Casey Affleck thinks his long-time friends are “the bread” of life.

The Oscar-winner, 49, has had pals for years including fellow A-lister Matt Damon, 54, and has now opened up about how important he feels about friendships that sustain him, especially as he grows older.

He made the remarks at the Center at West Park’s 2nd Annual Fall Benefit in New York City on Thursday (14.11.24) where he was asked about the significance of his friendship with Matt, who was an honorary chair at the evening’s event.

Casey told People: “Someone said old friends are the bread of life’s leaven. The older I get, the more that means to me.

“People you’ve known for a long time become more and more important the older you get, and they are for me for sure.”

Casey and Matt have been friends for more than 40 years, with the pair starring together with Casey’s brother Ben Affleck in 1997’s ‘Good Will Hunting’ – and more recently in this year’s ‘The Instigators’.

Matt told People about Casey at the New York benefit: “We have this 43-year shared history. We grew up together.

“(We) shared experience and relationship and trust and love.

“There's an underlying understanding of who we are. In our business, there’s a whole language that gets created around trying to protect people’s feelings because people’s egos are involved.

“(We) don’t waste any time on diplomacy, which I love.”

Casey added about his love of making movies at the event: “Art was something that I just loved early on, and I think it does a lot for society.

“Arts – they entertain us and they keep culture going, and the arts are the mirror that we look into when we want to understand who we are and what we're doing.”