Matt Damon seems to have got the biog-bug; first he starred in the real-life tale of Mark Whitacre in The Informant!, then he went all Sauff-Africin as Francois Pienaar in Invictus, and now he’s revealed that in his next project he’ll be playing John F Kennedy’s younger brother Robert. Robert Kennedy overcame the shadow of his sibling’s assassination to forge his own political career, only to die by another assassin’s bullet in 1968.

Frankly, it’s about time. It’s been over a decade since Ben Affleck and Matt Damon received their Oscar for Good Will Hunting, and what have either of them really done since then? The duo are set to re-team for The Trade, a tale based on the true story of two Yankee pitchers in the 1970s who caused a scandal when they were discovered to have swapped wives.

It is common across the film industry to see actors and directors cement firm partnerships over the years starring and creating films together. The film Promised Land reunites the award-winning creative team behind Good Will Hunting, with Gus Van Sant and Matt Damon coming together again to create this thought-provoking drama. In celebration of this partnership, we’re looking at some of the most successful actor/director relationships across the history of film.

Matt Damon is sarcastic to robots. That’ll go down well

One of Liberace’s favourite sayings was “Too much of a good thing is wonderful”. Behind The Candelabra has taken this to heart. Bold, beautiful and brisk, Steven Soderbergh’s adaptation of Scott Thorson’s revealing autobiography hits a truly marvelous balance between reverence and truth. Michael Douglas as Liberace is a wonderful showman, but the true fascination to be found in the film is the peculiar yet oddly sweet relationship between him and Matt Damon’s Scott. Perfect performances, beautiful direction and more hot tub scenes you could shake a diamond-encrusted fur coat at make Behind The Candelabra a masterpiece of cinema.

Matt Damon makes an early bid for Oscar glory in Promised Land, a gentle yet compelling drama about a small farming town facing an economic and industrial meltdown. While the financial difficulties faced by its characters will resonate with a lot of people, it feels a little out of date and we never get a sense of why this particular story is being told now.

This year Hollywood seems bent on exploring the possibilities for our future. Tom Cruise’s Oblivion (out now!), Matt Damon’s Elysium and Will Smith’s After Earth (both still pending) have their own special vision for what the world will be like. Never ones to be left out, here at BFF we decided that a Top 10 edition had to be devoted to the worlds we’ve already come across, drawing back the curtain to unveil all the utopian and dystopian fates that await us.

Matt Damon’s back

Back on our screens for what feels like the umpteenth time this year, Jeremy Renner aims to take over from Matt Damon in The Bourne Legacy. Whether life imitates art and the actor finds himself at the centre of another, very real mission impossible, you should probably swat up on The Other Avenger as it looks like he’s undoubtedly here to stay.

You might not have heard the one about the widower who bought his kids a zoo, but remarkably it has its basis in reality. While Matt Damon’s latest might be far from the actor’s best work, We Bought a Zoo is a touching, humbling and wonderfully gracious film that should begin to undo the damage caused by Kevin James’ atrocious Zookeeper. You can put down that Capuchin, it turns out they’re not all voiced by Adam Sandler.