Matt Damon Shares How Beatles Breakup Affected Working Relationship With Ben Affleck
When it comes to making movies together, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck will continue to let it be.
The Bourne Identity actor, who has collaborated with his longtime friend on more than a dozen projects, was inspired to continue working with him after watching the end of Peter Jackson‘s The Beatles documentary Get Back, which features footage from the band’s final public performance in 1969 and a note card stating it would never happen again.
The scene made Damon tear up, after which he explained to GQ in a Sept. 9 interview that he told Affleck, “Who cares if we oversaturate the marketplace with movies we’re both in? We’re crazy if we don’t take advantage of the fact that we are both still here and able to do this.”
While the two have long collaborated both on and offscreen as coproducers and cowriters, their new action thriller The Rip marks the first time the pair have acted onscreen together since the 2021 movie The Last Duel.
But the duo—who won an Oscar in 1997 for their original screenplay for Good Will Hunting—will not be dueling over who’s the more marketable actor. Affleck said Damon has “probably always been considered a more bankable or reliable leading man.”
“Every time I act with Matt is a humbling experience because I learn to appreciate further just how good an actor he is,” the Accountant star told GQ. “He is so understated, so real and so honest—it’s the opposite of a ‘showy’ performance, and I think what he does is more difficult.”
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Affleck, who grew up with Damon in Massachusetts, continued, “When you know someone as long as I’ve known Matt, you develop a pretty good sense of what is real and what isn’t and it’s almost impossible to catch Matt acting. He is really a master of realism and it’s something I deeply admire about him. One of many things.”
However, when it comes to the acting world, there is a particular aspect where Affleck reigns supreme, according to him.
“Matt has probably been ahead of me in many regards throughout our career,” he said. “However, I think I am unquestionably the superior beard. So to speak.”
Read on to look back at Affleck and Damon’s friendship…
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Hometown Kids
Damon and Affleck share a scene as troubled genius Will and his devoted childhood pal Chuckie in their breakout hit Good Will Hunting, which was nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Damon, Best Supporting Actor for Robin Williams and Best Original Screenplay.
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Made It
Awards season heats up in 1998 as Ben and Matt walk the carpet at the Golden Globes, celebrating Good Will Hunting‘s four nominations.
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Hey, We Won!
Affleck and Damon pose with their first Golden Globes, Best Screenplay for Good Will Hunting. Affleck won another, in 2013, for directing Argo, and Damon won in 2016, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for The Martian.
AFP PHOTO/Timothy A. Clary
Thank You, Boston!
Best Original Screenplay winners Affleck and Damon make sure to give a shout-out to their formative hometown, which helped inspire the first-ever movie they wrote together, Good Will Hunting.
Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage
Golden Men
Damon and Affleck relish their Oscar win in 1998.
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Prettiest Gals in the Room
Affleck and Damon show off their Oscar night dates—moms Chris Affleck and Nancy Carlsson-Paige—in 1998.
View Askew
For Laughs
Damon and Affleck teamed up as fallen angels Loki and Bartleby in Kevin Smith‘s 1999 comedy Dogma.
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Just a Couple of Dudes
Matt and Ben dress down in Miami Beach in 2006.
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Super Men
Damon supports his buddy in 2006 at a screening of Hollywoodland, in which Affleck played George Reeves, the tragic actor who played Superman in the 1950s-era TV series.
John Parra/WireImage
Date Night
Both pals got married in 2005, and in 2008 they enjoyed a night out all together in Miami Beach. Affleck and Jennifer Garner, who have three children together, split up in 2015 and eventually divorced in 2018. Damon and wife Luciana, parents of four daughters, will celebrate 15 years of marriage in December 2020.
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Same Old, Same Old
Matt and Ben hang out, ’cause that’s what they do.
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You Earned It, Buddy
Naturally, Affleck was among the stars who feted (and roasted) Damon while presenting him with the American Cinematheque Award in 2010.
“I kind of started out at the same time as the guy, so this is a special night for me, too,” Ben quipped.
Sylvain Gaboury/FilmMagic
Best Buds
They always look ready for a marathon poker tournament.
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Creative Control
The chums celebrate the return after 10 years of Project Greenlight, their HBO series about bringing indie films to fruition, in 2014.
Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Swisher Productions
Family Matter
Affleck is on hand to support brother Casey Affleck and honorary brother Damon at the 2014 premiere of Manchester by the Sea, which Affleck and Damon co-produced and for which Casey would go on to win the Oscar for Best Actor (and forget to thank Ben, which turned into a whole funny thing).
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The Good Shepherds
Affleck and Damon are on hand to support Project Greenlight‘s season four winner, The Leisure Class, at the film’s 2015 premiere.
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Good Will Reading
Affleck and Damon reprised their roles as Chuckie and Will for a live reading of Good Will Hunting in 2016, and enlisted some of their talented friends to sit in, including John Krasinski, who narrated; Emily Blunt playing Skylar; Keegan-Michael Key as Billy; and Margo Martindale filling the mighty shoes of the late Robin Williams as Dr. Maguire.
Wingman
Damon celebrates Affleck landing the Caped Crusader cowl in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and ensuing DC Universe films, 20 years after both actors auditioned for and didn’t get the role of Robin back when Tim Burton was making Batman movies. (The sidekick eventually showed up in Joel Schumacher‘s Batman Forever.)
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We’re Back!
Affleck and Damon reunite at the Oscars in 2017 to present the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, 19 years after their momentous win.
Matt Sayles/Invision/AP
Wait, What?
And here they are looking as amazed as anybody to see that Moonlight was the actual Best Picture winner instead of La La Land.
Sporting Scene
Matt and Ben enjoy a night out with fellow Boston sports nut Bill Simmons.
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What Curse?
The lifelong Red Sox fans got emotional celebrating their team’s 2018 World Series title.
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Buona Sera
Affleck and Damon hit the 2021 Venice Film Festival in support of The Last Duel, their first screenwriting collaboration since Good Will Hunting.
Gary Miller/WireImage
Slam Dunk
The Artists Equity co-founders celebrate the March 2023 premiere of Air at SXSW, the first film from their new studio. The feel-good true story stars Damon as Nike rep Sonny Vaccaro, the visionary who got a just-drafted Michael Jordan to sign with the shoe company in 1984 by convincing the future NBA superstar’s mom (Viola Davis) that they were the right fit for her son. Affleck plays Nike founder Phil Knight.
A bazillion pairs of Air Jordans sold later…
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Walking on Air
In addition to co-starring and producing, Air marks Damon’s first time acting with Affleck behind the camera.
“He’s a brilliant director, people are aware,” Damon gushed to E! News about his pal at the film’s L.A. premiere. “But it was really great working with him and I’m looking forward to doing it again soon.”
Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
Accounting on Friendship
The Martian star attended the March 2025 SXSW premiere of his producing partner’s new film The Accountant 2, and debuted a longer version of his beard in the process.
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