“It wasn’t like that when we were kids”: Ben Affleck’s Brother Claims ‘Good Will Hunting’ Saved Their Hometown from Falling to Ruins
- Matt Damon & Casey Affleck talk about Boston and how Good Will Hunting saved the state.
- The two friends discuss about their friendship while filming a project.
- Matt Damon and Casey Affleck recall their initial days in the industry and living together.
Directed by Doug Liman, Matt Damon, and Casey Affleck’s recently released heist comedy movie The Instigators, follows a botched robbery, which causes two thieves to be on the run. While being on the run, they drag one of their therapists with them. Damon serves as the producer alongside Ben Affleck, while Casey Affleck serves as the writer alongside Chuck Maclean.
The movie marks Damon’s reunion with Doug Liman, with whom he had worked on the Jason Bourne series. Damon, Ben Affleck, and Casey Affleck have worked with one another on several occasions. Their longstanding relationship began with Good Will Hunting, for which Damon and Ben Affleck won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The actors talk about what changes they have experienced from Good Will Hunting to now The Instigators.
Matt Damon and Casey Affleck recalls how Good Will Hunting saved the state of Boston
During a recent interview with The Ringer, actors Matt Damon and Casey Affleck were asked about what difference they experienced with working in Boston while working on Good Will Hunting and The Instigators. The two of them belong to Boston, and the city has served as the backdrop for so many of the movies, which is why Boston is dear to them.
Affleck shared that when he was younger, the state got rid of the rent control but noted that over the next two decades, the family that lived in the area for three generations was gone. He explained that the reason was that the rents went way up and the ones who owned the places were offered money to sell, and they moved out to the suburbs. The actor mentioned,
It wasn’t like that when we were kids. So, it has changed enormously, just culturally. It’s always been diverse, but it’s much younger. Also in the ’90s, around the time of Good Will Hunting, they started to realize that bringing movies there was good for the state. And so they had a tax incentive.
Affleck continued to share that due to the tax incentive, a lot of big studio moves came there and took advantage of it, so the state rejiggered it and made it permanent. He noted that it brings jobs there but also puts Boston kind of in the pop culture.
Matt Damon also noted that Ben Affleck went and did Gone Baby Gone, The Town in Boston, which brought the attention of the world to Boston. They agreed that it would become a destination. Upon asking what attracted them to do The Instigators, Matt Damon said that for him it was the script that Casey Affleck sent and, of course, the chance to work with him.
Matt Damon shares about working with Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck
Ahead of the release of the movie, the two actors spoke to Parade, where they were asked if they thought about their friendship while working on a project together, to which Damon said,
You can’t not think about it. I don’t think we think about it in the terms that people on the outside do. I mean, Casey drives me absolutely crazy, and I say this in a loving way like your brother [Ben Affleck] can drive me crazy. But I love working with him because he pushes me and I push him.
The actor noted that they tend to spend a lot of time in the industry on diplomacy, adding that people’s egos are involved, and no one wants to hurt anybody’s feelings. But he said when it comes to Ben or Casey, the dance is just entirely dispended with as they try to be honest and blunt with each other. Damon mentioned that it helps to have people that one has known for a long time because there’s never in doubt that there’s undying love, respect, and loyalty toward one another.
The duo recalled their living situation back in the mid-90s, stating that they had a great time together and those were wonderful years. Damon, however, noted that those were fun but worrisome and insecure times for them, adding that they had mattresses on the floor.
Affleck added that any period other than the last ten years is what he’s nostalgic for. He added that it was really fun to not think about a career at all, not have any personal expenses and responsibilities, and just take up jobs that you’d like.
The Instigators is playing in cinemas and will stream on Apple TV+ from August 9th, 2024.
