Matt Damon, Ben Affleck Talk About Decades-Long Friendship After Reuniting In New Film 'Air'

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon got candid with their friendship.

Damon and Affleck struck a friendship years before they made it big in Hollywood. Following their respective successes, the duo still stuck together and recently reunited for the 2023 sports drama "Air," directed by Affleck.

Both sat down with People to promote the film. In the interview, Damon, 52, shared that he leaned on Affleck, 50, following their big success in the 1997 drama "Good Will Hunting," even calling their friendship "everything to me" and noting that life would be "unimaginably harder" without the "Gone Girl" star.

"It's been really helpful to check in with Ben throughout this whole surreal process over the last 25 years. I think the shock of becoming famous is so... I mean, that messed me up for a couple years," Damon said. "Because the whole world just starts to treat you differently. And so your subjective experience changes. It's like somebody rewrites your code in the Matrix, but just your code."

The "Martian" actor said his whole experience changed in an "overwhelming way." It helped that he has someone like Affleck who stabilizes him.

"To have somebody who I've known my whole life who I can be like, 'Hey man, is this happening to you? Are you...?' And to check in with him, it was really, really helpful. Stabilizing," he continued.

Affleck echoed the same sentiment. He said his mom and brother give him unwavering support, like his celebrity BFF. The "Batman" star also mentioned that his friendship with Damon goes beyond them because he also found a new family through him.

"Having Matt has meant the world," Affleck said. "It's not just Matt. It's Matt's dad who I adore and love enormously. He passed away recently. And his mom and stepdad, his brother. His kids, who just came to the premiere and made me want to burst into tears because they're so beautiful and grown up and amazing. You get to be part of somebody's whole life in that way. It's been an enormous gift."

In a previous interview, Damon revealed he got beaten up by a bigger kid once, and Affleck arrived out of nowhere. The incident not only spared him from a fight but cemented their friendship.

Their shared passion for acting also made them closer, and they would even have business lunches in school to plan for their future in acting and filmmaking. They also shared their resources to support their Hollywood dream.

"Ben Affleck and I actually had a joint bank account, and the bank account was money that we'd made doing local commercials, and we could only use it on trips to New York to audition," Damon told CNN in 2011. "If one kid had enough for a candy bar, then the candy bar was bought and split in half — that's just the way it's been."

"Air" follows the story of Nike co-founder Phil Knight (Affleck) and executives Howard White (Chris Tucker) and Sonny Vaccaro (Damon) bet their company's future to persuade then-NBA rookie Michael Jordan to partner with them.

"Air" is now playing in theaters.