Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on "Air"

stop rushing me back stop crowding the plane  Ben Affleck and Matt Damon made movie history   with Good Will Hunting some 25 years ago now  they're together again in a new film that has   them Walking on Air they're in conversation with  our Tracy Smith so is it a bonus making this film   being able to spend more time with each other  yeah absolutely I mean that's for sure it was   one of the things that we kind of wanted to do  is the idea of like why aren't we hanging out   and spending more time together since we managed  to stay friends this whole time plus we hit our   50s so I mean we got not much time left I mean  you can see the end of the tunnel sound of it   Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are in a good place  these days they're working together again and to   hear them describe it they've never had a better  time do you guys have an unspoken language yeah 40   something years of hanging out together it's like  a common frame of reference right I find the most   wonderful thing about it was I loved coming to  work every day I love seeing that I love first   of all he's a genius having him in your is the  anchor of your movie no I I didn't used to think   but that it just makes it so easy and it was just  so much fun I don't know it's kind of felt like   just us and getting to do the thing that we wanted  to do I did I loved it I loved it I missed it   every day since it was the the best like uh work  experience of my life without a question and that   experience is air the movie in theaters only on  April 5th is about Nike and how back in 1984 they   built an entire shoe brand around one NBA rookie  player they thought would become a household name   I need the greatest basketball shoe that's ever  been made who's the player Michael Jordan Michael   Jordan I'm willing to bet my career on Michael  Jordan oh come on man Affleck who's also the   film's director plays Nike founder Phil Knight and  Damon is Sonny Vaccaro the Nike exec who tries to   sell him on the idea I mean if you look at them if  you really look at Jordan like I did you're gonna   see exactly what I see which is what the most  competitive guy I have ever seen he is a [ __ ]   killer is it the shoes we now know it turned  out to be a killer deal for everyone involved   you sure it's not the shoes the Jordan brand is  still flying off the shelves with sales of more   than 5 billion dollars last year Alone the movie  is not a biopic but Affleck made sure everyone   looked as close to real as possible especially  Damon did you notice that he's um he lost the   weight yeah so let's talk about that my favorite  thing about Ben is that he put me in a fat suit   when I finally get to work with him I actually my  wife saw the movie and I said what did you think   and she goes the movie is great you look like and  according to Affleck Michael Jordan himself had a   few suggestions what did he tell you was important  to him a number of things and I'm not sure that   I'm at Liberty like share every single one but  what I will tell you is he said Viola Davis is   gonna be my mother which is kind of like choosing  Michael Jordan for your basketball team my name is   Sonny Vaccaro I'm with Nike do you typically make  it a habit of showing up at people's front doors   unannounced I don't like to take no for an answer  oh man here we go Viola Davis was in fact cast as   Michael's mom Doloris Jordan best day of my life  and Chris Tucker plays and helped write the part   of someone he knows personally Nike VP Howard  white all that matters is how much do you believe   I believe in you I called Chris Tucker  and he was like who I've always thought   I was a genius and wanted to work with  and he was like I know Howard would   like you know Howard right turns out later Chris  Tucker knows everybody literally everybody one   person we see very little of is an actor who  plays Jordan why do we not see Michael Jordan   in this movie we don't see Michael Jordan for the  very what was obvious reason to me which is that   this is a movie about an icon about somebody  who's so meaningful that the minute you know   I show you somebody and tell you like hey that's  Michael Jordan just go no it isn't I know what   Michael Jordan is I know it is and not only that  the only actor who could play Michael Jordan was   a little old to play this part and we probably  couldn't afford him but the idea was like if   I show you something that you know that's not  Michael Jordan and now everything else is fake   so the final result feels real and as always it  was a team effort Ben Affleck and Matt Damon met   his kids in Cambridge Massachusetts and clicked  from the start chasing the same Hollywood dream might not have caught them in 1989's Field  of Dreams as extras somewhere in the crowd   in Boston's Fenway Park but you might have seen  them in this man you don't know what it is so   you owe it to me it's tomorrow I'm going to  wake up and I'll be 50. and I'll still be doing   for Good will Hunting both won the Oscar for  original screenplay and it launched them ready   or not into the Hollywood Stratosphere what did  it do to you guys to win it that young I remember   it didn't settle in for it was like a couple  years I think it was so it was just completely   surreal March of '98 I was 25 years old I look at  myself now and think I still have quite a bit to   learn you know that's the curse of being 25 is you  think you have it all figured out put your hands   up of course they have figured it out individually  they've earned everything from box office respect   here's your director you teach somebody to be a  director in a day you teach a rhesus monkey to be   a director in a day to more Oscar gold stood out  here in front of you all right really just a kid   and uh I went out you know and I never thought  that I would be back here frankly one of the   lessons of growing older is it's not all about  money it's not the most important thing spend   your life chasing money you'll end up you might  end up with a lot of money but you probably miss   out on a lot of things I haven't found that money  changed any happiness that I had in fact that's   the beautiful thing about this is the happiness  was being able to be here every day in Los Angeles   where my children aren't see them every day and  then come visit the set work with my best friend   my whole life there's nothing more that I want  in my life I thought well this this is it this   is what I've always wanted you know and then I  thought that might mean I'm about to die yeah I   literally had the same thought I was like this is  this is we've actually reached the mountains and   now together they formed a new production company  called artist Equity that'll give people on the   film crew a bigger slice of the financial pie  that's why it's called artist equity and the idea   is that we're pulling a bunch of people above the  line who traditionally aren't and they and they   stand to do a lot better financially than they've  ever done on movies before I believe in your son   I believe he's the future and his story is going  to make us want to fly but a shoe is just a shoe   until my son steps into it you got a name for it  Air Jordan Air is their company's first offering   with more to come soon seriously maybe it'll grow  on me we're just getting rolling working again   with with Amazon to do uh the story of a wrestler  named Anthony Robles who was born with one leg and   won a national championship for Arizona State  and who's starring in that movie I know where   you're going with this but I'm going to tell you  who the lead actor is is there another actor in   there we always hire the very best performers and  in this case I can say every single person that's   been cast so far I think is the very absolute  best choice you're dancing around that Jennifer   Lopez I believe yes I believe uh Jennifer Lopez  may be doing that I'm gonna make it look like   she's just doing us a favor to me but actually  she is it seems fitting that Affleck and Damon's   new movie is a story about collaboration that's  what got them here and what keeps them going   what fun and what a joy to do something or  see her be great go to work with your wife   go to work with your best friend because  ultimately like your work becomes what the   Lions share of what defines your life in terms  of the time you spend that's who it is and if   you don't like who you're working with and if  you have difficulty or trouble at work I think   it's one of the things that can really cause  depression anxiety and pain for people and   and conversely you love the people at work  you're probably a pretty good life you know

Channel: CBS Sunday Morning

Views: 1,298,102

Keywords: CBS Sunday Morning, CBS News, news, ben affleck, matt damon, massachusetts, hollywood, actors, oscar, screenplay, good will hunting, production company, air

Id: PZM6j8bKnks

Length: 8min 37sec (517 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 19 2023