“Matt’s out,” jokes Air star Messina.
“I’m ready for Matt Damon to sit the next one out.”
Any truly great bromance begins with a meet-cute and such was the case forChris MessinaandBen Affleck.
Chris Messina and Ben Affleck at the 2017 ‘Live By Night’ premiere in Paris.Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
“They were showing a slideshow or something,” Messina remembers.
And Ben cracked up, and from that day forward, we were friends.
I guess he got my wise-ass Long Island mode."
Chris Messina as a CIA operative in ‘Argo’.Everett Collection
This chance meeting led to one of the most fruitful and enduring creative partnerships of Messina’s career.
“I couldn’t believe it.
I thought they had something wrong.
Ben Affleck and Chris Messina in ‘Live By Night’.Everett Collection
That somebody had made a mistake.”
Messina thinks it’s their upbringings and mutual love of film that really brought them together.
We are East Coast guys," he reflects.
Chris Messina as David Falk in ‘Air’.Ana Carballosa/Prime
It was that love of movies that fed their partnership off-set as well.
“On days that I had off, I’d come and watchAlan ArkinandJohn Goodman,” he says.
“And Ben let me stand alongside him and observe.”
Ben Affleck and Chris Messina at the 2023 SXSW premiere of ‘Air’.Michael Loccisano/Getty
“In this business, everybody talks on both sides of their mouths,” he notes.
Ben’s been one of those people that he says it and then he does it.
So I had heard aboutLive By Night, and I had heard that he was interested in casting me.
‘Air’ star Chris Messina.Alex G. Harper for EW
There were a lot of people that thought I wasn’t right for that role.
A lot of other actors were perfect for it and wanted it, and he went with me.
“Live By Nightwas so cool because we had all our scenes together,” he says.
He’s like, ‘Yeah, try that there, I’ll do that.’
Messina says the character and story boast the kind of “movie moments” that made him pursue acting.
“There’s a passion to Falk that I believe I have,” says Messina.
“We’re both from Long Island.
There’s a scrappiness that I have.
He’s a much more intelligent man than me, much more sophisticated than I am.
I do have an anger and a fire.
But I don’t often get to show it in movies.”
“I was eatingAmy Adams' food inJulie & Juliaand telling her how much I adored it.
And I was pining over Rebecca Hall inVicky Christina Barcelona, and people want you to do that thing.
“And it’s partly their job to let that gift out.
Ben trusts the people he hires both on screen and off, and he gives them wings to fly.
That’s the greatest thing it’s possible for you to do for an actor trust in them.”
Matt’s out,” Messina jokes.
“‘It’s me and you, Ben.
I’m ready for Matt to sit the next one out.
Enough of these guys.
You’re gonna direct me in the lead.’
I would be there in a second.
I would work on the crew.
I love watching him work both as an actor and a director.”
“I was so jealous of them,” he confesses.
“They’re about my age.
And I was like, ‘you’ve got the option to do that?
you might write your own movie and star in it?’
I was so lost at that age.
“Ben tries to hold me up and carry me along and show me new ways.”
“I’d love to direct him in a movie,” confesses Messina.
“He doesn’t really know my passion for directing so much.
We talked about it a little bit, but I haven’t really shared that with him as much.
But I would love to put him in something.
He’s a tremendous actor and it’d be fun to do with him what he does with me.
I just have to find the right material.”
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