You are familiar with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
These two stars are also lifelong friends.
In an industry full of love stories, Matt & Ben's bromance can be hard to beat.
But even the best friendships can be tested. The duo recently opened up about how their long process of writing Good Will Hunting's Oscar-winning screenplay almost ended their relationship.
Let me first tell you how one of Hollywood’s most famous bromances came about.
After being introduced by their mothers when they were 8 and 10, respectively, Ben and Matt met for the first time in 1980.
They actually lived just two blocks apart in Massachussets. They instantly fell in love and began to bond over their mutual love of acting and sports.
"Before Matt I was alone. "Acting was something I did alone. I would go off and act on a TV show or something. No one understood it," Ben recalls of their early days. I met Matt, a friend who understood it, wanted to do it, thought it was interesting, and wanted to share it with me. Soon, we both are doing it together."
Matt actually recalled the moment at school when their friendship was cement, after Ben courageously came to Ben's defense during a fight. Matt stated that Ben was a friend he had from the moment that he met him in school.
Later, Matt was helped by Ben, who had an agent, to find representation. They began attending auditions together. The duo soon teamed up to create a project together.
After a series of roles in movies, they eventually got together and started writing their first screenplay for Good Will Hunting.
You know that Good Will Hunting was a huge success for Matt & Ben. They quickly rose to stardom after it was nominated for a Golden Globe as well as an Oscar for best screenplay.
Continue the story
Matt and Ben are best friends. Matt plays the role of Will Hunting, while Ben is Ben's. Robin Williams was also there, and he won an Oscar for his performance.
Ben and Matt were household names because of this, and even though they have many other projects over the years, it's what most people remember them for.
Flash forward 20 years and Matt and Ben are teaming up again for their second cowriting venture, called The Last Duel.
This script marks the first time Matt and Ben have worked together since Good Will Hunting (which they co-wrote back in 1996).
The film, which stars Jodie Comer alongside Adam Driver and co-writers Matt, is due to debut this Friday.
Good Will Hunting was not all easy sailing. Matt revealed that Ben and Ben nearly lost their writing partnership due to the long process. Matt spoke on Wednesday about their new project for The Tonight Show. He explained that despite its success, writing the script was not easy and that it nearly ended the writing partnership between Ben and him.
"I think Good Will Hunting took so long, I mean. We were, like, unemployed, broke guys." Matt answered a question about why it took them 25 years to work together again. It took us forever to create that screenplay.
"I believe we wrote thousands to thousands of pages. He said that he didn't believe we knew what we were doing. "It kind of made us put off writing again because we never thought that we would have the time."
Matt credited their decades of film industry experience for making things run a bit more smoothly the second time around.
The actor said that they found structure in writing the script, which was a result of 25 years of making movies. "The new project went much faster," he explained.
The Last Duel script was not without its challenges. Nicole Holofcener was the co-writer of The Tonight Show and joined Matt and Ben on The Tonight Show to provide "female perspective".
The Last Duel script. This script comes days after the couple revealed that they were set to have their first screen kiss in an earlier adaptation of script.
Matt was originally meant to kiss Ben in the movie. The film focuses on the last legally sanctioned duels in France's History, in which sharing a kiss was customary to begin the ceremony.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight last Wednesday, Ben stated that "In the original version of that scene...the actual way that ceremony actually took places was that you kissed everyone on the lips." "And that was in the script."
It wasn't to be. Ridley Scott, the film's director made the decision to cut to kiss the actress, fearing that it would distract from the main scene.
Matt and Ben have hope, however, as Matt, the Gone Girl actor, said that their first onscreen kiss would "have to wait" until they can co-write.
We hope that we don't have 25 more years to do this.
Continue reading