Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have shared the screen and bank accounts, but one thing they didn’t agree on was Damon’s lifestyle when they were roommates.
Ben Affleck appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden as part of the show’s final group of guests, promoting his latest directorial effort, Air, which co-stars both himself and Matt Damon. On their early days as roommates, Affleck said of Damon, “Matt is a beautiful guy, I love him. He’s my best friend, he’s been great to me my whole life, he’s a brilliant guy…I would not suggest living with him.” How do you like them apples, Matt?
Affleck recalled devising a plan with his brother Casey, a fellow roommate, that they hoped would expose Damon as a slob. “We’re just going to wait and see how long he will go before he actually gets up and goes, ‘I’m covered in garbage!’ We went weeks, two weeks without touching the apartment…We came home one day, Matt’s there in his shorts, his t-shirt, playing, I think it was the ’92 Sega hockey game, in the middle of what was the living room, just surrounded by concentric circles of garbage.” Well at least the Bruins weren’t trash that year…
But, like many up-and-coming actors, Affleck and Damon had to rely on each other no matter how disgusting one was as a roommate, with the future boy wonders even sharing a bank account back in the 1980s as they were getting their careers going.
The storied friendship of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon goes well past their roommate and shared bank account days, though, with a professional collaboration that officially goes back to 1989’s Field of Dreams, where they served as extras for the Fenway Park scene before making their mark in 1992’s School Ties. Their most memorable pairing to date has been 1997’s Good Will Hunting, sharing not just the screen, but also a Best Original Screenplay Oscar. The duo would reteam for 1999’s Dogma (we’re not counting Chasing Amy, in which Affleck starred but Damon only had a cameo) before spoofing their Good Will Hunting characters in 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon currently star in Air (read our own Chris Bumbray’s 8/10 review here).
What is your favorite Ben Affleck and Matt Damon movie? How do you think Air stacks up? Let us know in the comments section below!
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What’s Not Allowed