Matt Damon and Ben Affleck‘s bond is deeper than ever.
The Oppenheimer actor, 52, is the newest guest on the upcoming installment of Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist, which marks the television journalist’s 300th original Sunday sit-down interview.
PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at the chat between Willie Geist and Damon, the latter of whom opens up about how the dynamic between him and Affleck, 50, has evolved over the decades they’ve worked together.
Asked by Geist, 48, specifically what it was like being directed by Affleck for their recently released sports drama Air, Damon said it was “great” and even compared it to being directed by Oppenheimer‘s Christopher Nolan.
“Great directors really give you the freedom … it’s a collaboration, it’s a partnership,” he explained. “You’re kind of attacking a problem together and you’re bringing your ideas, and if [a director is] good, they’re receptive to [those ideas].”
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As for the “shorthand” he and Affleck — with whom he won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Good Will Hunting 25 years ago — have on set, Damon said, “What’s really great is there’s no diplomacy.”
“You can waste so much time by trying to be polite,” he continued. “In the movie business and in theater, they’ve developed a whole vocabulary for how to talk to somebody — basically, how to tell somebody they’re sucking.”
But in Affleck and Damon’s case, “We can just say, ‘You suck,’ ” Damon joked, laughing. “Which is really a gift because you get through the bulls— faster and you go, ‘How do we fix it?’ “
“Just tell me I’ve overacting, you know what I mean?” he added later.
While Air marked the first time Affleck has directed Damon on a feature film, it wasn’t the first time in general — in fact, Affleck’s coaching of his best friend goes way back.
During a Q&A following a screening of the film in New York City in March, Affleck joked of Damon, “It’s not the first time I’ve carried him!”, according to IndieWire.
“It might seem like the first time he’s directed me,” said Damon with a laugh, adding, “I mean, we did high-school plays where he was like, ‘Dude, I think you should do it like this.’ “
“He’s been directing me for like 40-something years,” Damon noted.
Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist airs Sundays on NBC at 8 a.m. ET. Catch his 300th original Sunday sit-down interview, with Damon, this weekend.
Oppenheimer blasts into theaters July 21.
