Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are longtime friends who have collaborated together and won an Oscar together, so perhaps it’s not surprising to learn they even shared a bank account as young actors. The duo appeared on a recent episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast” (via CNBC) and revealed they had one bank account between them starting in the late 1980s in order to fund auditions and start their acting careers.
“It was unusual, but we needed the money for auditions,” Damon said, calling it “a weird thing in retrospect.”
“We were going to help each other and be there for each other,” Affleck said. “It was like, ‘You’re not going to be alone. I’m not going to be alone. Let’s go out there and do this together.’”
Any time Affleck or Damon booked a role, the money from the gig would get deposited into the bank account. As Damon explained, “As long as one of us had money we knew the power wasn’t going to get shut off. After doing [1992′s] ‘Geronimo’ I probably had 35 grand in the bank. I was like ‘we’re good for a year.’”
Of course there were rules, but they were somewhat stretched.
“You were allowed to go to [auditions in] New York with the money. You were allowed to take out $10 and get quarters and go to [the arcade] and play video games,” Damon said. “Eventually we were allowed to try to buy beer, which never fucking worked.”
“I love working with this guy. I love hanging out with him,” Affleck later said about Damon. “If you can work with great people, who are good people too, it’s so much more rewarding personally and professionally.”
Affleck and Damon are making the press rounds in support of their new drama “Air.” Affleck directed and stars opposite Damon in the movie, which tracks Nike’s mission to save its basketball division by landing a young Michael Jordan as the new face of the brand. Viola Davis, Jason Bateman and Chris Tucker co-star in the film, which earned rave reviews out of its SXSW world premiere. “Air” is opening in theaters on April 5, courtesy of Amazon.
