Matt Damon’s working relationship with Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck has lasted for 25 years — but they don’t always agree on everything.
“They’re consistently incredible partners to work with. And no, there aren’t really, usually, any surprises,” Damon, 53, explained to People on Wednesday, July 31, while attending the New York premiere for The Instigators. However, he admitted the trio will “get in creative arguments” at times, adding, “Those are healthy, and we know each other well enough that our feelings don’t really get involved and our egos don’t get involved.”
The Saving Private Ryan actor added that he has a “pretty healthy working relationship” with both Ben, 51, and Casey, 48.
Damon has had a close relationship with both brothers since he and Ben cowrote Good Will Hunting in 1997. Since then Damon has worked with Ben on several films, including 2023’s Air and 2021’s The Last Duel.
Most recently, Damon will appear in The Instigators alongside Casey, who also cowrote the film. While Ben doesn’t appear in the movie, which will hit theaters on August 2 and Apple TV+ on August 9, he did have a role as a producer.
“I think just 43 years into this friendship, it’s just the joy of doing what we love, but being able to do it together. It just doesn’t get any better than that,” Damon told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday at the film’s premiere. “I feel really lucky to be able to still be making movies at this level with the kind of people that I get to work with. But when some of them are the people that have been my closest and dearest friends for over four decades, it’s a really special thing.”
The film follows Rory (Damon) and Cobby (Casey) who are thrown together for a heist, but when the plans go awry, they have to team together to outrun police, bureaucrats and a crime boss.
The Instigator’s director Doug Liman shared that Damon and Casey’s real-life bond was very apparent on screen.
“They’re basically family. And that means there’s a huge amount of love between them that I could capture on screen,” Liman, 59, explained to THR on Wednesday. “But there’s also the things they do that have annoyed each other for a lifetime, the way any family has that.”
Liman also noted that Ben purposely stayed off screen to have the spotlight focus just on his brother.
“I’m kind of like someone who’s just shown up to a family Thanksgiving and you’re learning all of the family dynamics,” he shared with the outlet, adding that it seemed like Casey had “always been a little bit under Ben’s shadow” and The Instigators was his time to step out of that. “I think it was clear how much Ben loves and supports his brother — and I think part of that was not casting any shadow over Casey and letting Casey shine.”
