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 dreammight 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