BEING MATT AND BEN

Though the show may be interpreted as a simple parody, Matt & Ben is not an extended Saturday Night Live sketch and the roles of Matt and Ben are not meant to be dead-on impersonations of the real duo.

In preparing for the role of Ben, Bernstine says she “tried to avoid watching his movies because I wanted it to be my own idea of him. I channeled high school and college guy friends to get that energy of a young guy.”

“To me it seemed more like ‘The Odd Couple’ than Matt and Ben because it is not an impression of them,” adds Morris. “He is just a character and was written as just a character because the playwrights don’t actually know him.”

Kaling attributes the success of the New York show—which opened “before J.Lo and just after Ben went into rehab”—to “the believability of these two women as guys more than the simple glee of ‘Let’s see Ben Affleck and Matt Damon get eviscerated.’”

The writers hope the audience will become attached to these two characters despite their myriad flaws.

Kaling describes Ben as “an idealistic, sarcastic, smart and intuitive guy who is not that self-aware. Also, he’s a guy. It’s enviable how much crap Ben gets to eat onstage. Plus he gets to wear a tracksuit.”

In addition to imagining their simple pre-fame lifestyle, the play really pays homage to the pair’s friendship.

When asked about the work’s core message, Kaling says, “The show, I think, is about the challenges of friendship and collaboration.”

“I think the great thing about the play is that it’s actually, as much as its poking fun at our obsession with celebrity, at its heart a celebration of Matt and Ben’s friendship,” adds Morris. “They’re just two scrappy guys who end up making it in Hollywood. I remember how moved I was when I first saw it.”

Despite the sometimes playful, sometimes pointed roasting of Affleck and Damon, the actresses and playwrights have a deep respect for the two and hope that they would see the show as a way to laugh at themselves.

“I think they both seem so oddly down-to-earth,” says Kaling. “On TV and in movies, Ben Affleck always seems so handsome and funny. Matt Damon’s sort of emerged as one of the great American actors of these days, hasn’t he?”

Bernstine, a self-proclaimed “fan of Ben Affleck,” says she would hope the two could watch it and “have a sense of humor about themselves. It’s not mean-spirited, and they would appreciate it.”

BRINGING GOOD WILL TO HARVARD