Matt Damon and David Beckham Toast the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

Don’t be startled if you see Matt Damon and David Beckham on screen together during this Sunday’s Big Game. In keeping with the make-‘em-say-Huh logic that governs all Super Bowl ads, Damon has followed his viral Dunkin Donuts ad from last year—the one with JLo, Ben Affleck, Tom Brady, and all those tracksuits—with an even wilder premise. This time, the actor teams up with the legendary footballer to kick off a year-long campaign for Stella Artois, in which Beckham finds out he has a long-lost brother and (how do you like these apples?) it’s Matt bloody Damon.

Directed by—who else?—the aforementioned Affleck, the witty spot plays with your basic Super Bowl ad tropes: beer, wings, illegitimate children. GQ spoke to Damon and Beckham from their New York and London homes about who had the bigger entourage and Beckham’s (estimable, it turns out) acting skills.

GQ: Had you guys met before this?

Matt Damon: Yeah, over the years we've met a few times but just in passing, in kind of big groups. But this was the first time we'd ever had a chance to get together and do something like this. This was a little more in depth.

How did it all come about?

Damon: Who the hell would have thought of this idea?

Exactly!

Damon: I'm glad David didn't laugh us off the road when we brought it to him. But it was something that our ad team at Artist’s Equity came up with. I've been working with Stella through Water.org for over a decade and they've been just phenomenal partners for us. So we were talking to them to try to build a campaign, and this is what the guys came up with. And I just thought it was so funny. The big thing was to pitch it to David and make sure he liked it. But the idea was to kind of synthesize a really good story and some good humor. It was like, how do we make it fun and entertaining, but also lend to this message of what this is all about?

David Beckham: On my side, to be honest, anything Matt and Ben could have pitched me, I would have said yes. But thankfully, they pitched me something that was actually hilarious. And my relationship with Stella started a couple of years ago; we always talked about doing a campaign. But obviously when they came to me, I was in straight away. I had the best time, not just because of Ben and Matt, but we also had Ben's crew there who he works with on the movies. So those four days filming this made it special. It was a dream for me.

Were those your real parents, David?

Beckham: No, those were actors. I wish they were! I'd love to have seen my mom and dad act even though they are separated. So there could have been complications there as well. But no, it was Christopher and Mary. And they were unbelievable, actually. They were brilliant.

Now I’m wondering how many people are going to watch the ad and think those were your actual parents.

Beckham: That's going to be one of the main questions, I think!

So take us on set, what was it like? I’m sure knowing the crew so well changes the atmosphere.

Damon: Yeah, it’s all the people that Ben works with on his films, so I know them all really well. It was good that we had them because they're the best at what they do and somebody needed to keep the ship straight because we were kind of having too much fun. But Ben kind of designed it that way. You know, we didn't know, when it comes to David, how nimble he'd be. It turned out he has serious chops. We got there with a script that we all worked on and were happy with. But once it became clear that David could improvise and do all this stuff, we started to adorn it with all kinds of ad libs and improvisation.

Beckham: But as you can imagine, for me it was very daunting to have to stand in front of Matt trying to remember what lines I had to say and try to look very authentic in front of someone who is incredible. So yes, it was quite daunting. But we had a lot of fun.

I mean, David, you had me fooled. I literally thought you were with your parents.

It was all from, you know, Matt’s teaching.

So who had the bigger entourage on set?

Damon: Well, David had one person with him, so his was much, much larger than mine.

Beckham: Ben. Ben had the biggest. For sure.

Matt, you killed it last year in the Dunkin ad and now this year you’re here with Stella and David. It seems like being in a big Super Bowl ad is becoming an annual tradition for you.

Damon: Well, look, [Tom] Brady killed it in our ad, so we gotta do right by David this year. Even though they're friends, I’m sure there's gonna be some competition there.

Beckham: We are very competitive.

Damon: They're kind of known for that, you know.

Another question about your acting process, Matt, for such a serious role: Were you actually eating the chicken wings on set?

Damon: Yeah, they were great. They were actually fantastic.

But isn’t there that actor trick when you’re not really eating them and just kind of shuffling food around?

Damon: If you do a scene in a movie where you have to eat a lot, yeah, it's best that the second you hear “Cut” you spit it out, cause you know you're gonna have to eat a lot more. But in this case, we were only in that little wing station for a half an hour. I think any guy can eat wings for a half an hour and be fine.

Since we’re talking about beer, I’m wondering about both of your most memorable nights out on the town. I’m sure you have some good stories. Do any come to mind that we can publish?

Damon: The first one that came to my mind was one of the earliest, which was my 21st birthday. I was shooting a movie called School Ties, and I went after work with the crew to the hotel bar where we were all staying, and I had one legal beer. It was a work night, and then I went to bed, but I still have the picture on an old film camera toasting my first legal beer.

Matt, that’s it? I thought you would have said the night you and Ben won your Oscars for Good Will Hunting or something.

Damon: Well, that actually would have been the second one that came to mind.

Beckham: I have to say that I had a few good nights out. Obviously the drinking age is slightly different in the UK. So most of my nights out that I remember were after I've won a championship. You know, the first championship I've won with Manchester United, that was a big moment because there were so many doubters about all of these young kids being put in the team. And we ended up actually winning the championship that year and doing the double winning a cup competition as well. But there are those moments where you're celebrating with family, your wives, kids, and teammates, those are the special nights for me.

David, not to put you on the spot, but what’s your favorite Matt Damon movie?

Beckham: Oh my goodness. I should just be like, “I've never seen one. I'm not familiar with your work.” [Laughs] What was the one you just said? It was that one! I'm joking. Um, I'd have to say… I mean, there’s so many I could say, but Good Will Hunting was just… I don't really need to say much more about that, because it just was unbelievable.

Matt, I have to ask you about two new highly anticipated projects of yours: The Odyssey, your next movie with none other than Christopher Nolan, and Oceans 14. Can you divulge any details about either? Can you give us anything?

Damon: Well, The Odyssey is definitely happening. I didn't grow this beard because I like the way it looks. It was actually in progress since we shot the ad and I’ve built on it since. And with Oceans, I saw George [Clooney] this weekend; he's in town because he's getting ready to do a play on Broadway, so we had brunch together and you know, it's Hollywood, so it's never a sure thing until it's a sure thing, but he seems bullish on it. So hopefully it'll happen.

Well, this all sounds like the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Cheers!

Damon: I hope this thing plays well and I hope people like it as much as we do. We had a ball.