Casey Affleck has the utmost respect for longtime friend Matt Damon — but that didn’t stop him from poking fun at the star while filming their new movie, The Instigators.
“I remember one time [Matt] was steering the car [in a scene], and the car is standing still and it’s surrounded by a green screen, so it looks like the camera’s inside the car and we’re driving down the street, but you have to fake the turns,” Affleck, 48, exclusively recalled in the latest issue of Us Weekly. “So he turns the wheel in one direction, and our bodies have to go in the other direction, and you have to kind of sell it a little bit. He thinks he’s a real pro at this, because he’s done so many Bourne movies. [But] he was going the wrong way. He’s barking at me. And I was like, ‘But you’re moving the wrong way!’”
Affleck added that he relished the chance to point out the mistake. “He is good at it. He has done a lot of it. He is a good action star, but I had the pleasure of correcting him at least once.”
The jokes, of course, were all in good fun. Affleck and Damon, 53, have been close pals for decades, costarring in projects like Good Will Hunting, Interstellar, Oppenheimer and the Ocean’s trilogy, to name a few. Damon is also famously close with Casey’s older brother, Ben Affleck, and the twosome have made a name for themselves as one of Hollywood’s favorite BFF duos.
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Apple TV+’s The Instigators, however, marks the first time Casey and Damon have headlined a movie together. In the Boston-set story — which hits the streaming service on Friday, August 9 — ex-con Cobby (Casey) and down-and-out dad Rory (Damon) are wary partners in crime, scheming to rob a corrupt politician. When Rory’s therapist (Hong Chau) ends up as their semi-willing hostage, and a menacing cop with an agenda (Ving Rhames) gets on their tail, the pair must figure out a way to outrun police, backward bureaucrats and a vengeful crime boss.
Setting the story in Beantown was an easy decision for Casey, who cowrote the script with Chuck McClain. They —and Damon — all hail from Massachusetts. The trio used the opportunity to visit their roots, and work with a few familiar faces.
“It was always set [in Boston], and if it wasn’t set here, I might have re-set it here, because I love coming home,” Casey quipped. “I love working here. I know a lot of the crew, and it was nice to work with them. There are really good crews in Massachusetts because there’s so many things that are made here.”
Although the film is Casey and Damon’s first feature as co-leads, the Manchester by the Sea actor told Us that preparing for their roles didn’t require “too much” preparation given their longstanding bond.
“We’ve known each other for a really long time,” Casey explained, noting that the two men have experienced “just about every” up and down friendship can bring. “The fights, the best times, marriages and divorces and kids being born. Just all of it.”
While Casey joked that he’d like to “make fun” of Damon by saying something “critical,” the “best part” of The Instigators experience was getting to work alongside such a talent.
“He’s actually a very, very smart actor, and he approaches things intellectually. He’s a very cerebral guy” he said. “That’s not the way that I tend to approach a scene or character or moment, so it was nice to be reminded of how he works.”
“He’s had all his own experiences, and I’ve had all my own different experiences,” he continued. “And so even though we know each other so well, when you get to work together every day again, I got to see, like, ‘Oh, look, he’s learned a few new things!’”
Casey also marveled that his friend and costar is “really good at conserving his energy,” likening the Bourne Identity star’s work ethic to the famous 2017 boxing match between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather.
“I remember when Conor fought Mayweather, and after the fight, Conor said he got beat, and he was really wiped out, called the fight, and he said they asked him, ‘What was it like to fight Mayweather?’ And he said, ‘You know, he’s not that strong, he’s not that fast, but he’s very composed,’” Casey recalled. “I would say, Matt, his talent runs deep, is the equivalent of a boxer — being strong and fast. But he’s also very, very composed.”
Finding his moments, Casey said, is really where Damon shines.
“He really knows when to give it all and when to think about the bigger picture of the movie. He’s aware of what the crew needs to achieve,” he said. “It’s not always about him, but he knows when to make it all about him.”
While Ben doesn’t make an appearance in The Instigators, he does serve as executive producer. Casey told Us that getting all three actors on screen for another project together wouldn’t take “much” — as long as they could figure out how to coordinate their incredibly busy schedules.
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“The older I get, the more I think I just want to work with people who I know and trust,” he said. “I kind of am prioritizing relationships in my life and the time that I spend and who I spend it with. I want to work more with my friends and my family, people I’ve met over the years who I know and love and trust. So if they sent me a call sheet, I would show up.”
For more on Casey and Damon’s new film, watch the exclusive video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.
The Instigators hits Apple TV+ on Friday, August 9.
