Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are known as an enduring dynamic duo in Hollywood — but now it’s time for Damon to share the marquee with another member of the Affleck family. Damon and Casey Affleck are the stars of Doug Liman’s upcoming Apple heist comedy film The Instigators , which sees the longtime friends return to their native Massachusetts to play a pair of ill-equipped robbers.
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Celebrating their latest collaboration, Damon and the younger Affleck attended the film’s New York premiere on Wednesday, alongside director Liman and co-stars including Hong Chau and Jack Harlow.
Damon grew up alongside Casey and Ben Affleck in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with all three sharing the screen in the Oscar-winning drama Good Will Hunting more than two decades ago. With more experience under his belt and plenty of memories created with the Afflecks since then, Damon reflected on the best part of working with the brothers at this point in their careers.
“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 . “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.”
Indeed, their bond is evident on screen and off; Liman remarked that he hadn’t seen such chemistry in one of his films since directing Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in his 2005 action-comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith .
Damon is close with both Affleck brothers, but is better known for his friendship with Ben, with some of their collaborations including Air , The Last Duel and, of course, Good Will Hunting . Ben Affleck was also involved in The Instigators , producing alongside Damon through their Artists Equity production company. Liman addressed the question of whether the elder Affleck was ever in consideration to act in the film, suggesting that he intentionally stayed offscreen to let his brother take the spotlight.
He told THR, “I’m kind of like someone who’s just shown up to a family Thanksgiving and you’re learning all of the family dynamics. So my sense was that Casey’s always been a little bit under Ben’s shadow, and The Instigators was a chance to let Casey shine free and clear without being in anyone’s shadow. 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.”
Not only did the younger actor take the lead alongside Damon on the big screen (in a genre departure from their co-starring moment in the 2002 Gus Van Sant indie drama Gerry ), but he also co-wrote the film alongside Chuck MacLean.
Affleck said he didn’t take any writing courses ahead of tackling the script, “I just sort of learned just by reading a million of them, being around it, and then just having this strong desire to get ideas out of my head before they just collect in there and start to clutter. So the process for me is done in fits and spurts and just trying to get it all out, put it all down on the page.”
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While MacLean isn’t the biggest fan of rewriting, Affleck likes to “refine” his work and didn’t present the script to Damon to consider playing Rory “until the part became good enough.”
Damon recalled reading the script and recognizing his friend’s personality peeking through. “His voice is unmistakable. I definitely, definitely recognized it and Chuck McLean’s voice as well,” the star said. “Chuck’s got a very distinct Boston voice and he’s really good at what he does. So that part of it was really, really fun.”
The story focuses on Damon’s Rory and Affleck’s Cobby as a father and ex-convict who are paired together to steal the dirty money of a corrupt politician; however, all does not go as planned and the unlikely duo find themselves running from a variety of adversaries.
The cast and crew filmed on location in the greater Boston area, shooting scenes in the city itself and surrounding areas including Quincy and and the stars’ native Cambridge. Damon said of filming in the area, “It feels really familiar to go home. The sensibility there, the sense of humor is something that just comes naturally to us. And it’s just a really comfortable place, it feels like going home every time.”
Liman, who first directed Damon in his 2002 hit Bourne Identity , considered how the actor has evolved over the years: “Even though 20 years had elapsed, it felt like it was yesterday that Matt and I were just starting to work together. So it’s amazing in a way how little changed, especially because Matt and I are still committed to doing something that’s original and that fits our sensibilities and not conforms to studio sensibilities — what’s amazing about Apple was how supportive they were of us.”
While their dedication to originality remains the same, Liman remarked how Damon’s talent has only become more impressive with time, noting, “There are other moments on the making of The Instigators where I’d look at Matt and go, ‘Oh my God, he has matured so much’ — in terms of helping me as a director do my best work and understanding how he as an actor could help me.”
Speaking of the relationship between his co-stars, Liman said, “They’re basically family. And that means there’s a huge amount of love between them that I could capture on screen. But there’s also the things they do that have annoyed each other for a lifetime, the way any family has that. But at the end of the day, there’s no magic to directing. Your cast either has chemistry or they don’t.”
The Instigators is in select theaters on Friday and hits Apple TV+ on Aug. 9.
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