Casey Affleck says Matt Damon was a ‘show-off’ when they were kids

Casey Affleck knew Matt Damon was destined to be a star… because as a kid, he never let anyone forget him.

During a masterclass at the Zurich Film Festival, the Oscar-winning actor, whose older brother Ben was Damon’s childhood best friend, offered a light-hearted insight into his rivalry with The Odyssey star. Although he was complimentary of Damon’s talents, Affleck couldn’t help but joke that Damon was more of a “show-off” back when they were schoolboys.

“We all had the same acting teacher and a lot of actors came through that one acting department,” Affleck said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We were at a great public school, and we just happened to have a great drama teacher, and he made the kids fall in love with theater and acting.”

Damon was one of those kids, Affleck explained, adding, “Matt was always a little bit of a show-off. (He was) outgoing and doing talent shows and stuff. And there was no doubt what direction he was going to take, but the rest of us were trying to figure him out.”

Damon and Ben Affleck enjoyed a friendship that lasted most of their lives. The duo, raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, grew up far apart and bonded over their shared desire to make it in Hollywood. Together, they were the writers and stars of 1997. Goodwill Huntwhich earned them the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

A few years younger, Casey has been part of this collaboration since the beginning. At age 18, he moved to Los Angeles to live with his brother and Damon, while all three pursued their acting careers. He then appeared in their hit film, Goodwill Hunt and joined Damon for Oceans 11. As they each found their own respective success, Casey continued to work with the duo, most recently starring alongside Damon in the 2024 film. The instigators.

“We’re all very different in a weird, very obvious way,” Casey noted of their career paths. “Matt is a super talented actor. It’s a funny case because he’s a very talented actor who has sort of a movie star persona, a matinee idol appeal, at the same time, which Ben and I don’t really have.”

Despite their different personalities, these paths crossed several times. In fact, Damon was originally set to direct and star in Manchester by the seain the very role that won Casey his Oscar. During a visit to Amy Poehler Good shot podcast earlier this year, Damon remembers telling writer-director Kenneth Lonergan to go with Casey instead.

Poehler joked, “And he stole that Oscar from you, that’s how he got back the favor.”

“I like to say I gave it to him,” Damon said with a laugh. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind, would he? After ripping his heart out during that performance.”

Rivalry jokes aside, Damon spoke fondly of his longtime bond with the Affleck brothers. While pushing for The instigators in 2024, the actor attributed their successful collaborations to the fact that they have a “43-year shared history” and that they “grew up together.”

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“There’s an underlying understanding of who we are,” he told Weekly Entertainmentthe sister publication of, PEOPLE, at the time. “In our business, a whole language is created around trying to protect people’s feelings because people’s egos are involved.” But thanks to their relationship, they don’t have to worry about wasting time “on diplomacy.”