Matt Damon opens up on his lifelong Ben Affleck bond

Matt Damon says Ben Affleck remains one of the defining relationships of his life after nearly 50 years of friendship. In a People exclusive tied to The Odyssey, Damon recalled how the pair bolstered each other as teens chasing Hollywood, and how Affleck's hour-long praise of the film was a call he had waited decades to receive.

Key Takeaways

• Damon told People that he and Ben Affleck were often the only ones who believed they would make it as young actors.
• After Affleck watched Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Damon got a phone call he said he had waited 45 years to receive.
• The friends still collaborate through Artists Equity and recently produced and starred in Netflix's The Rip.
• Damon and Affleck are in a similar parenting stage and talk often about approaching empty-nest years.

What did Matt Damon say about Ben Affleck?

In this week's People cover story promoting The Odyssey, Damon, 55, described a bond that began in childhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Affleck, 53, has remained a constant from teenage auditions through stardom and parenthood.

"I think Ben and I bolstered each other when we were young," Damon told People. As teens, they rode trains and buses to New York to audition, including for The Mickey Mouse Club. Their families were not in the entertainment business, so mutual belief mattered.

"We were the only people who felt like we had a little foot in this door who said, 'Yeah, you're going to make it,'" he added. Speaking to MTV UK, he also called Affleck "one of the great loves of my life," noting they have been through "a whole hell of a lot together" across about 45 years.

Why did Affleck's Odyssey call hit so hard?

Damon said only a handful of opinions on The Odyssey truly counted. When Affleck saw the film, Damon told The Independent he got "a phone call from him that I think I've been waiting 45 years to get."

"He didn't stop talking for an hour," Damon recalled. "It was like he'd seen the movie 20 times. He got absolutely everything, every detail." The Nolan epic casts Damon as Odysseus alongside Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson and Anne Hathaway, and was heading into theaters as critics piled on early praise.

Damon was also moved by daughter Isabella, 20, a tough critic who once nicknamed The Great Wall as "The Wall." Her "Dad, I'm proud of you" landed nearly as hard as Affleck's reaction.

How do Damon and Affleck stay connected now?

More than 45 years on, they remain friends, collaborators and partners at Artists Equity. They most recently produced and starred in Netflix's The Rip. Damon said starting the company in their 50s was about having energy and perspective "to make really good movies with our friends."

"Our dreams came true and the greatest disservice we could do to our younger selves would be to not work together," he told People. Next, Damon and wife Luciana are producing Affleck's upcoming directorial project Animals, with Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun and Kerry Washington among the cast.

Away from sets, both men have similarly aged kids and talk "all the time" about the empty-nest phase. "It doesn't take much to get us emotional at this point," Damon said. For more culture coverage beyond the usual beat, see Future Tech & AI Wonders on BlasterPost.