Ben Affleck has explained Matt Damon’s approach to his career, sharing that his friend often makes “wise” decisions.
The pair’s friendship goes all the way back to their childhood as they grew up together in Boston, with the duo achieving critical success as they won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1998 for Good Will Hunting.
Whilst Affleck has gone on to have a highly successful directing career with Argo and Gone Baby Gone, Damon has largely stuck to roles in front of the camera, with the star having only three screenwriting credits since Good Will Hunting.
Despite their diverging career paths, Affleck shared with GQ that he admired Damon for his work ethic, sharing that his friend would often choose his upcoming projects based on the director and creative crew.
“Matt learned and knew earlier than I did to really key in on the director as the fundamental basis on which he’s going to make a decision whether to do a movie or not, which was a very wise choice,” said Affleck.
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“And also he has certainly had opportunities to do movies… It’s not like I was saying, ‘No, [Martin] Scorsese, no, [Steven] Spielberg, I’m not going to be in your movie.’ We’re in situations of our opportunities, and we’re subject to that.”
Affleck, who added that he found it “most satisfying” in the director’s chair, will soon reunite with Damon on-screen in RIP, a crime-thriller written and directed by Joe Carnahan that is set to be distributed by Netflix.
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Inspired by true events, RIP sees Affleck and Damon play a pair of Miami police officers who, along with their team, discover a stash of millions in cash. As outside forces suddenly start learning more of the seizure, the group begins to question who they can really trust.
RIP is scheduled to be released on Netflix later this year.
Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.
