'The Instigators' marks the first time Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso have produced a project together.
Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso are partners in life and work!
ET's Rachel Smith spoke to the 53-year-old actor at the New York premiere of The Instigators on Wednesday, and he discussed teaming up with his wife of nearly two decades on the Apple TV+ film.
When Casey Affleck came to Damon with The Instigators script that he co-wrote with Chuck MacLean, the actor initially passed on the project. Affleck responded by showing the script to Barroso, 48, who urged her husband to take it on.
"Casey likes saying she is the smart one in the couple and he's not wrong," Damon quipped of his wife.
The Instigators, which follows two robbers (Damon and Affleck) who must go on the run with the help of one of their therapists (Hong Chau) after a theft doesn't go as planned, marks the first time Damon and Barroso officially teamed up to produce a film together.
"She's been reading every script and watching every cut of every movie for 21 years. This is the first time we ever kind of codified it," Damon explained. "She didn't even want to take the credit. She was there every day, she was doing all this work on the script, and then she was like, 'Nah, I don't want to take the credit.'"
"The other producers on the movie, at the end of the movie -- and I had nothing to do with it -- they came of their own volition [and said], 'If you're not taking credit, we're not taking credit,'" he continued. "[It was] very sweet. She succumbed and took the credit."
Damon and Barroso were both on hand for the screening of the Doug Liman-directed film. The couple even brought their daughters -- Isabella, 18, Gia, 15, and Stella, 13 -- to the event, along with Barroso's 24-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, Alexia.
"It happens fast. It's weird," Damon told ET of his kids growing up. "It happens kind of slowly and then really fast in a beautiful way."
The Instigators will hit select theaters Aug. 2 and begin streaming on Apple TV+ Aug. 9.
RELATED CONTENT:
