So far as Hollywood friendships go, it doesn’t get far more actual than Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
The 2 stars grew up a block and a half away from each other in Boston. They had been introduced by their mothers for the primary time within the early Eighties when Ben was 8 and Matt was 10.
After years as informal acquaintances, they finally grew to become finest buddies at highschool because of their shared love of drama. And by the mid-’90s, the 2 had moved in collectively and began writing a script for a film titled Good Will Looking.
After all, we now know that because the basic movie that shot the pair to instantaneous stardom, incomes them their first Oscars for Greatest Unique Screenplay in 1998 — and the remainder is historical past.
However earlier than they made it to the Academy Awards stage, issues weren’t all the time plain crusing for Ben and Matt.
In reality, the duo revealed in a brand new joint interview that they had been so quick on money of their teenagers that they put any cash they earned right into a shared checking account to assist their respective careers.
“It was uncommon, however we wanted the cash for auditions,” Matt mentioned throughout an look on The Bill Simmons Podcast this week.
He went on to name it “a bizarre factor on reflection,” earlier than Ben took over to clarify the candy reasoning behind the choice.
“We had been going to assist one another and be there for one another,” he mentioned, making it clear that one wasn’t going to make it large with out the opposite. “It was like, ‘You’re not going to be alone. I’m not going to be alone. Let’s go on the market and do that collectively.’”
Offering somewhat extra perception into how the association really labored, Matt defined that anytime considered one of them booked a job, they’d deposit all their earnings into the shared account with a purpose to fund future auditions for them each.
“So long as considered one of us had cash we knew the ability wasn’t going to get shut off,” he mentioned. “After doing [1993’s] Geronimo I most likely had 35 grand within the financial institution. I used to be like, we’re good for a yr.”
Nonetheless, the shared account didn’t come with out quite a few strict pointers — even when they didn’t all the time keep on with them.
“You had been allowed to go to [auditions in] New York with the cash. You had been allowed to take out $10 and get quarters and go to [the arcade] and play video video games,” Matt mentioned, including that they finally allowed themselves to purchase beer with the funds, however that issues received somewhat messy from that time on.
However, it looks as if Ben and Matt’s techniques labored out for one of the best — and it didn’t damage their friendship both, because the duo are nearer than ever 30 years later.
The BFFs are presently on the highway selling their new film, Air, which is directed by Ben and stars them each as they inform the story of how Nike execs revolutionized the model by teaming up with Michael Jordan.
The film — which releases on April 7 — has already obtained glowing evaluations and presently boasts a coveted 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s additionally the very first mission made by their shared manufacturing firm, Artists Equity.
Throughout a latest joint interview with CBS News, Ben described taking pictures with Matt daily as one of the best skilled expertise of his life.
“I discover probably the most great factor about it was I beloved coming to work daily. I like seeing Matt,” he mentioned.
“It was simply a lot enjoyable – I do not know. It kinda felt like simply us and attending to do the factor that we wished to do,” he continued. “I did. I beloved it. I beloved it. I miss it daily since. It was one of the best, like, work expertise of my life, with out query.”
