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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Lauren Gordon

Inside Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's unique friendship from childhood pals to movie stars

Hollywood actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have starred in a string of movies together.

The duo can be seen in flicks like School Ties, The Battle of Shaker Heights and Field of Dreams but their bond goes beyond the camera.

Tonight they will premiere Kiss the Future - a documentary they produced together about the struggle of Sarajevo citizens during the Bosnian War and how U2 were recruited to help.

Matt and Ben were childhood pals and grew up together in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they quickly became friends when Matt was 10 and Ben was 8.

They went on to conquer Hollywood together and remained close friend, eventually working on the Oscar-winning screenplay for 1997's Good Will Hunting.

Speaking about the experience, Ben told Forbes: "We rented this house on the beach in Venice and 800 people came and stayed with us and got drunk.

The duo go way back (Getty Images for SXSW)
Matt and Ben were childhood pals (Getty Images)

“Then we ran out of money and had to get an apartment. It was, like, everything was exciting,” he added.

“So we lived in Glendale and Eagle Rock and we lived in Hollywood, West Hollywood, Venice, by the Hollywood Bowl, all over the place. We’d get thrown out of some places or we’d have to upgrade or downgrade depending on who had money.”

Matt has also opened up about his life-long bond with Ben, telling Entertainment Tonight that they'd both had the same dreams when growing up.

“I’ve known him for 35 years, and we grew up together. We were both in love with the same thing — acting and filmmaking."

He continued: "I think we fed on each other’s obsession during really formative, important years and that bonded us for life.”

Ben has publicly thanked his pal Matt for his support during his journey to sobriety. In 2018, an insider said that Matt would "always be there for Ben whenever he needs him."

Having worked together on recent films such as Air and The Last Duel, Ben revealed that his friendship with Matt has been "essential, defining and so important" to him.

He told Entertainment Weekly: "There were a few critical times, which are private and I don’t want to share, but where your support was so profoundly meaningful to me that I don’t think I would’ve been able to be successful without it.”

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