Aurora Starchild
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are like two peas in a pod. Both actors share a creative genius that, when combined, can manifest the transformation of down-to-earth storylines into unforgettable cinema. But while the two best friends have accompanied each other through early and prolonged stardom, they feel like another of their associates should have been recognized sooner. That person is Yellowstone star Cole Hauser, and Matt Damon says he’s shocked that he wasn’t a giant movie star before the hit TV show came out.
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Matt Damon and Ben Affleck Are Teaming Up Again for Air
Damon and Affleck were speaking candidly with The Bill Simmons Podcast about life, movies, and everything when the topic of their collaborations came up. Simmons is a sports and culture expert and wanted to dive into Ben Affleck’s new movie Air, which chronicles the partnership between Nike and Michael Jordan. The film stars Affleck as Nike co-founder Phil Knight and Damon as former sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro, the man who signed Jordan onto the Nike brand.
Air is the 9th movie that the inseparable and iconic duo have acted in together. They’ve shared a 40-year friendship that began when Affleck was 8 and Damon was 10. They inspired each other to become involved in theatre at a young age and their first movie together involved small roles in Field of Dreams in 1989. Three years later, they played bullies in School Ties. The two struggling actors lived together and shared a bank account at one point, eventually co-writing the script for Good Will Hunting, which made both young men Hollywood stars.
Since then, they’ve collaborated in Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, co-written and starred in The Last Duel, and again teamed up for Air. Air is directed by Ben Affleck and comes only two years after The Last Duel.
Damon and Affleck Have More Projects In the Works
The recent reteaming has inspired the two old friends to put on their thinking caps and possibly pump out more projects. Because, why not? They love each other (platonically) and the world loves them together — that’s undeniable. They’re sharing a space together again, although this time it’s an office in Los Angeles. Damon said he lives in New York, so he uses the office when he’s visiting LA.
“It’s an office with three physical production executives, and a head of post-production and visual effects and business affairs and lawyers and accountants and comptrollers,” Affleck explained. Yeah, it’s a pretty big office apparently.
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“So, how many projects do you guys want to do a year? Like, how big does this get?” Simmons asked.
“With our business, part of what we want to try to do in terms of generating the ability to have the autonomy and the confidence of our partners that we’re going to do something good, which is the only brand we can aspire to really,” said Affleck, “is that it can’t just be heaping movies over movies. We want to do movies we can focus on. But we also want to give opportunities to people who are friends of ours.”
Affleck gave film director Steven Soderbergh as an example. He produced Ocean’s Eight, executive produced Bill & Ted Face the Music, and directed Traffic and Erin Brockovich. It’s an impressive glimpse at his credits but yet Soderbergh, in the eyes of Affleck and Damon, could still use a “lift.”
Ben Affleck Might Be a Little Jealous of Cole Hauser… Thanks to His Wife Jennifer Lopez
“Cole Hauser’s out, he’s too famous now,” said Simmons.
Cole Hauser, who plays Rip Wheeler on Yellowstone, happened to also co-star alongside Affleck and Damon in School Ties. And in 1997, he again reunited with them for Good Will Hunting.
Damon and Affleck had a mixed reactions.
“I’m kind of disturbed by the fact that my wife [Jennifer Lopez] really likes Yellowstone and part of me thinks that she’s really drawn to the romance between Cole Hauser and the woman who plays his wife, who’s excellent, whose name escapes me now,” said Affleck.
He was referring to actress Kelly Reilly.
“I first saw her in [Yellowstone], actually Jen showed me a clip off of Instagram of a monologue,” Affleck revealed. “And then [Lopez] was like, ‘Yo, I love the story of these two!’ And I was like, wait a minute? With Cole? Cole Hauser? What do you love about him?”
Despite the admission of slight jealousy, Affleck added that “he’s great in the show.”
Matt Damon Is “Mystified” That Cole Hauser Didn’t Have an Earlier Breakthrough Role Before Yellowstone
Simmons asked Damon and Affleck how it felt to watch an old friend become a star later in their career.
“To tell you the truth, I was always mystified that Cole wasn’t a giant movie star,” said Damon. “We worked with him — he was 16 — I’ll never forget. We were driving out of Billerica or wherever we were, back into Boston, me, and you in that old Cadillac. The blue one that you had. And we were like, alright, we’re leaving set for the first week, driving into Cambridge. And we’re like, alright, none of the guys are around from School Ties. Leaving me and you out, who’s the fu**ing best actor here? And both of us at the same time were like, ‘Hauser.’”
“He was raw talent,” Affleck agreed.
“Raw talent,” Damon echoed. “Just astonishing. And like, to take nothing away from the rest of the cast. And I love that guy and we’ve always loved him. Just the sweetest soul and very deserving… From the time we saw him…”
“He’s in Good Will Hunting, we were like this is the guy we want… and he’s fabulous in that. He is very convincing as that guy. I think America believes he is Rip,” said Affleck.
“He’s the perfect character,” said Damon.
While Yellowstone is very likely going to wrap up after part two of its fifth season this year, Cole Hauser has another western lined up. He’s set to play a marshal in Dead Man’s Hand, which is currently in post-production. And if we’re lucky, maybe Matt Damon and Ben Affleck will ask him to be a part of one of their future projects!
