Ben Affleck and Matt Damon open up about sharing one bank account for years: 'It was unusual'

Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 24, 2023. It has since been updated.

It might sound unreal when someone says that two actors share the same bank account, but when it comes to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who are best friends, anything is possible. In an episode of "The Bill Simmons Podcast," the duo revealed that they had a joint bank account in the late 1980s to help fund their auditions, reports CNBC. "It was unusual, but we needed the money for auditions," Damon said, adding that it was "a weird thing in retrospect."

Affleck shared that as best friends, they were rooting for each other's success and were comfortable sharing their money. "We were going to help each other and be there for each other," he said. "It was like, 'You’re not going to be alone. I'm not going to be alone. Let's go out there and do this together.' As long as one of us had money, we knew that the power wasn't going to get shut off."

"I remember after doing 'Geronimo,' I was like, f**k, I probably had like 35 grand in the bank. I was like [to Affleck], 'We're good! We're good for a year!'" added Damon. The pair also had rules on how they would spend the money. "You were allowed to take out $10 and get quarters and go to [the arcade] and play video games," Damon shared, reports PEOPLE. "Eventually we were allowed to try to buy beer, which never f**king worked."

Affleck and Damon met in Boston and studied at the same high school. The duo started auditioning together and acted together in their first movie, "School Ties," in 1992. They went on to do many films together, including, "Good Will Hunting" in 1997, for which they won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

The bank where they had their account has since shut down, but the duo still loves to work together. "I love working with this guy. I love hanging out with him," Affleck said. "If you can work with great people, who are good people too, it's so much more rewarding personally and professionally."

Damon and Affleck recently found their production company together called Artists Equity. The first film from the production, "Air," in which Damon acts and Affleck directs, will be out in theaters on April 5.

Affleck, in another interview, shared that he plays a Wordle-inspired game called Octordle with a celebrity group. "It's just Wordle with more words. Don't be impressed, it's not harder. I was invited to join a cool little red velvet rope celebrity Wordle group. Matt [Damon]'s one of them. Jason Bateman and Bradley [Cooper], and... Actually, the first rule of Wordle is don't talk about Wordle. Unless you get it in three guesses," he said.

The actor admitted that before joining the celebrity group, he considered himself good at word games and would do the "crossword compulsively in the mornings." However, he soon realized that the "cool little red velvet rope celebrity Wordle group" meant business when it came to guessing the right words.

"Let's face it, going up against actors, it's not a high bar. I expected to do fairly well, so I was seriously humbled. You have to do the Wordle, the Quordle, and the Octordle, and add up your score, and then whoever gets the lowest score wins for the day. It's fiercely competitive, and there's a lot of mockery and derision. So I'm in training," Affleck admitted.