Muchloved Kongu dishes at an ongoing food festival in the city
Matt Damon lets out an exclamation of delight when I tell him I am from Chennai. “Oh, I’ve actually been there! I’ve not had the chance to shoot there (he did film bits of in Goa), but I visited Chennai sometime in 201314 for Water.org’s projects. I really enjoyed my time there.”
Apart from being one of the most celebrated movie stars on the planet, Matt is also cofounder of the international nonprofit outfit that seeks to give people from economically disadvantaged sections access to safe water and improved sanitation in countries across the world, including India.
He is also best friends with... well, Batman.
“Matt is brilliant. Truly.
He’s also one of the great gifted actors in the world,” smiles Ben Affleck, sitting next to him.
It feels surreal to be talking to these two Hollywood behemoths — buddies since they met over 40 years ago, after Ben stopped Matt from getting beaten up in a high school near Boston — now facing me over a Zoom call, as they promote their latest collaboration together,Air. Directed by Ben, the biographical sports drama traces the incredible true story of how the legendary
Michael Jordan — then, a rookie — signed with Nike’s fledgling basketball division. The partnership would result in a cultural revolution with the introduction of the Air Jordan brand, which then redefined the legacy and design of sports shoes forever.
Alongside Ben and Matt, also features an ensemble that can be best described as trueblue big screen royalty; Jason Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker and the inimitable Viola Davis.
But this, of course, is not the duo’s first association together; after acting in small roles, the pair achieved global fame in 1997 after winning the Best Screenplay Oscar for Good Will Hunting, a film they wrote together after drawing inspiration from their comingofage years in Boston.
Since then, they have costarred in titles like Chasing Amy, Dogma, and most recently, the 2021 historical drama while garnering critical and commercial success in their individual film careers. But how have they stayed tight for four decades — and counting — now?
“One of the most profound things that anybody’s ever said to me came from Ben, when we started writing
together. He said, ‘Judge me for how good my good ideas are, not how bad my bad ideas are’. That, to me, is the most important thing when you embark on a collaborative process with somebody. The window has to be open to throw every idea in there, and not be afraid to have shitty ideas, because we all have shitty ideas.
Sometimes you need the shitty idea, and then you iterate on that, to build it into a good idea. But you have to feel free to express it,” said Matt recently, in a viral video clip while promoting the film.
This friendship has weathered boxoffice highs and lows, highprofile relationships, publicised personal struggles and redemption arcs. There is a palpable feeling of mutual respect and just outright sheer love for each other that seeps into any conversation Ben and Matt are part of; surely their creative endeavours together should make for captivating viewing?
But Air is much more than that; the project marks their first production under their newlylaunched company Artists Equity. The independentlycapitalised studio — with Ben as chief executive and Matt as head of content — partners with filmmakers and gives profitsharing back to artistes in an attempt to prioritise creators first.
Next up, they will present heist thriller The Instigators (starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck) and wrestling drama Unstoppable (with Jennifer Lopez).
It is also the first time Ben is directing Matt in a film (“Took him long enough,” Matt mutters), an association they assure audiences are going to see more of, in coming years.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q:Ben, as a filmmaker, you have had incredible success with films like ‘The Town’ and even a Best Picture Oscar win for ‘Argo’. But why did it take so long to cast your best friend in a feature?