Before their success in Good Will Hunting, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon shared a bank account for years. The acting duo has been friends since high school, celebrating many successes and supporting each other through hard times. Affleck and Damon eventually went on to win an Oscar together for their Good Will Hunting script. They’ve continued to support each other with several collaborations throughout their careers, including their most recent film Air.
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Affleck and Damon appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast together (via IndieWire) and shared stories of their start, including when they shared a bank account. The actors revealed that in the late 1980s, they supported each other financially. It kept the duo going while they looked for opportunities, and Affleck said he still has a checkbook. Check out what Damon had to say below:

It was unusual, but we needed the money for auditions, a weird thing in retrospect. As long as one of us had money we knew the power wasn’t going to get shut off. After doing [1992’s] ‘Geronimo’ I probably had 35 grand in the bank. I was like, ‘We’re good for a year.’

Ben Affleck & Matt Damon’s Friendship Has Benefits

Affleck and Damon’s partnership through the years allowed the pair to navigate Hollywood together. Now almost 30 years later, they are sticking together through their various successes with Affleck and Damon collaborating on movies and continuing to share opportunities. Good Will Hunting was the first time the two led a project together, as they wrote their first screenplay and starred in the film. It was a huge success, landing them at the Academy Awards and solidifying their place in Hollywood.

After their win, Affleck and Damon went on to make Kevin Smith’s Dogma, a buddy comedy that further established their onscreen chemistry and enduring partnership. The actors cameoed in each other’s films, produced a documentary together, and continued their collaboration for several years before Affleck and Damon returned to screenwriting with 2021’s The Last Duel, their first script together since 1997.

The actors have come a long way since writing Good Will Hunting, and their friendship played a significant role in their success. Affleck and Damon have gone from struggling to get auditions to now starting their own production company, Artist’s Equity. With this new company, audiences can expect many Affleck and Damon collaborations to come, with their first movie Air reaching theaters on April 5.

Source: The Bill Simmons Podcast (via IndieWire)