"That would've been our first on-screen kiss. It's going to have to wait."

'The Last Duel' nearly gifted us with the first on-screen kiss to be shared between longtime friends and work colleagues Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

Based on the book of the same name by author Eric Jager, and filmed in Ireland, the Ridley Scott epic will be released in cinemas this coming weekend. A period thriller that sees Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer) make a claim she has been sexually assaulted by Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), it seems the heavy subject matter deterred the director from including what was sure to be an eye-raising moment for fans of Affleck and Damon.

The pair have been working together for nearly three decades, ever since 'Good Will Hunting' in 1997. However, they actually met when they were much younger as children during the '80s, living around the corner from one another in Massachusetts. They were both also uncredited extras in 'Field of Dreams' from 1989.

Explaining the scene that has been cut from their latest film, in which they both also wrote and produced, Affleck told Entertainment Tonight (via EW) about the scene where their characters first greet each other: "In the original actual version of that scene — the way that ceremony actually took place was that you kissed everybody on the mouth. Ridley thought it would be distracting, and his instincts are pretty good."

Damon then expanded on this, adding: "That would've been our first on-screen kiss. It's going to have to wait.

"Yeah the two characters really hate each other and that was really fun. In fact, the scene where I kneel before him, Ben just improvised this thing where I started to say my line and he just interrupted me and goes, 'Closer.' 

"And I have to kind of get up and kneel again in front of him. And that was just — he just did that and just kind of blurted that out, and it wasn't in the script."

In order to get into the Ben Affleck household, Matt Damon then joked that it wasn't a kiss he had to give his friend, but "to kneel before him".

'The Last Duel' hits Irish cinemas this Friday, October 15.