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Topics: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Celebrity, Film and TV, Money, Weird, US News
Tom Wood
Topics: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Celebrity, Film and TV, Money, Weird, US News
Matt Damon has admitted he actually used to share a bank account with his close friend and frequent collaborator Ben Affleck.
Nowadays, they’re both A-listers who have no need for a shared bank account, having enjoyed long and very successful careers both together and on their own, but it wasn’t always like that.
Here's the trailer for their latest team-up - it's fair to say they don't have to pool money together any longer:
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Long before Damon was turning down one of the world’s largest pay checks to star in Avatar, or Ben Affleck was donning the Batman suit and directing Oscar contenders, the pair were just starting out together in Hollywood.
The pair met at high school and started collaborating as teenagers, a collaboration that would eventually see them propelled into the big-time – and the Academy Awards winning circle – with Good Will Hunting.
Before all that, the pair opened up a checking account with both their names on it as a way of keeping the wolf from the door while they shot for the stars.
That account – according to Damon – was how they paid to live, both topping it up whenever they got a gig.
Appearing on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Damon explained: “It was unusual, but we needed the money for auditions.
“[It was] a weird thing in retrospect.”
But, that’s what friendship does to you.
The pair wanted to be as supportive as they could for each other, living together and sharing finances while they both tried to kickstart their careers.
Affleck said: “We were going to help each other and be there for each other.
“It was like, ‘You’re not going to be alone. I’m not going to be alone. Let’s go out there and do this together'."
Sometimes one of them was a bit more flush than the other, but that didn’t seem to matter too much to them.
Damon explained: “As long as one of us had money we knew the power wasn’t going to get shut off.
“After doing [1992 film] Geronimo I probably had 35 grand in the bank.
“I was like ‘we’re good for a year'."
This wasn’t money for beer and fun, though.
To start with, they weren’t old enough to do that.
Matt continued: “You were allowed to go to [auditions in] New York with the money.
“You were allowed to take out $10 and get quarters and go to [the arcade] and play video games.
“Eventually we were allowed to try to buy beer, which never f***ing worked.”
Their careers did eventually work, though.
Damon and Affleck are teaming up still 30 years later, with Affleck directing his good buddy in their latest film Air.
The love is clearly still there.
Affleck said: “I love working with this guy. I love hanging out with him.
“If you can work with great people, who are good people too, it’s so much more rewarding personally and professionally.”