Director Steven Spielberg Made Sure Matt Damon Was Resented By The Saving Private Ryan Cast

In Steven Spielberg's 1998 war film "Saving Private Ryan," a poor beleaguered American mother saw her four sons — Sean, Peter, Daniel, and James — shipped off to fight during World War II. Not too long thereafter, the former three were killed in action. James Ryan (Matt Damon), the survivor, was stationed far away and was incommunicado. The U.S. Army, wanting to spare Mother Ryan the trauma of four dead sons (three was enough), assigned Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) to locate and rescue Private James Ryan and bring him home. 

The bulk of "Saving Private Ryan" is told from the perspective of Captain Miller and his platoon. As they trek closer and closer to Private Ryan, their mission becomes more and more dangerous, and it won't be long before some of them begin getting killed in action as well. As one might imagine, Miller and his surviving platoon members greatly resent Private Ryan when they finally find him. They sacrificed their lives for ... this guy? Why does he get to survive while so many other soldiers die? 

As it so happens, the cast of "Saving Private Ryan" similarly resented Damon on the set, even if there was no death involved. Captain Miller's platoon was played by notable actors like Adam Goldberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Barry Pepper, and Jeremy Davies, and they all hated Damon by the time they had to film scenes with him. It wasn't because of anything Damon did, however, but because of Steven Spielberg's careful manipulation of his actors. Damon recalled the resentment in a 2023 interview with Far Out, and noted exactly what Spielberg did to get his co-stars to resent him.

To prepare for playing WWII soldiers, Spielberg had his main cast undergo period-appropriate basic training, complete with the grueling hours, bad diet, and physically laborious ropes courses. This, as any soldier might tell you, was massively difficult and not very fun. It's also so difficult that the people who go through it tend to bond over the shared struggle. Damon, meanwhile, got to relax at home. It seemed a little unfair to the cast, as Damon was playing a soldier. Why wasn't he struggling and bonding? It turns out, being a little unfair — and preventing friendship — was Spielberg's modus operandi. Damon said:.

"[Spielberg] made me not go to boot camp so that the other guys would resent me. They all went through this experience, and they all bonded, but because I was the character they were looking for, and they resented this guy that they were risking their lives to go find, Steven purposefully kept me away from them." 

The Far Out interview pointed to a scene late in "Saving Private Ryan" when the main characters have all located the Private, and he refuses to return home with them, eager to keep fighting. He doesn't care about the sacrifices they made, and still feels that dying in combat is somehow heroic. In that scene, the rest of the cast stares daggers into Matt Damon, furious that he would suggest anything outside their life-threatening mission. That moment couldn't have happened without Spielberg's clever Damon-isolation ploy.

"Saving Private Ryan" was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and ultimate won Oscars for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Sound Editing. Its Best Picture loss to "Shakespeare In Love" was considered a minor scandal. Now everyone resents Shakespeare.