Damon: Ben got killed because he was in a high-profile relationship and the press fucking teed off on him. They believed, cynically enough, that he was trying to get publicity. What they never understood was that Ben is far too smart not to know that being in that relationship was the worst thing for his career. It was absolutely destroying his career. He stayed in it because he loved her. The cynical perception was that he was courting the attention, when he was actually embarrassed by the attention.

Playboy: Where’s the Good Will Hunting follow-up project from you and Affleck that we’ve been hearing about?

Damon: It’s in the same place it’s been for the past seven years, which is that we both want to do it. We saw each other a couple weeks ago in L.A., and we could feel the horse pulling on the reins because we really miss the experience of starting a small kernel of an idea and seeing it go all the way to being a movie. Like on Good Will Hunting, the motto for this one is “Let it write itself.”