When it comes to bromance and camaraderie in Hollywood, there are a few examples which can live up to the names of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The two have been working hand in hand since day 1, and while they have had successful respective careers, their collaboration has given the industry some great films. During a recent interview, the two recalled their time working on the 1992 film School Ties, which was directed by Robert Mandel. Ben revealed an interesting anecdote from the sets and how he almost got fired from the project.
The two appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in order to promote their new film, The Rip. While talking about the Odyssey, Matt mentioned the physical hardships that he had to go through for the movie, which prompted Fallon to ask about an injury he had over 30 years ago. The host asked about Matt being injured on the sets of School Ties, and that too by an acorn. Both actors burst out in laughter and then started telling the story of how exactly that came to be.
Matt started, “We were doing a movie called School Ties like 35 years ago, and we were all 19-20 years old. There was Brendan Fraser, Chris O’Donnell, and Cole Hauser with us. Between the takes, we were just bored, and we were walking across this school we were shooting in. They were acorns on the ground, and we just started whipping them at each other, because that seemed like a good way to spend our time.”
He continued, “He (Ben) threw one at Cole, he got out of the way, and it literally hit me in the eye. I had to go to the hospital, and they gave me an eye patch, which I had to wear for a few days.” Ben added, “See, I had maybe 4 lines in the film, and as much as I cared about Matt having vision, my first thought was, “I am going to get fired for this.’” Jimmy gasped at hearing this and said, “Oh my god! Fastball!” To which Ben replied, “I mean, yeah…if you play with fire.”
The two are currently out on the town promoting their new film, The Rip, which comes out on January 16 on Netflix. Talking about the film and the director Joe Carnahan, Matt said, “He wrote it too, and he spent time down in Miami with an actual tactical narcotics team, who are tasked to seize ill-gotten money. In Miami, these teams have to count the money on the spot, and the film is based on a real-life scenario where a team hit a house, thinking they were going to get $70k, but instead there was over $20 million hidden.”
The cast of The Rip also includes Teyana Taylor, Scott Adkins, Catalina Moreno, Kyle Chandler, Sasha Calle, and Steven Yeun.
