans explain how they shot its buzziest scene
Typically when actors film phone call scenes in movies, it's a pretty isolated experience. Very occasionally the actor playing the character they're speaking to may be on the other end of the line, but usually — if there's anyone at all — it's a crew member like the script supervisor.
Ben Affleck and his cast tried something different for their acclaimed new dramedy Air, and that may be why the explosive, profanity-laced phone exchange between Matt Damon and Chris Messina marks the film's most memorable (and uproarious) moment.
In the scene, Messina's sports agent David Falk has caught wind that Damon's Nike talent scout Sonny Vaccaro has skirted protocol by approaching his client Michael Jordan's family directly in an attempt to lure the NBA draft pick into an endorsement, and Falk rips Vaccaro to shreds in saliva-spraying temper tantrum that would make Tropic Thunder’s Les Grossman proud.
"One of the things that Ben did in the movie, which was so cool that I'd never done before was all the phone calls were filmed at the same time," Damon says of his director, co-star and longtime friend in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment. "Normally when you do a phone call scene, one actor is there, [maybe] the other actor is at home and maybe calls in and the connection's never great. Or you end up reading with the script supervisor… It never quite works.”
"So Matt and I were down the hallway from each other," explains Messina. "And so Ben could go back and forth to each of our rooms and give us direction, and we could overlap and scream and play."
Affleck brought in three extra cameras to use at the same time to capture them. "And we shot at exactly the same time," Damon says. So that's why those scenes feel very alive cause we're both in the scene together."
There's also the heated nature of the call. Falk blows a gasket on Vaccaro, seemingly melting down in the process. He lashes out about and by the end of the call is screaming, "I will eat your nuts!"
Damon reveals that line in particular was improvised by Messina.
"That was one of my favorite ad-libs because, because he's trying to insult me, and it's not in the script. So he's realizing it doesn't sound as insulting as he wants, so he keeps trying to make it worse. It's like, 'I'm gonna eat your… I'm gonna chew, I'm gonna nibble it. I will eat your nuts!'" Damon says.
The actors promise they made up with each other afterwards.
"We laughed a bunch," Messina says. "You know, it was just fun… the whole energy on set was just fun. And certainly those scenes were a lot of fun to do."
"Yeah, we hugged it out at the end," laughs Damon.
Air is now playing in theaters.
Watch the trailer:
