Ben Affleck and Matt Damon 'lucky' to work together on 'The Rip' and more

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon still enjoy working together after four decades of friendship and business.

The duo hit the carpet last night in New York for their new Netflix crime thriller, “The Rip,” where they said it takes more than just a phone call between the two to make a movie.

“Well, we have the company, so we have regular meetings, we kind of professionalized our [friendship],” Damon joked.

Affleck added, “It’s not quite as amateur as that, despite appearances. We’re lucky to be able to get to work together.”

The “Good Will Hunting” stars produced their latest film through their company, Artists Equity, and have a special deal built in: all the people involved in the $100 million production will be eligible for a one-time bonus based the film’s performance. According to The New York Times, the film will be evaluated over its first 90 days on Netflix and compared against other titles to make the final determination.

At the premiere, Affleck explained, “It takes a lot more than Matt and I obviously, you see all these actors here who are amazing and deserve all the attention that they get. And there’s a lot of really skilled technicians, behind the scenes crew members”

“There are 1200 people who are on the movie,” Damon added.” If it goes well and we’re able to do this bonus and we’re able to bonus people out, we just have a list of every single person who’s worked touched the movie, and it’s 1200 people.”

Some of those crew members included real life law enforcement officers who were familiar with the kinds of “rips” (aka hidden stashes of money) seen in the film.

Damon explained they rode along with director Joe Carnahan’s friend who ran the Tactical Narcotics Team in Miami to understand.

“We met all those guys and watch them operate and got to hang out with them and pick their brains and just try to get a sense of what their life is like in the kind of more terrifying and exciting moments and the more mundane moments. It was a great research process, those guys really gave us a lot,” he said.

Affleck added, that some of the people they studied are actually in the movie, noting, “It made it a lot better, I think a lot easier, more realistic for all of us actors.”

In “The Rip,” Affleck and Damon play narcotics officers who come across $20 million stashed in a house with their team, which includes recent Golden Globe winner Teyana Taylor, Steven Yeun, and Catalina Sandino Moreno, along with support from their DEA agent friend, played by Kyle Chandler. The temptation of the money, combined with the threat of the cartel looming over their find pushes the trust of the team to the limit as they’re stuck counting the money and trying to make it out of the situation alive.

Chandler also got the opportunity to talk with working and former DEA agents, saying, “he shared stories that would make the hair on the back of your neck standup. These guys are really incredible and those stories that he shared with us really gave the idea, the feeling of danger within that situation.”

As co-star Catalina Sandino Moreno said, “It’s insane this happens. We live in our bubble and we’re not aware of what’s happening around us and then things like this happen. Someone can hide $20 million dollars in a house, I mean like, it’s actually crazy and we’re not aware of anything happening in the world.”

“The Rip” premieres on Netflix January 16.

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