Matt Damon, Ben Affleck have always been each other's 'biggest fans'

• Forever friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck costar in the new Netflix movie "The Rip" (streaming Jan. 16).
• They play Miami police officers who wrestle with an ethical dilemma when they come into $20 million in cash.
• In a paired interview, the two stars choose each other's most underrated role and discuss the movie that got away.

NEW YORK – You know that scene in "Step Brothers," when Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly realize they just became best friends?

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck can relate, having grown up as childhood pals just outside Boston.

"I don't know if there was a moment of, 'You want to go do karate in the garage?' " Damon says with a laugh, seated with Affleck in a Midtown hotel. Rather, "it was an incremental series of those moments. Friendships at that age are incredible and special and life-changing."

Together they've conquered Hollywood over the past 30 years. Their latest team-up is "The Rip" (streaming on Netflix Jan. 16), playing Miami police officers whose loyalties are tested after stumbling upon $20 million in cash. Written and directed by Joe Carnahan, the action thriller is loosely inspired by the true story of one of Carnahan's law enforcement friends, who also helped recruit real-life police officers to appear in the film.

On the set with Affleck and Damon, "you could feel how deeply they respect and love each other," Carnahan says. "You've known this guy since he was a kid – you can't jimmy up that kind of connection."

Damon, 55, and Affleck, 53, made inroads into the business as extras in the Fenway Park sequence of 1989's "Field of Dreams." But their breakthrough came after cowriting and starring in 1997's "Good Will Hunting," which won the Oscar for best original screenplay. Receiving awards recognition so early was a "blessing," Damon says, because they "never had to chase it" moving forward.

The A-listers have since seen each other through relationships, personal struggles and becoming dads. Although much ink has been spilled about their friendship, they've learned to never read their own press.

"It's not useful to see what it is that people are opining on," Affleck says. Adds Damon: "I don't think I've looked at a comments section since the first time I looked at a comments section (laughs). I was like, 'Well, I'll never do that again!' "

The actors open up to USA TODAY about "The Rip," their most underrated films and more.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

You shadowed real officers and went on ride-alongs in Miami. Did you ever see people do double takes, like, "Wait, what are Matt and Ben doing in a cop car in Florida?"

Ben Affleck: Some of the other police officers who weren't part of that group were a little taken aback. But this was an undercover unit, so the cars were unmarked and they're pretty discreet people. (Many of them) were at the premiere with their wives and families. It was really rewarding and fun to see them like, "Oh, wow, here’s what we do up on the screen."

Looking back, what was the one movie that got away?

Matt Damon: I was supposed to do "Milk" with Gus (Van Sant). Then Sean (Penn) had something happen to his schedule and he had to push the movie, which made it a conflict for me, so I got recast with Josh Brolin. I loved the script and I'd already done research on it. But as much as I wanted to be in that, it was probably better served by Josh. He was amazing. It was a moment in my 30s when I was like, "That must've happened for a reason." So I was sanguine about it at the end.  

When you see this next generation of actors, is there something that makes you think, "Man, thank God we came up when we did?"

Affleck: The business was much more predictable back then. You knew what you needed to do, and there were very set rules and boundaries (without) the scrutiny of social media. Now, it seems to be implied that it’s incumbent on people not only to do the best work they can as actors, but to also provide a secondary narrative and performative story about one’s life on social media, which I think really runs counter to the purpose of trying to get people to believe you’re the character you are in a movie. That’s definitely an added encumbrance.

People like to say that Hollywood doesn't make stars anymore. But who’s someone you see out there who really has that "it" factor?

Damon: Teyana (Taylor), for one. Michael B. Jordan and Timothée Chalamet. They're already established A-list people, so that doesn't seem particularly daring to say.

Affleck: But if they don't make movie stars, well, here they are! It's so clear to me they've got the world at their feet.

You both have teenagers. Is there anything they've turned you on to recently that you most enjoyed?

Affleck: My kids showed me "Aftersun" and I thought it was one of the best films I've seen. It was extraordinary. What a gift to be at a place in life where your children are exposing you to art that's powerful and meaningful. My kids – and Matt's – are really smart. They've got great taste and they're really interesting. One of the joys of adulthood and parenthood is when you turn around and they start teaching you so many things. It's the joy of life.

What about a trend that you just don't get?

Affleck: How much time have you got?

Damon: "6-7." I think we're not supposed to get that and that's OK.

What do you think is each other's most underrated film?

Damon: Ben's got a bunch of them, but the movie he put out right as COVID hit, "The Way Back" – that was a great performance.

Affleck: Matt in "Stillwater" is incredible. "The Informant!" isn't always talked about, and "The Good Shepherd" is a really exquisite movie. It's a very subtle, very quiet but really piercing examination of the intelligence service in American history. I find it really beautiful. I'm a fan.

Matt, "Margaret" is one of my favorites of yours.

Damon: Thank you, that was four days of work for me (laughs).

And Ben, you should have won an Oscar for "Gone Girl."

Damon: I feel like that movie got a lot of attention, but yeah, that one, too. I mean, I've always been his biggest fan because we were each other's biggest fans when we didn't have any other fans in the world.

Affleck: Biggest and only!

Damon: But I do think this happens in middle age, as we get more life under our belts, that there's just been another level up for him this last decade. Like "The Last Duel," which we wrote and nobody saw, but he's incredible in that movie. "The Tender Bar," going all the way up through "Air" – he's just on a tear right now.