Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were only 10 and 8 years old when they first met, long before Hollywood became part of their lives.
More than 40 years later, the childhood friends are still making movies together, and Damon has now looked back at how their journey started and why he wants to keep working with Affleck as much as possible.
Matt Damon Reveals How His Long Journey With Ben Affleck Began
During a conversation with Amy Poehler, Damon confirmed just how young he and Affleck were when they first met. Poehler asked, “What, you met, what, 10 and 8 or something?“. Damon replied, “10 and 8… At 16 and 14 years old, we were going to New York together to audition for stuff…“.
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Their friendship soon became a major part of both their lives. Damon and Affleck first met in 1980 while growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later attended high school together. Along the way, they bonded over acting and baseball. By their teenage years, both were already traveling to New York together to audition for roles.
More than four decades later, the pair are still working side by side. Looking back at their journey, Damon said, “And here we are 40 years later, and it’s like, we should make every single movie we can together.” For Damon, decades of friendship have only given him more reason to keep making movies with Affleck.
Years before they became regular Hollywood collaborators, Damon and Affleck created the project that changed both careers. They wrote 1997’s ‘Good Will Hunting‘ together and also starred in the movie as best friends. The film made them famous and earned them the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
As the years passed, both men built major careers and started families. Even after so many years, Damon believes no other bond can recreate theirs. He explained, “It’s just because we grew up together, so we were together all the time.” Their long history also made creative work easier. Damon added, “One of the great things about writing with him was always the fact that there was a deep and abiding love and respect underneath everything that was never in question.”
Damon And Affleck Wish They Had Worked Together More
Deep trust between the two friends has helped them speak openly while creating projects. Damon explained, “It’s very helpful when you’re working creatively with someone because you’re not worried about their feelings.” He added, “For me, it’s like this, my closest friend for 40 years, 45 years. Who else would I want to hang out with and do this stuff?“.
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However, the pair did not always work together as often as fans might expect. In a 2023 Vanity Fair interview, Affleck explained why they once stepped away from frequent collaborations. “At some point, we got convinced of this idea, like, ‘Well, you don’t wanna work together all the time. You’ll become sort of associated with each other.’ And that’s negative,” he said. “But ultimately, it was sort of like, ‘F–k that. I don’t know, let’s work together.’ Cause that’s the beautiful, that’s the fun.”
Looking back, Damon admitted they now see those years differently. He said, “We can now look at the last 20 years and go like, ‘Well, the benefit of hindsight, what would we have done differently?’ And I think we both came to the conclusion that we would’ve worked together a lot more.” Since then, they have continued joining forces on screen and behind the scenes. Their shared films include ‘Dogma‘, ‘The Last Duel‘, ‘Air‘ and the thriller ‘The Rip‘.
More recently, Damon gave fans another sweet look at their 45-year friendship during the July 6, 2026 world premiere of Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey‘ in London. During a red-carpet interview, Damon was jokingly asked if he had sent Affleck boastful pictures and teased him with, “Bruh, you see me now?”
Damon laughed before revealing Affleck had already watched the movie. “No, he saw the movie already, and he called me, and I said, ‘I’ve been waiting 45 years for this phone call.’ It was great,” Damon replied. When asked if he would invite Affleck to train with him, Damon laughed again and said, “He’s doing alright.”
Forty-five years after meeting as kids, Damon and Affleck are still doing something they dreamed about as teenagers: making movies. The difference now is they have Oscars, major careers and decades of stories behind them. Yet Damon’s latest comments make one thing very clear: if there is a movie to make, a call to share or a reason to team up again, Affleck is still the person he wants beside him.
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