Damon, Eastwood Flick Touched by Death

What happens when you die? The question is explored in the new Clint Eastwood movie, "Hereafter," which stars Matt Damon as a blue-collar worker who also happens to be psychic.

Eastwood and Damon sat down with "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith to talk about the new movie and its universal subject.

PHOTOS: Matt Damon
PICTURES: Clint Eastwood

Smith said, "When I was in the screening, people throughout the movie were sobbing. This is as an emotional subject as you could possibly want to sort of wrestle with."

Eastwood said, "This is an emotional subject. It's something that people have thought about, probably has been engrained in you from the -- from a young childhood, as to what goes hereafter."

Smith replied, "I guess for me, the impact of the movie for me was that it's less about that, than it is about loss and what do we do with loss."

He said to Damon, "And that ends up being the powerful factor in this movie, people begin to realize who you are. They think you're somehow the bridge to what they've lost."

Damon said, "Right. And, yeah, that's one of the things, you know, the movie follows three stories from around the world and one of them, I think, really the heart of the movie this little boy in London, who loses his twin brother and he's, you know, 11 years old and just kind of doesn't accept that and so he just goes on this quest to figure out where his brother is and he's just not going to give up until he finds his brother and I think that's kind of touching because as adults, we all know lost people suddenly, we know what the answer to his quest is, and it's that he's not going to get the answer. One of the things I love about the movie, it doesn't try to tell you what to think."

With several movies under his belt now, does Eastwood think he's better now than he's ever been?

Eastwood says he thinks he is.

He told Smith, "I think there's no reason why you shouldn't be better as you get more information, as life goes on, unless you get to a point where you start losing the information, and then you start changing the file. But, generally, yeah, I feel better about it. I feel I've been doing better stuff in the last decade than I did two decades ago."

And what about other projects for Damon -- is a new Bourne movie on its way?
Damon said he doesn't know. He said, "I read about it on the internet. I have no idea. … I really don't know."

Damon will also star in a remake of the 1969 John Wayne classic, "True Grit," which comes out on Christmas Day. Damon plays La Boeuf, which was originally Glenn Campbell's role.

Eastwood told Smith, "There's an irony that I almost played that -- or Henry Hathaway had talked to me about possibly doing that role, many years ago with Dukey."

Smith said, "You could have done the John Wayne this time around. That might have worked."

Damon asked Eastwood, "I don't think I ever have worn an eye patch. Have you? I don't think you ever have. You've avoided the eye patch."

Eastwood said, "No, I haven't worn an eyepatch. I could do it. I mean, that certainly isn't a big deal. I'll put it over my good eye and then just kind of stumble around and walk in."

Smith added, "Very much enjoyed the film."

Eastwood asked, "Did you take the missus along with you, too?"

Smith said, "Did. ... And you know what, we walked home hand-in-hand afterwards."

Eastwood responded, "Did you?"

Smith replied, "Yeah."

Eastwood said, "Good. A little romance in your life, nothing wrong with that."

"Hereafter" opens nationwide next Friday, October 22.