While making the Jason Bourne movies, Matt Damon had to learn all sorts of useful skills, such as how to kill a man with a ballpoint pen or a toaster. But some were more bizarre than others, and were so specific that it seems unlikely that Damon would ever need such a skill again. Mind you, the next time the American government is rescuing him – you never know what might come in handy.
When Matt Damon took part in a Reddit AMA in 2016 for the release of Jason Bourne, he was asked about skills he’d learned while making the action movies. “I’ve had to learn things for the Bourne films for instance, like being upside down underwater in a car, which required me to learn.”
“I went to a swimming pool in Berlin every day after work and practiced being at the bottom with a scuba tank, getting my air taken away, and tying shoes and doing small menial activities without my air in order to be comfortable underwater – so I could shoot that scene.”
Damon continued; “I didn’t walk away being certified as a scuba diver, which would probably be a better use of my time, but I walked away being able to be in a car underwater and perform the scene I needed to perform, so it’s an odd set of skills you end up learning.”
Damon also added that he learned boxing for Bourne, but we probably won’t be seeing him in any sports movies anytime soon; “Though I did for the Bourne movies start boxing and I never did that before, I was 29 and I fell in love with doing it. I never did it as a sport. I wouldn’t put me as a ring against anyone. I’m an excellent movie fighter, probably wouldn’t be in a real fight.”
Check out our guide to the best spy movies and to the best detective movies.