Batman actor Ben Affleck has crafted his skill since his debut nearly three decades ago. The actor has appeared in several roles across genres and he has many amazing credits to his resume. Most recently, the actor/director appeared as Phil Knight and directed the movie Air, starring Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro.
The duo has been friends for ages and recently started a production company Artists Equity, with their first film Air. The friendship of the duo goes way back, as Damon recalled some incidents with his co-star.
Why Ben Affleck was Furious the Night After His Oscar Win?
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have collaborated on a few projects in their decade-spanning career, but Kevin Smith’s 1999 comedy fantasy Dogma has imprinted a memory of an interesting incident of Affleck that Matt Damon still remembers. It happened the night after their Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting in 1998. “We had a really funny thing happen actually,” Damon told Today. “We were shooting Dogma, the night after the Oscar,” he added. The duo then came to Pittsburgh from Los Angeles.
“And there are like 30 people in the jetway at the gate waiting for us, cheering. And there was this kind of momentary hysteria, ‘Oh, can I have a picture.’ But Ben and I just sat and talked to everybody, you know, for 15 minutes or so, and then the way the Pittsburgh airport is that there is a tramp that you have to take. So, we go and get on the tramp. By the time we were on the tramp with these 30 people, they have all completely lost interest in us.”
The incident was quite shocking to Affleck. Damon further revealed that they were holding the Oscars in their hands. Seeing all that, Affleck said, “Can you believe this sh*t?” Damon also recalled that Affleck was upset with just the 15-minute reception of the stars.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Unique Production Company
In their 25 years of friendship, Affleck and Damon have collaborated on many films, but the new production company that the duo founded with Gerry Cardinale is not like any other.
“Well, the idea is that there’s bloat on movie sets but people don’t really know where it is,” Damon said, further adding, “We let every department run itself and in the money we’d save we share it, distribute it with the crew.”
The production company’s first film directed by Affleck and co-starring Damon is already out and has received a positive critical nod. The duo is set to produce several movies under the production house. But the interesting thing is that the talents can “take ownership of their creative power, providing a platform for both established and emerging filmmakers to streamline the development of their content,” Damon said.
Affleck, who directed the first movie under the banner of the production, said,
“I know what kind of freedoms artists long for and how they can be empowered — treated like grown-ups.”
The actors, however, expect to work more with streaming platforms as the production value of the streaming platforms skyrocketed in recent years. Affleck said,
“As streamers have proliferated, they have really ended back-end participation, and so this is partly an effort to try to recapture some of that value and share it in a way that’s more equitable. Not just writers and directors and stars. But also cinematographers, editors, costume designers, and other crucial artists who, in my view, are very underpaid.”
The production company is currently working on William Goldenberg-directed Unstoppable starring Jharrel Jerome and Jennifer Lopez, Damon and Casey Affleck starrer Doug Liman’s The Instigators, and Tim Mielants-directed adaptation of Claire Keegan’s bestselling novel, Small Things Like These, which will also be produced by Cillian Murphy, who also stars alongside Ciarán Hinds and Emily Watson.
Source: Youtube
