Matt Damon explains carefree friendship dynamic with Casey Affleck

Matt Damon and Casey Affleck have known each other almost their whole lives.

Opening up about his bond with Casey and Ben Affleck, Matt told People, “We have this 43-year shared history. We grew up together.”

They “shared experience and relationship and trust and love,” said Matt, noting that it makes working together natural. “There's an underlying understanding of who we are,” he added.

“In our business, there's a whole language that gets created around trying to protect people's feelings because people's egos are involved,” he remarked.

He added that he and Casey “don't waste any time on diplomacy, which I love.”

Matt and Casey star together in the heist comedy The Instigators, where the Bourne Ultimatum star plays father Rory and goes on a heist with Casey’s ex-con. 

The movie is directed by Doug Liman and co-written by Chuck MacLean and Casey. It also stars Hong Chau, Michael Stuhlbarg, Paul Walter Hauser, Alfred Molina and Ron Perlman.

The movie’s synopsis reads: “When the heist goes wrong, the two find themselves engulfed in a whirlwind of chaos, pursued not only by police but also by backward bureaucrats and vengeful crime bosses.”