Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s friendship is absolutely one for the Hollywood books. Whether they team up to write, reunite for a good cause, or join with other celebrities to play Wordle, it's fair to say that these two have one of the best bromances in the industry. Damon most recently teamed up with Affleck the latter's latest directorial effort, Air, which is getting a lot of buzz. And amid the press tour, Damon opened up about how his longtime friend and collaborator has helped him navigate fame throughout their career.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have been through a lot, from struggling to make it as actors to shedding tears together filming Good Will Hunting, which won them both Oscars. Dealing with such a winding journey can be difficult, as Matt Damon knows. The star recently caught up with People and spoke about why he's felt the need to check in with his best friend over the years while navigating the overwhelmingness of the entertainment industry:
It's been really helpful to check in with Ben throughout this whole surreal process over the last 25 years. I think the shock of becoming famous is so... I mean, that messed me up for a couple years. Because the whole world just starts to treat you differently. And so your subjective experience changes. It's like somebody rewrites your code in the Matrix, but just your code.
Considering that the world is watching Matt Damon's every move as it follows his career, I can understand why that would be too much for him. Imagine not being able to walk the streets without being recognized or not having the basic privacy most of us possess. Of course, that is the price of fame. Damon's been acting for years, but it's arguably his work on Good Will Hunting that elevated his status. That movie actually started out as a simple assignment for a playwriting class during Damon's Harvard days. I’d like to believe that the Oscar winner never could've imagined what his initial 40-page treatment would become.
It seems he owes a great deal to his buddy, Ben Affleck, and not just for the work he contributed to that aforementioned script. The Martian alum further explained to the outlet just how invaluable it is to have someone in your corner who relates to your experiences:
It's like, 'Oh, my whole experience has been altered in this really overwhelming way.' And so to have somebody who I've known my whole life who I can be like, 'Hey man, is this happening to you? Are you…?' And to check in with him, it was really, really helpful. Stabilizing.
The two co-stars have known each other since they were eight and ten years old, as they lived two blocks away from each other in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They became instant friends and shared love of baseball and acting. In a 2019 interview on Conan, Damon revealed “a big moment” in their friendship came when Ben Affleck defended his childhood chum from a kid that was bigger than him. Years later, they auditioned together in New York and eventually scored uncredited roles in Field of Dreams. They then co-starred in School Ties before eventually writing their Best Original Screenplay-winning movie. After that, they would be working together in films like Dogma, Chasing Amy and most recently, The Last Duel.
Matt Damon previously said he hasn’t been in a Ben Affleck-directed movie due to the lack of time in his schedule, so it's good that they were ale to finally link up. Air sees Affleck play Nike co-founder Phil Knight and Damon portraying Sonny Vaccaro, the man responsible for signing Michael Jordan to the shoe company in the '80s. The Argo director spoke about how working with his decades-long friend has been “the best work experience of my life,” as he found production on the sports biographical film to be fun and easy -- as well as another opportunity to hang out with his pal.
A friendship like the one these two stars have is rare, and one would hope that it continues to endure for years to come. Make sure to see them together in Air, which is now playing as part of the schedule of 2023 new movie releases.
