IT’S BY FAR THE MOST PROFITABLE FEATURE GUS VAN SANT HAS EVER DIRECTED. Damon politely asked if he might consider stepping aside for someone who really had a passion for it, and Gibson obliged. Gibson was interested, and he spent a few months developing the project, but ultimately he wasn’t moving fast enough. MEL GIBSON ALMOST DIRECTED IT.Īfter Miramax bought the script from Castle Rock, the company began setting up meetings with various potential directors, including Mel Gibson, who was a hot commodity at the time because of Braveheart. In Affleck’s recollection, Smith said, “I wouldn’t dare direct this movie, this is so beautiful.” ( Smith’s recollection is more self-deprecating: “Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were like, ‘Why don’t you direct it?’ But I was like, ‘That’s awesome, but we need someone good.’”) What Smith did do, though, was personally bring it to the offices of Miramax, where it was promptly purchased. Desperate to find a buyer, Affleck approached his Mallrats and Chasing Amy director, Kevin Smith. (Buying a screenplay from a couple of pretty-boy actors was risky enough.) They told Matt and Ben that if they could find another studio to take it off Castle Rock’s hands, they’d sell otherwise, Castle Rock was going to make the film without the writers’ input, and that would be that. Damon and Affleck wanted to do it themselves Castle Rock thought that idea was preposterous. Though Castle Rock loved the screenplay they’d purchased (more so after the running-from-the-government angle was excised), they disagreed with the writers on who should direct it. So they added a paragraph-long screen direction describing Sean and Will goin’ at it. FOR A WHILE THE SCREENPLAY HAD A GAY SEX SCENE AS A TEST TO SEE IF THE STUDIO WAS PAYING ATTENTION.Ĭastle Rock had Damon and Affleck doing rewrite after rewrite without getting anywhere, and the duo felt like the bosses weren’t even reading the new drafts. After Williams’s death in 2014, it’s where fans memorialized him. Maguire and Will have their iconic, crucial scene had been a significant part of Good Will Hunting lore since the film’s release. Located in Boston’s Public Garden, the bench where Dr. THE PARK BENCH BECAME A MEMORIAL TO ROBIN WILLIAMS AFTER HIS DEATH. a set built to look exactly like a real office at Bunker Hill Community College, where Robin Williams had visited a teacher for research. Maguire’s office within the college is a set. In one peculiar instance of logistics, the exterior shots of Boston’s Bunker Hill Community College are real, but Dr. The L Street Tavern is real, and the regulars were hugely supportive of the movie. IT HAS A MIX OF REAL BOSTON LOCATIONS AND SETS BUILT IN TORONTO.Īll of the MIT interiors were shot on a Canadian sound stage. He left it to them to decide which part of the story would survive. When the producers at Castle Rock bought the screenplay (after a bidding war), head honcho Rob Reiner told the writers that they really had two movies here: the action-comedy about a reluctant whiz kid trying not to be recruited by the CIA, and the character drama about a genius and his shrink. That’s how Matt Damon and Ben Affleck conceived it, with the idea that they’d play the leads. IT WAS ORIGINALLY ABOUT A MATH GENIUS AND HIS BUDDY OUTSMARTING THE GOVERNMENT. We shouldn’t overlook that.) On the 20th anniversary of its original release, here are some facts about Good Will Hunting to help you appreciate it even more. If you didn’t know some of these things before, don’t worry. And, of course, it gave us Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Cinderella story: two up-and-coming actors who slept on each other’s couches, wrote a screenplay, starred in the movie, and then won Academy Awards for their writing. It put indie director Gus Van Sant on the mainstream map. It has that great Robin Williams performance, the only one he ever won an Oscar for. There are plenty of reasons why Good Will Hunting is one of the most beloved films of the past 20 years.
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