They have been friends since time immemorial. They have acted together, written together, produced together and last year Ben Affleck y Matt Damonit’s about them, they starred Airthe film about Nike’s contract with Michael Jordan that Jennifer Lopez’s husband directed.
Well, the winners of the Oscar for best screenplay for In search of destiny They come together once again, this time to Animalsa new police thriller that Netflix just purchased. Affleck will direct, with Damon starring, but they will not participate in writing the script, which will be written by Connor McIntyre and Billy Ray (The case of Richard Jewellde Clint Eastwood).
According to what they said on several occasions, before stardom, they met when Ben was eight years old and Matt was 10. The two lived a few blocks apart in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts. They both liked basketball and acting. Plus, they ended up attending the same high school.
Damon remembers that it all started when Ben defended him from a fight with a boy bigger than him at school. “I remember it was like a great moment. He put himself in a place that was really bad for me. “This is a good friend,” he said.
While in high school, they traveled together to audition. This is how they got some separate opportunities, until finally they worked together in The field of dreamsthe film with Kevin Costner nominated for an Oscar, as extras.
One directs, the other acts
Affleck will remain behind the camera in Animalsunlike her previous collaboration with Damon, Air, from Amazon Studios, in which the husband of Luciana Barroso from Salta played Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro, alongside Affleck in a supporting role as Nike founder Phil Knight. The same as AirAffleck and Damon are producing the project with Dani Bernfeld through their company Artists Equity, which they founded in 2022 with the intention of sharing the profits not only with their fellow actors, but also with the technical team.
Plot details are scarce, but it is known that the story will focus on a kidnapping.
In Venice 2021, Damon, Affleck and the British Jodie Comer and Ridley Scott, at the premiere of “The Last Duel”.Affleck and Damon then became closer friends in high school and collaborated as screenwriters on In search of destiny (1997), which earned them an Oscar for best original screenplay.
The two worked together on the series Project Greenlight for HBO in the early 2000s, and starred in a few films for Kevin Smith (Dogmafrom 1999, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Backfrom 2001), but they did not collaborate creatively on a film again until Ridley Scott’s period drama The last duel (2021), which they wrote with Nicole Holofcener. Damon also took on a lead role in that film, with Affleck in a supporting performance, just like in Air.
Y Air It marked Affleck’s first time directing Damon, which initially intimidated the filmmaker. “Before we started filming, I thought, ‘Matt has worked with Spielberg, Scorsese, the Coen brothers,'” Affleck said. “So now, in his mind, he’s going to confront me with these other experiences… I remember the director of photography, Bob Richardson, approached me after the third or fourth day. And he said, ‘I think Matt trusts you now.’ And I replied: ‘I think so too.’ “I felt a kind of professional respect there that really meant a lot to me.”