Matt Damon on roughnecks, Wranglers, and his Stillwater Sonic order
Sorry, that's not Matt Damon's real Sonic order in his new movie
Film Features Stillwater
Sorry, cherry limeade fans: The Sonic order Matt Damon places in the new movie Stillwater sadly isn’t his. That’s not to say that he wouldn’t order a cherry limeade, per se. It’s just that he didn’t really put much thought into his own personal order. As he told The A.V. Club in a recent video chat, the order he places in the movie is actually the regular order of the film’s on-set roughneck authenticity advisor, Kenny Baker, who just really loves chili-cheese coneys. When they went to film the scene at the Sonic drive-in, Damon asked him what he’d order, and then used that as the dialogue in the scene.
That’s just one thing Damon did to get his Oklahoma-based roughneck character right, from spending time with guys in the field to picking the rough flame retardant jeans for his costume. As he tells us in the video below, he also tried to get in roughneck shape for Stillwater after spending some time with real life roughnecks. Damon says,
“I noticed the build of the guys—not the young guys. The young guys kind of know about cross fit. The young guys look maybe a little more like Chris Hemsworth. But the guys my age all have that kind of strong, like, you have to be so strong to do that job. So they’re really powerful. They’re beefy Oklahoma guys. It’s a thing. So the physicality of it was around watching them walk around, watching them move like they’re on their front foot. I started eating differently and and lifting heavy, heavy weight if I worked out just to try to bulk.
Interested parties can read The A.V. Club’s review of Stillwater here, in which our critic, Jesse Hassenger, gives the movie a B, noting that “The movie takes writer-director Tom McCarthy’s usual quiet character studies in a different, fascinating direction.”
Stillwater will be in theaters everywhere starting on July 30.
8 Comments
Now I love a good chili cheese dog, but man I do not enjoy the Sonic chili cheese coneys. They aren’t terrible, but I’ve had way better for cheaper. The main appeal for me at Sonic is the tots. Some cheesy tots really hit the spot.
“I watched the rough necks. So rough, these rough necks, with their necks, rough and thick, like a tree trunk made of beef and congealed tallow. I observed how the rough necks moved, their man-waddle obscuring the raw power of their rough, rough, necks, so rough you could sand down a deck. How did they move their heads, these rough necks, with their necks so rough? How could they swivel those sweaty meat melons sitting atop those girthy waist thick necks? How did they eat, sleep, breed? They are miracles, nature’s miracles, to be born with necks so rough, and yet to thrive on desolate plains of the mid-country, a sorry nothing land devoid of hope or sustenance save the occasional oasis of a Sonic drive thru or a gas station convenience store. And yet they live, and survive, these majestic beasts. Rough necks.”-Excerpt from the documentary Rough Necks: The Making of “Rough Neck Goes to France, Eats Slim Jims, Doesn’t Speak French”
I like both chili cheese coneys and cherry limeades, but then again I’m half roughneck, half pansy-man.
Sonic still makes the best cherry limeade I’ve ever had (don’t even talk to me about McDonald’s. Braum’s is OK.) They also used to have really good chili cheese fries, but their food is meh anymore.
See I read it as, hey, love to chow down on a cheesy, spicy, gooey protein meal but know it’s important to get some hydration—why not something cold and sweet to chase it down. Down-to-earth good sense, that.
I can’t wait for this to hit home video so I can make a Bourne trailer from it.
When I saw the name of the movie, I thought, “No way that’s got anything to do with Stillwater, OK.” Huh. I guess I was wrong (although I suppose it isn’t actually set *in* Stillwater, since that’s a college town for OSU and wouldn’t have a lot of roughnecks running around in it. Although, it’s pretty open around there, so I suppose there are quite a few oil rigs. It’s been a while since I’ve been there.)
I know Matt is in a lot of trouble lately but as an actor he is one of the best contemporary leading men with the chops of a character actor. Since he was young, an everyman quality, and sincere dedication to a good job. Also, nice comic timing, and a willingness to jump out of a comfort zone. A nurse co-worker and I used to argue years ago about “who was better” Ben or Matt? I always thought Matt because when you look back at his career he has a wide and deep body of work for his age.