Let Them Kiss

Over 20 years after winning Oscars for writing Good Will Hunting, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have finally taken up the pen again, and this time they want to smooch. The Boston duo’s second screenplay, The Last Duel, originally featured a tender little peck between the besties.

“In the original actual version of that scene — the way that ceremony actually took place was that you kissed everybody on the mouth," Affleck said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight at the film’s premiere, speaking about a scene where his character, Count Pierre d'Alençon, is greeted by Damon’s Jean de Carrouges.

Apparently in 14th century France that’s how two men of that stature would greet each other. But director Ridley Scott decided to buck historical accuracy in favor of Damon kneeling before Affleck, which can also be sexy in its own way I guess.

"Ridley thought it would be distracting, and his instincts are pretty good," Affleck said. You know what’s distracting? A blonde Ben Affleck, but Scott still let that one fly.

Damon said that it would have been the pair’s “first on-screen kiss.” While the Stuck on You actor is famously not very careful with his words, I do think this means that they have kissed before. You think you can look me dead in the eyes and tell me that these two men didn’t kiss each other in a moment of passion amidst the chaos of watching the Sox break the Curse of the Bambino in 2004? You can’t. Or that one night after a few too many Sam Adams Boston Lagers they didn’t share a quick peck upon parting, promising to never speak of it again? Grow up.

If two straight men want to share a tender little kiss, they should be allowed to do so (I’m an ally). They wrote the kiss into the script, and they should have their true artistic vision be seen by the world on a 30-foot-tall screen.