Doug Liman used indie experience to rapidly film The Instigators

Doug Liman used his background in indie movies to film 'The Instigators' quickly.

The 59-year-old director had just 36 days to shoot the heist comedy starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in Boston and says his beginnings in the industry taught him how to manage resources effectively whilst making a picture.

Doug told IndieWire: "When Matt and I made 'The Bourne Identity', I was a different filmmaker than I was today.

"I've learned more and I know how to marshal resources better today than I did back then and I tried to bring that to bear on 'The Instigators'."

Liman admits that it was tough to make the movie "in the dead of winter" even though it appears that the cast and crew were having fun putting the project together.

The 'Edge of Tomorrow' helmer said: "I know people watch 'The Instigators' and it looks like we're having a lot of fun making the movie, but the reality is, it's a lot of work.

"Getting up so early. We were in the dead of winter. Very complicated sequences, especially action sequences are very hard to pull off, and we're trying to do a big action comedy.

"You gotta have everything, the comedy and the action, but I couldn't have had better people around me."

Liman was also grateful to shoot the final sequence in Boston's city hall thanks to the presence of local boys Damon and the Affleck brothers.

The filmmaker said: "It was a change of the script to move the finale into city hall.

"And that was sort of a reminder that if you're shooting in Boston with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck and Ben Affleck's producing, you can walk into the mayor's office – the mayor of Boston – and go, 'Can we shoot in here? And by the way, it's an action sequence and by the time we're done, we're gonna have shot up all the windows and walls.'"