Ethan Hawke Highlighted Something Really Important About Matt Damon And Ben Affleck’s Friendship, And People Are Loving The Way He Approached This

Posted on Oct 23, 2026 UTC

Since meeting when they were aged 8 and 10, respectively, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have forged one of the most enduring friendships in Hollywood.

The pair grew up a block and a half away from each other in Boston and quickly bonded over their shared love of acting. After leaving school, the pair effectively merged their lives — moving in together and opening a shared bank account — to help make their Hollywood dreams come true.

The journey to stardom wasn't straightforward, but Matt and Ben were committed to both making it to the top together. During an "unemployed, broke" era in their 20s, the two friends lost out on roles in Dead Poets Society and decided to take matters into their own hands by writing a screenplay for their very own movie.

The script for Good Will Hunting was eventually picked up, and Matt and Ben both starred in the film alongside Robin Williams. In 1998, Good Will Hunting won two Academy Awards — including Best Original Screenplay for Matt and Ben. (Ben, who was 25 at the time, still remains the youngest person ever to win this award.)

That was their big break into the film industry, and they both went on to enjoy monumentally successful Hollywood careers, as they always hoped. They've starred in a ton of movies together, and today, they still work very closely through their production company, Artists Equity.

Matt and Ben are praised all the time for being a great example of a strong male friendship, something that people feel is becoming "exceedingly rare" in this day and age.

"This might be corny, but men really need to celebrate these types of relationships, and the constant gay jokes made about Matt and Ben sour that, further deterring men from having deep emotional, vulnerable platonic connections with one another," one Reddit user wrote in response to a clip of Matt talking about Ben on Good Hang back in July. "It really is one of the key societal differences between men and women (abundance of supportive relationships), and I genuinely think male violence, both self-inflicted and upon other people, would decrease if this were encouraged."

And it's not just us regular folks who appreciate the friendship between these two. In a recent interview with John Feitelberg, Ethan Hawke praised Matt and Ben's "positive masculine bond" while recalling them as actors he used to "compete with" in his earlier career.

"I can look at them now and be inspired, you know? To watch their friendship evolve, to watch a positive masculine friendship," Ethan said, praising the way they've "taken care of each other" and "done great work" over the years. "They've survived the vicissitudes of life. It's really admirable."

Ethan, Ben, and Matt were all fighting for roles in the '80s, '90s, and likely the 2000s, too. In fact, it was Ethan who was memorably cast in Dead Poets Society in 1989, which Matt and Ben lost out on right before they started writing Good Will Hunting. This, of course, brought some tension, but now Ethan says it's far more fun to be able to truly celebrate each other's work.

"I'm not any better if they don't succeed, you know? When you're a kid, you're like, Oh, he's succeeding, so I suck. There's no relationship," he said. "When I was young, I thought, I gotta get my pie, or somebody else is gonna get it. There's only one piece of pie. It's just not true. There's room for everyone who has something to contribute."

Given how beloved Matt and Ben are, Ethan's comments are gaining a lot of attention, particularly as they echo plenty of other people's thoughts about the famous BFFs.

"He kinda touched on why I have always disliked the comments about them secretly being in love," one Reddit user wrote. "Would be totally fine if they were, but why can’t we just see a positive display of friendship between two men without it having to be romantic. Allow men to love each other in completely platonic ways."

"I could not agree more," added someone else. "It perpetuates toxic masculinity because it makes it seem like two men can’t have an emotionally close friendship with another man without it being romantic. People will say they’re just joking, but that doesn’t make it any better…"

While promoting The Odyssey this year, Matt talked a lot about his 45-year friendship with Ben, describing him as "one of the great loves of my life." "We’ve been through a whole hell of a lot together," he told MTV UK in July.

Let dudes be friends!! Don't make it weird. You can find Ethan's full interview with John Feitelberg here.

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