How The Beatles' Breakup Inspired Ben Affleck & Matt Damon To Stay Close

Though Beatlemania had bitten the dust by 1966, it wasn't until the turn of the 1970s that one of the most influential bands of all time officially called it quits. Following years of mounting tension, John Lennon formally departed The Beatles in September 1969. Granted, this was initially kept secret from the general public, but the truth could only stay hidden for so long. And when Paul McCartney publicly announced his own departure from the band in April 1970, the reality of the situation became impossible to deny. The Beatles were done. However, little did the legendary Liverpudlian rockers realize, the manner in which they went their separate ways would one day inspire two of the most recognizable actors of the modern era to avoid going down a similar path.

As lifelong best friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon started to make big names for themselves in the entertainment industry on the back of their collaborative projects, the prospect of being pigeonholed as a package deal evidently started to weigh on them a bit. Hence, why they largely stopped making movies together for a time. However, according to Damon, watching Peter Jackson's 2021 Disney docuseries "The Beatles: Get Back" made him seriously reevaluate his perspective on the matter.

During his January 2026 appearance on "Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend," Damon recalled bursting into tears while watching footage of The Beatles' iconic January 1969 rooftop concert. "It's, like, the most joyful thing," Damon said, adding, "And then, Peter Jackson put this chyron up, and it said, 'This is the last time The Beatles played live together.' ... It made me so sad that these guys ... they couldn't get past whatever it was that wouldn't allow them to, kind of, keep doing it together." After the fact, his first phone call was to Affleck.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have never been shy about discussing how much they cherish each other. Furthermore, while it's hardly a secret that The Beatles' collaborative process was underscored by a bit of healthy competition — especially when it came to John Lennon and Paul McCartney — Affleck and Damon have never been particularly interested in trying to one-up each other. "I think we're lucky, actually, to not have a friendship that's really rooted in rivalry," Affleck said during a January 2026 Netflix featurette promoting his and Damon's movie "The Rip." "I think it does drive people, but I think it's a kind of corrosive thing for your life, you know?" he continued.

Affleck and Damon found their first big success with 1997's "Good Will Hunting," which they both co-wrote and starred in, and led to Robin Williams winning his first and only Oscar. Shortly thereafter, they co-starred in director Kevin Smith's (who had been a producer on "Good Will Hunting") 1999 film "Dogma." During his aforementioned appearance on "Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend" in 2026, Damon explained how it was around then that he and Affleck thought it might be best to start diversifying their filmographies independently of one another — not unlike how the four Beatles launched solo careers in the aftermath of the band's dissolution.

"I think we were a little allergic to working together for a while," Damon confessed to host Conan O'Brien, though clarified that he and Affleck remained good friends the entire time. And after a certain point, their hang-ups about collaborating again started to fade away. "Now, we're in our 50s, we're starting this [production] company, and it's kind of like, 'I don't care,'" he said. "We just like working together."