Torn between politics and love

MANILA, Philippines - Matt Damon stars in sci-fi, love story, The Adjustment Bureau directed by George Nolfi loosely based on a story by Philip Dick. In the movie, Damon plays a smooth talking congressman who has a serious future in national politics. He meets a beautiful ballerina, but is unable to make a connection with her due to strange and uncontrollable circumstances.

Damon’s interest was piqued by this tale of a man who stumbles on a vast, powerful and unseen world that exists on the periphery of our own. He told the filmmakers that if future drafts looked as good, he would be ready to join. “George has been a friend and collaborator for a long time,” says Damon. “He brought this script to me that he’d written on spec… because he wanted to direct it. I was a big believer in him and felt he could do it.”

You got involved in this film fairly early on in the process. What was it about The Adjustment Bureau that made you want to be in it?

“I thought the script was great. George Nolfi, whom I had worked with before, brought me an early draft and said: ‘What do you think?’ I thought it was a really great idea and we started talking about it.”

This is George Nolfi’s first movie as a director. After knowing him as a writer, what made you believe he was ready to take the leap into directing?

“George started revising the script for this film while he was working as a writer on The Bourne Ultimatum. Seeing him do a lot of problem solving under pressure on The Bourne Ultimatum made me feel that directing The Adjustment Bureau was something he could handle pretty easily. So when we both found the right time in our schedules, we decided to go for it.”

You play the politician David Norris. How do you see him?

“David is a guy who has a great void in his life that he is filling with his political ambitions. Without knowing it, he is being groomed by The Adjustment Bureau to be the president of the United States. Into that life comes this woman who bowls him over and he decides he wants to spend the rest of his life with her.”

Their love story is the core of the movie.

“Yes, it is. I always told George that if the relationship between our two characters didn’t work the whole movie would fall apart. You have to really want them to be together.”

What do you believe Emily Blunt brought to the role of the dancer Elise Sellas, the woman who changes David’s life?

“We got very lucky with Emily because she is such a brilliant actress. She made Elise’s character so much more formidable and fleshed her out in a way that helped the whole relationship feel like a modern romance.”

The Adjustment Bureau addresses the subject of the role fate plays versus free will in our lives. What is your take on that fascinating theme?

“I always feel my decisions matter and that there is a consequence to everything I decide. I guess maybe to believe you are controlling your destiny is a good way to go through life. But when I look back at it and at some of the best things that have happened to me, I see that they have taken place through a series of consequences I had no control over. It makes me wonder if there was an Adjustment Bureau kind of guiding me along.”

After a couple of encounters — first in the bathroom of a hotel and later on a bus — David Norris and Elise Sellas connect in a special way that changes their lives forever.

“We knew those scenes were key in the film. We had to make everyone believe that David and Elise were really head over heels with each other after only those two brief encounters. So we worked hard on them. It’s always good to have a director who is also a writer because you have more flexibility to see what works best in the scene and even improvise on set.”

Do you believe a connection like this can happen in real life?

“I do, because I was certainly thunderstruck when I met my wife. I really believe it was love at first sight.”

And it is a film that touches different genres…

“Yes, that’s one of the things that attracted me to the movie and also worried me about it. I thought blending genres was a very ambitious thing to do on your first film but George said he wanted to take a big swing with it, and he did!”

The Adjustment Bureau is now showing in theaters.