Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s close friendship over the years has been a well-known fact and the two stars got connected through their love of films and later became successful actors and filmmakers. The two worked hard early in their careers to make a mark in the industry. They became Oscar winners in their 20s with their joint effort as writers for the 1997 film Good Will Hunting.
Damon and Affleck met for the first time in high school when Damon was the most experienced individual in the theatre group in school. Their first meeting was surprisingly intense and the two actors started out on a rather cold note with Damon bossing around Affleck who was a freshman.
Matt Damon Threatened Ben Affleck During Their First Meeting
Audiences have seen many celebrity friendships over the years in Hollywood. Most of these friendships are based on business partnerships and collaborations over movies and it sometimes turns sour when there is a difference in perspectives and desire for control. However, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck‘s friendship over the years has been rooted in trust and respect for each other.
Their close bond is a special one as they go way back when they were in high school together. They became very close friends and started working together as actors and also as filmmakers wanting to contribute their voice to cinema. Damon recently recalled his and Affleck’s rather intense first meet in high school.
On the show Smartless: On the Road, Damon revealed that Affleck became very popular in school as a freshman. Damon, being the more experienced person in the theatre group wanted to set some ground rules for young Affleck, telling him that things run differently in the school and his good looks won’t get him anywhere. He said (Via Digital Fix),
“When he arrived at the high school, I had to set him straight ’cause I was the lord of that theater department. “He was like the big star of our school. I went up to him, like, first day and pulled him up and was like, ‘Hey, you know it’s different here in the theater. You’re not gonna get by on your looks,’ And we were both like, 5 foot 2.”
The two slowly became inseparable and have become lifelong friends to this day. They have collaborated on various projects together throughout the years including co-writing Good Will Hunting, and The Last Duel. Damon starred in Affleck’s recent directorial venture Air which was loved by audiences.
Matt Damon Was Inspired By The Beatles to Work With Ben Affleck Often
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have been collaborating frequently in the past few years. They co-wrote and starred in Ridley Scott’s The Duel and again reunited on Affleck’s Air. Damon claims that this desire to reteam with Affleck was inspired by Peter Jackson’s documentary The Beatles: Get Back.
In an interview with Today‘s Chris Wallace, Damon revealed that he got very sad after watching the Beatles perform live for the last time in the documentary. This made him call up Affleck and remind him that they were incredibly lucky 25 years ago with Good Will Hunting and they should continue their successful on-screen collaboration. He said,
“At the end, they’re playing on the roof in London, and it says this is the last time that they ever played together live, and it made me so sad. Because you look at them and they’re so happy.
Then I called [Ben] and I said, ‘Look, man, we were talking about doing this and it’s like, it’s been 25 years or something since Good Will Hunting, what are we doing?’ You know, we both kind of hit the lottery. Why aren’t we working together more often?”
The two actors have started their own production company called Artist Equity and Air was the first film from their studio. They have many films like Damon’s The Instigators, Cillian Murphy’s Small Things Like These, and Jennifer Lopez’s Unstoppable in the pipeline. The duo are set to reunite yet again for Netflix’s crime thriller titled Animals.
