Ben Affleck remembers meeting Kevin Costner alongside Matt Damon when they were working as extras all too well.
Affleck and Damon got their start in the entertainment industry as film extras. One of their first big jobs as a duo was acting in the background of the sports drama Field of Dreams, which starred Costner. During a Wednesday appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Affleck responded to the Yellowstone actor stating he recalled him and Damon while they were working on the 1989 film.
“Kevin is being kind saying he remembers us because we were not memorable,” he joked. “It’s sweet of him to say that, but I’m pretty sure he remembers the actors with lines.”
In May last year, the Oscar winner recalled Affleck and Damon’s “big enthusiasm” working on Field of Dreams. “They were on fire. I do remember them, absolutely,” he told Kimmel at the time. Despite not believing that he recollects meeting them, Affleck looked back on a hilarious story of Damon ripping off Costner’s athletic training on the movie.
“I remember we thought we knew that actors were kind of fraudulent and Cosner took batting practice. We were ready for him to [not be able to] really hit,” he said. “And I will say he banged like a bunch of balls off the green monster, hit a ball out of the park. It was so impressive.”
However, Affleck said Damon did an interview years later claiming he was the one with the superb hitting skills. “Then I see him in this interview say, ‘Yeah I took batting practice at Fenway Park and I hit the ball off the Green Monster.’ I was like, ‘Matt, are you remembering yourself as Kevin Costner?’” he joked.
Affleck admitted that coming face to face with Costner and his co-star James Earl Jones at the time felt “like seeing God.” As for their additional gigs as extras, Affleck claimed he and Damon worked on 1988’s Lemon Sky — the film where Kevin Bacon met his wife, Kyra Sedgwick. “Believe it or not,” he concluded.
As for the rest of his filmography, the Good Will Hunting star said his children were not too fond of one of his past projects. “During COVID, all the kids were around the house and I was like, ‘Hey let’s watch a movie,’” he said. “And I thought, ‘Oh maybe the kids will like Armageddon.’ Almost immediately it was like, ‘What, this is so stupid, are you kidding me?’ My son who’s like, ‘This just doesn’t make sense.’”