9 Movies Featuring BFFs Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

Updated on 10/17/2023 at 12:10 PM

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck might be some of the biggest movie stars around now, but they weren't always so successful. Affleck and Damon met as children growing up together in Cambridge, MA, and first became close when they were in high school, partially because they had the same interests (especially a desire to act).

The duo speak about their start often, including in a March 22 episode of "The Bill Simmons Podcast." Damon and Affleck revealed that in addition to sharing an apartment early on in their careers, they also had a joint bank account.

"It was unusual, but we needed the money for auditions," Damon said, calling it "a weird thing in retrospect." Still, he said, "As long as one of us had money, we knew that the power wasn't going to get shut off. I remember after doing 'Geronimo,' I was like, f*ck, I probably had like 35 grand in the bank. I was like [to Affleck], 'We're good! We're good for a year!'" The pair also apparently held each other to a strict budget. "You were allowed to take out $10 and get quarters and go to [the arcade] and play video games," Damon said. "Eventually, we were allowed to try to buy beer, which never f*cking worked."

Even still, Affleck shared that he felt he and Damon learned a lot from their penny-pinching days. "I think that attitude really helped us in ways we couldn't anticipate," he said. "Matt and I always felt like we're in it together. Like, 'Hey, I want to get the part, but I want you to get the part [too]."

Famously, after a few years as working actors — including some movies together — the duo collaborated on the script for "Good Will Hunting," and the rest is history. The movie became a smash success, with rave reviews not just for their performances but also for the screenplay they wrote together, which won them an Oscar. In the years since, Affleck and Damon have teamed up for even more movies, including "Dogma," "The Last Duel," and this year's "Air," which Affleck directed. In 2022, they launched a production company together, so we can expect even more Affleck-Damon collabs in the future.

Back in July, Damon reflected on how much he actually loved being directed by his best friend. "You can waste so much time by trying to be polite," Damon said of working on film sets during an interview with "Sunday Today." No one wants to tell someone directly that they're doing a bad job, he explained. But it's not like that with Affleck.

"We can just say, 'You suck,'" Damon joked. "Which is really a gift because you get through the bullsh*t faster and you go, 'How do we fix it?'"

The duo have stayed close friends through the years, supporting each other as they both became fathers and navigated their marriages. "This friendship has been essential and defining and so important to me in my life," Affleck told Damon in a January 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly. "There were a few critical times, which are private and I don't want to share, but where your support was so profoundly meaningful to me that I don't think I would've been able to be successful without it."

Ahead are the nine movies Damon and Affleck have appeared in together, in chronological order.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Movies: "Field of Dreams" (1989)

Affleck and Damon were just teens when they got gigs as extras in 1989's "Field of Dreams." It was when the duo were living in Massachusetts, though they frequently traveled to New York for acting parts. They responded to a call for extras at Fenway Park for a very simple reason: "Just to go to Fenway," Damon told Dan Patrick in 2021. "We were extras in 'Field of Dreams.' I bet there were probably 3,000 extras in a big crowd scene when Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones are at the baseball game."

Despite their small role, they did get a chance to talk to the film's lead, Kevin Costner. "Costner came out and hung out with the extras," Damon recalled. "And Ben and I went and struck up a conversation with him. And he probably gave us five minutes. He was incredibly generous with his time."

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Movies: "School Ties" (1992)

Affleck and Damon starred in "School Ties" alongside Brendan Fraser in 1992. In the movie, which is set in the 1950s, Fraser plays David Greene, a Jewish high school student who gets an athletic scholarship to prep school. There, most of the school and staff are anti-Semitic, and he struggles. Damon plays David's main antagonist, Dillon, while Affleck plays Chesty Smith.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Movies: "Good Will Hunting" (1997)

"Good Will Hunting," released in 1997, was Affleck and Damon's big break. Set in their hometown, Damon played a self-taught genius, Will Hunting, who works as a janitor at MIT. He connects with Dr. Sean Maguire, played by Robin Williams, who urges him to seek more for his life. Affleck plays Will's friend Chuckie Sullivan, who wants his friend to reach for more and move on. Minnie Driver plays Will's love interest Skylar, and Affleck's brother Casey also appears in the film.

Affleck and Damon wrote the script together and had to fight hard to be cast in the film. They ended up winning the Academy Award for best screenplay, written directly for the screen, for their efforts, and Williams won best supporting actor.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Movies: "Chasing Amy" (1997)

"Chasing Amy," released in 1997, stars Ben Affleck as Holden McNeil, who meets and falls for Alyssa, played by Joey Lauren Adams. But Amy is a lesbian, and Holden can't handle that. Silent Bob (director Kevin Smith) warns him that he was in a similar relationship with a girl named Amy, and he felt like he was always chasing her. Damon also appears in the film as an executive.

"Chasing Amy" is Smith's third movie set in the universe he created with 1994's "Clerks." The indie film became a box-office smash, though many have criticized its portrayal of Alyssa's sexuality and the fact that the movie doesn't use the word "bisexual."

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Movies: "Dogma" (1999)

In 1999's "Dogma," which was also directed by Smith and is the fourth movie set in the "Clerks" universe, Damon and Affleck play two fallen angels, Bartleby and Loki, who are condemned to exile in Wisconsin. The cast also includes Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman, Chris Rock, George Carlin, and Jason Mewes and Smith as their recurring characters Jay and Silent Bob. The film made $30 million at the box office on a $10 million budget. The Catholic League denounced the film as blasphemous, though the Catholic Church itself never commented.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Movies: "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001)

"Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" is Smith's fifth movie, also set in the Clerks realm, and Jay and Silent Bob take center stage again. Affleck appears as himself, his "Good Will Hunting" character, and as Holden from "Chasing Amy." Damon appears as himself and as Will Hunting. The film's sprawling ensemble includes Carrie Fisher, Jon Stewart, Tracy Morgan, and Alanis Morissette. Adams also reprises her role as Alyssa from "Chasing Amy."

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Movies: "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot" (2019)

"Jay and Silent Bob Reboot" in 2019 saw Affleck and Damon return to Smith's universe once again. Affleck plays his "Chasing Amy" character, and Damon is Loki, a fallen angel who was also Jason Bourne — a joke about Damon's Bourne franchise. Adams returns once again as Alyssa, and Smith's daughter Harley Quinn Smith play's Jay's estranged daughter.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Movies: "The Last Duel"

"The Last Duel," released in 2021, marked the duo's return to drama. In the movie, based on a true story, Damon plays Sir Jean de Carrouges, a member of the French nobility who's anxious to make a name for himself. He marries Marguerite de Carrouges, played by Jodie Comer, but he's a neglectful husband obsessed with pleasing and getting the approval of his liege lord, Count Pierre d'Alençon (Affleck). Adam Driver plays Jacques Le Gris, who Marguerite accuses of raping her when Sir Jean is not home. The movie tells the story from Sir Jean, Jacques, and Marguerite's perspectives before culminating in the titular duel and its aftermath. The film was directed by Ridley Scott.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Movies: "Air" (2023)

"Air" marks the first time Affleck has directed Damon, and Affleck also stars in the movie with his bestie. (It's the third time Affleck's directed himself, following 2010's "The Town" and 2012's "Argo.") The movie tells the story of how Nike signed Michael Jordan and began its Air Jordan brand, saving the company and making Jordan a cultural icon. Damon plays marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro with Affleck as Nike founder Phil Knight, and Viola Davis plays Jordan's mother Deloris.