The Martian actor Matt Damon has been a long-time friend of Ben Affleck, and it wouldn’t be wrong to call them best friends. Both Oscar-winning actors have been friends since they were barely 10 years old. Further, they both co-starred in School Ties starring Brendan Fraser back in 1992. Although the duo went to different colleges due to personal reasons, they joined hands to work on the story of Good Will Hunting.
The film Good Will Hunting released back in 1997 was co-written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck which even won each of them Oscars during their early years in the industry. The film performed exceptionally well and with that the bonding of both the Hollywood actors became unbreakable. After years of collaboration, the duo was further seen in a new sports drama AIR, which was directed by Ben Affleck.
The Life Advice Of Ben Affleck From Good Will Hunting That Matt Damon Couldn’t Forget
The Oscar-winning duo recently starred in a sports drama AIR which was released on 5th April 2023 and was directed by the Gone Girl actor. The movie is based on a true story about the Nike shoe company and its high-profile link with the then-unproven basketball legend Michael Jordan.
Further, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s bond became a hot topic in the entertainment industry and Good Will Hunting is the story behind it. Speaking about the sports movie AIR, in an interview with EntertainmentWeekly Damon recollected something that The Batman actor told him while working on the story of their 1997 film.
“He said one of the most profound things that anybody’s ever said to me. When we started writing Good Will Hunting, he said: ‘Hey, judge me for how good my good ideas are, not how bad my bad ideas are’. That, to me, is the most important thing when you embark on a collaborative process with somebody. You’ve got to get the window open to throw every idea in there and not be afraid to have shitty ideas, because we all have shitty ideas. Sometimes you need the shitty idea, and then you iterate on that, and then it builds into a good idea. But you have to feel free to express it.”
The Ford v. Ferrari actor even said that this is a kind of life advice that anyone can live by and it’s something he still holds close to his heart. Certainly, the advice has taken both actors to great heights otherwise the friendship that started in the nineties wouldn’t have been so strong.
Matt Damon Keeps All The Pleasantry Aside While Working With Ben Affleck
For every actor, it gets easier if the filmmaker provides certain freedom while working together. But the issue of freedom doesn’t arise if both the director and actor turn out to be best friends. Matt Damon has recently been in the sports drama named AIR which is directed by his best friend, Ben Affleck. Thus, in a recent interview with Today, the Oppenheimer actor was asked about his experience of taking direction from his best friend.
“It was great,” he added “You know, great directors really give you the freedom. It’s a collaboration. It’s a partnership.” he further said “You can waste so much time by trying to be polite, In the movie business, and in theater, they’ve developed a whole vocabulary for how to talk to somebody. And basically how to tell somebody they’re sucking, right? And, like, we can just say, ‘You suck.’”
It shows how much they understand each other and what they have developed in their 40-plus years of friendship. In the first place, they both won Oscars just because they trusted each other’s potential and made a masterpiece at such an early stage of their career.
It’s true that both Oscar-winning actors skyrocketed their fame after winning the Academy Awards, but it happened to them before even knowing. Though down the lane the Argo actor now boasts two Academy Awards wherein Matt Damon still has the one for Good Will Hunting.
AIR is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: EntertainmentWeekly, Today
