- I remember we both auditioned for something that we weren't
told exactly what it was but later found out it was the reinvention of the "Mickey Mouse Club." - We did not get the part.
- We didn't get cast. (soft upbeat music) I'm Ben Affleck.
- I'm Matt Damon. - And today, we're apparently
gonna be reminiscing about some of our firsts with "Elle." (soft upbeat music) My first impression of Matt was that he was very
tall and good looking. - My first impression of Ben, let's see, he would've been eight years
old, so he was very blonde. Very, very blonde. Our moms introduced us. My mom was a professor of
early childhood education and his mom was a fifth grade teacher so. - We lived two blocks apart. We used to play at the park.
- We lived around the corner. - You know, same neighborhood. (soft upbeat music) - When we were extras
on "Field of Dreams," we talked to Kevin Costner
for a little while. He was generous with his time. - And I saw Christopher Lloyd around the time "Back to
the Future" had come out and that was maybe the first time I saw like a real celebrity. And I followed him for a couple of blocks until it got weird. - We were extras in "The Good Mother." That was Diane Keaton and Liam Neeson. We were extras in "Field of Dreams." - I was a little more
experienced with the extra work. - Yeah, you were very good. You were a hell of a background artist. The first movie we did together
was "School Ties," right? - Yep. - There was only one for me.
(both chuckle) He has a first time and a second time. We were 27 and 25 years
old, so 25 years ago. Jesus. - Yeah. Before most of the people
watching were born. So this is gonna sound like
a sort of antebellum story, but we were shocked to discover only a year after kind
of watching the show and doing the Oscar pool that we were invited and
nominated and then that we won. It was very overwhelming. I remember we both auditioned for something that we weren't
told exactly what it was, but we went in and kind of were asked to do some impromptu performing. We were teenagers and later found out it was the reinvention of
the "Mickey Mouse Club." - We did not get the part.
- We didn't get cast. - The first thing we shot was Marlon. - The office.
- Phil's office, yeah. The scenes where we're arguing about whether or not the
budget should be expanded for the basketball division
in Phil Knight's office. - Yeah, I think we had a
whole day to shoot the scene with Marlon and we finished in half a day. So we went back to the office kind of looking for other things to shoot and we had rehearsed all
of the Phil-Sonny scenes. So they were in pretty good shape and we were ready to go with them. So we just started
knocking 'em out in order. - And we made some people suffer because they--
- Francois really bore the brunt. - The greens weren't outside the window so it didn't look like Portland. And you know, I was like, "Well, we'll look the other direction." You know, I kept on trying
to come up with ways, or the props weren't on
set, dressing wasn't there, but because they're so gifted, they were able to improvise with us and we just kind of kept going. (soft upbeat music) - You met him before I did. - I met him a couple of times at some kind of celebrity
events and in Las Vegas. Got to spend a little bit
of time just awestruck by the guy like everyone else. - I met him at a golf course and then we saw him once in Las Vegas and that was a really fun interaction where Ben stood next to him
and stood as tall as he could. And he looked at Jordan, who wasn't that much taller than him and Ben said, "You're not six-six." 'Cause he's famously listed at six-six. And Jordan goes, "Yes, I am." Ben goes, "Eh, he goes,
maybe six-four and a half. And Jordan, without missing
a beat, immediately goes, "Which made what I did
all the more incredible." (Matt laughs)
- He had a point. - He had a point, yeah. - He really wanted George
Raveling and Howard White to be in the movie and he
wanted Viola to play his mother. All of which I completely understood and wanted to be respectful of. And the experience was just a gift. I don't know that I
would've had the opportunity to ever get a chance to
work with Viola Davis were it not for my request being supported by Michael
Jordan also asking, which I have a feeling might
have meant a little bit more. (soft upbeat music) I had the AJ Ones. I had a picture that I found of my brother wearing them in 1985 which was right around
shortly after they came out because actually, his first season he didn't really wear the finished version of the shoe that you know now. I can't say I remember buying them, but I do have proof that
they existed in my family. - I didn't have 'em 'til after college 'til I had a little
more disposable income. (soft upbeat music) - I've been asked that question and I realize it seems kind of like, oh, you two are friends and you're equals. Now one of them's the boss,
but I don't view directing as a boss or authority position at all. Certainly not with actors. With actors, it's really
about casting the right ones and then creating an environment
for them to be successful. So it was very much like all the other times
I spent collaborating and working with Matt,
which have been great and joyful and wonderful and so much fun. (soft upbeat music) - When I was a struggling actor, I think I had one pair of boxer briefs, they were less popular back then. You either had boxers or briefs. They were expensive,
so I only had one pair, but I always looked
forward to doing my laundry because I knew that was the day I was gonna get to wear my boxer briefs. So after "Good Will Hunting", I remember going to Calvin Klein and buying like 20 pairs of boxer briefs and feeling like that was it. And in fact, a salesperson
came running out and was insisting that she give them to me and I said, "No, no, no,
you don't understand. I really need to buy these. This is a rite of passage for me." And she wouldn't let me buy them. She said, "I might get fired if they hear that you had to come
in and buy underwear." I'm like, this is the weirdest thing. I finally have money and you're not letting me
buy anything in your store. You're trying to give it to me. And I think that was probably the moment I realized
things were different. - I've always had a kind
of a nagging insecurity of whether or not I'd kind of made it or what that even meant. But I remember that when
I started directing, the first day of directing I was really, really
nervous and really scared 'cause I felt like the
stakes were very high for me and not unrealistically, But the morning, five in the morning when I was going to set, I got an email from Matt
referencing something from our childhood and kind
of wishing me the best. And I remember feeling like, "Well, this whole thing
isn't the whole deal." I've got people in my life
who love me and believe in me even if I'm not cool or not hot, or people don't put me on
lists or whatever it is. And it turns out that
that kind of is making it. - Thank you so much
for hanging out with us and "Elle" today and please check out "Air"
in theaters April 5th. (soft upbeat music)
