Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are the epitome of friendship in a world as competitive as Hollywood. The two have been close way before the world knew their name and made it big in Hollywood together with their Oscar-winning screenplay, Good Will Hunting. But the two are also known for their individual careers. Both actors, despite staying friends, professionally chose to create more of create their own image and not be just known as a hit duo.
Despite the two taking their individual paths, these paths tend to cross. And sometimes it ends up being for the same role. But as two people can’t play the same role, at least not in the same movie, so one of them has to go back empty-handed. Losing Argo made Matt Damon jealous and when Ben Affleck found out, he regretted not making him feel jealous about the same.
Losing Argo to Ben Affleck made Matt Damon jealous
Argo, a historical thriller-drama, was based on the memoir of a CIA operative Tony Mendez, The Master of Disguise. The film was based on Mendez’s story of how the agent used the excuse of filming a science-fiction to help six diplomats, stuck in Iran, escape. The movie was well acclaimed and earned seven Oscar nominations and won three. The movie was directed and led by Ben Affleck. He also served as a producer alongside Geroge Clooney and Grant Heslov.
While talking about the making of the film in an interview with Shortlist, Ben Affleck was asked if he ever “rubbed it” in Matt Damon’s face, about bagging the role. The Bourne actor had revealed being jealous of losing the role to his best friend. To which Affleck joked,
“I should have, but I didn’t know he was envious. I would have been sending him a Xerox every day, emailing him the script all the time.”
Affleck also talked about their bond and their decision to take on their own paths after hitting the jackpot together with Good Will Hunting,
“We wanted to have our own identities; this whole Matt and Ben thing was so strong it kind of upstaged whatever the movie was.”
But Argo wasn’t the only time the two were offered the same role, it happened once before and that time Matt Damon let Affleck have the role and it almost tanked his career.
Matt Damon let Ben Affleck play a role that almost tanked his career
Ben Affleck is mostly remembered for his gleaming resume that contains well-acclaimed and highly successful movies including his recent movie, Air. But the actor once saw a drop in his ever-moving up graph, with movies like Gigli and Daredevil, that almost ended his acting career. Turns out, the Daredevil role, that the world just chose to forget like it never happened, was passed on to Ben Affleck by his buddy Matt Damon.
Matt Damon shared in an interview,
“That was our guy … that was our favorite superhero. I didn’t love the script and I didn’t know the director … So, I just tried to divorce my emotion from [it]. Ben is more of an emotional guy, he was like, ‘Daredevil!’ He just went and did it.”
The movie made $179 million and Affleck has always been upset about the low he hit with the role. But in the end, it all worked out for him. He switched from acting to direction with Gone Baby Gone and it turns out, he is better at the job.
As for Argo, the movie earned $232.3 million at the box office and won 3 Academy Awards including the biggest acclaim of Best Picture.
Source: Shortlist
