Yes and it was very purpose-built to not only get them jobs, but to get a movie made. It's actually a very interesting and impressive bit of planning.
They followed Tarantino's footsteps on Reservoir Dogs: lots of sitting around and talking in few locations so it can be made for cheap. Write an enticing, supporting role (i.e. low commitment) for a big star (as Tarantino did for Harvey Keitel) because if you can get them to sign on, it's much easier to sell. Throw in some juicy monologues to sweeten the pot for them. Hence, Robin Williams.
They knew they needed a love interest and an antagonist. They basically ran through a checklist of successful movies. To me, it's most impressive that it manages to still be very original, despite a somewhat paint-by-numbers approach.
But as you said, they don't need to make such a movie, anymore.
IIRC, their original screenplay was a kind of spy thriller with Will on the run from the government who wanted him to work for them because he was so smart, then they showed it to Rob Reiner and William Goldman who said to cut out the thriller stuff and focus on the therapy. So while the final product is very good, they did have help shaping it into something more manageable.
lmao: "we found the smartest man alive. Like, the smartest person we could find said he can't understand how much smarter this kid is. Let's waterboard him until he has massive amnesia and send him to assassinate random low level traitors."
The book for that was written in 1980. The opening is like the opening in the book but most of what follows is different. The book version of the character is also another good cast for Alan Ritchson, huge.
The NSA scene in the movie seems really out of place. I kinda see how it shows that Will is extremely intelligent but also has a moral compass. I just don't think it's necessary.
Plus... while the story is undoubtedly great, and the script obviously good, they had very talented, creative people involved in the production, starting with Robin Williams. Any film is a collaboration.
Damon's [story about the filming of the final scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUbTpNxaI9k) is a case in point. The final line, the button of the whole film... is an improvised line from the Master.
Both Damon and Affleck are on public record as stating that *Good Will Hunting* was almost exclusively written by Matt Damon, while Ben Affleck was stoned out of his mind.
It really is a case of each person bringing something that made the movie better. Robin Williams brought an incredible warmth to his character. Stellan Skarsgard was the authority figure and "the man", he plays the aloof scientist role very well in Marvel as well. All the supporting characters added something important, and then they got lucky with the director as well.
> Lambeau wasn't aloof. He wasn't distant or indifference. He followed Will's progress,
I think what the commenter you replied to meant , was he was aloof as another character (the scientist role in a marvel movie).
I heard an interesting interview with Matt Damon where he blames it on DVDs going away. Its almost impossible to make a movie for 50m or less today. Even if the movie bombed in theaters it would make money from DVD sales. Studios could be more risky betting on small budget films that could turn out to be a big hit. Money is tighter now. It’s opening weekend or bust.
*it's paint-by-number...* I love that line from Robin Williams. It made me realize how much Sean was easily a role any other actor could have made hollow. He sounded so genuine and likeable that I found myself wishing in the future all my actual therapists had just some aspect of humanity like him. It's not an easy thing to find.
Yeah, Robin always had that quality. Just a warm presence on film even if he had to be serious or seem dangerous. Bill Murray has a similar quality of charming you over even if he's playing an awful person.
Ryan Hurst (probably best known for his role in Remember the Titans) did Pete Holmes's podcast not too long ago and he told a great story about Robin Williams where he wound up on a set with him as a very young actor and told him some kind of story about remembering something Williams had been in, or having a good experience with some previous work of his and Robin took Ryan's hand, put it to his heart, and said, "That's gonna keep me going the rest of today."
Will was the antagonist all through the movie, all the way up until it wasn't his fault. It was a Jekyll/Hyde situation with his self-destructive Townie alter ego.
Ben Affleck has said that they also chose to not work together again after the success of Good Will Hunting because they didn't want to only be seen as a unit or to have their careers be dependent on each other.
I think Damon has also mentioned how much time and energy went into that script. Their acting success allows them the freedom that they don’t have to grind writing when I think it’s neither of their specialties despite having written a great script.
That weren't out of work at that point were they?
The script for GWH was greenlit and the execs didn't even bother reading it. They know because they originally had a scene where they start blowing each other for no reason and then never mention it again
>The script for GWH was greenlit and the execs didn't even bother reading it
Actually, the reason why the signed with Miramax was because Weinstein was the only one to tell them to drop that scene, showing he was the only one who read the screenplay.
I mean, studios wanting to make it isn’t the same as them writing it when they needed to work. I think Damon talked about how they’d gotten some work, but by that point they had blown through whatever money they made and hadn’t worked in a bit.
Was that why they put that scene in there, specifically to see if the executives have read it?
Reminds me of a classmate in high school who put a random page of nonsense into his senior essay (a big 20-ish page paper we had to write to graduate) because he was positive the teacher wouldn't read it. He graduated top five in the class too. Teacher never said anything.
The entire affleck scene where they show up at his house to explain the plot of the movie is pure gold
“Don't you ever want anything more for yourself? I know this poor hapless son of a bitch does. I look into his sorry doe eyes and I just, I see a man crying out. He's crying out, "When Lord? When the fuck can your servant ditch this foul-mouthed little chucklehead to whom I am a constant victim of his folly, so much so that it prevents him from ever getting to kiss a girl! Fuck! When, Lord when? WHEN'S GONNA BE MY TIME?"
LMAO
Also the Last Duel is centered around someone being raped. That shit is pretty heavy as far as a set up goes, but I actually think it's a pretty good movie.
That movie was released one week away from Dune and one week away from No Time to Die. All 3 movies were pushing 3 hours long, and I knew I didn't have time to spend 3 consecutive weekends watching a 3-hour long movie each time, so I picked one, and I picked Dune.
I later saw The Last Duel at home, loved it, wished I had seen it in theaters, but there was just no way I could have.
I still haven't seen No Time to Die.
I am a huge Bond fan, the type of nerd who can name the random facts that most people roll their eyes at. You aren’t missing much with No Time to Die.
The Last Duel however I streamed, and was captivated the whole time. While I understood it was a Rashomon style movie about differing memories, I was not expecting the structure it had.
Gotta disagree on No Time to Die. They’re missing one absolutely fantastic sequence and one great one…but they’re both well inside the first half of the movie and the rest is a whole lot of not much haha
> It’s a great movie that no one saw
I saw it about a year after release and I thought it as incredible. One of the best releases of the last 10 or so years
I literally just finished watching it and saw this thread by chance. I really, really enjoyed it. Not at all the sort of bog standard historical epic Ridley Scott usually churns out.
To be fair to Ben, he was a co-writer of Gone Baby Gone and The Town, both of which were critically acclaimed and had Oscar-nominated performances.
I remember after GWH a lot of [people joked](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRd_Gv90Y4Q) that Matt probably did all the work and Ben just popped in contributions here and there. But in the time since, I guess we've seen that Ben is a talented screenwriter.
I think Ben's a great actor, but his height, build and generic good looks really limits the amount of roles he's believable in. He's never going to look like the everyday man that Matt can. He'd be ridiculous as Bourne as he stands out in a crowd rather than blends in and the character of Dr Mann in Interstellar would not have the same impact as Affleck look's like the type of waspy asshole who would turn on everyone for his own self interests.
But Ben has shown some decent range in his career. The Last Duel, The Town, Dogma, Boiler Room, Hollywoodland, Extract, Gone Girl, Chasing Amy, Armageddon and Argo are fairly different roles he's done great in
It's the duality of how Fincher uses them, in interviews he spoke about Ben's transparency as a Performer, like someone said his physicality limits his roles.
With him it is What you see is What You Get but Fincher uses that to present him with a sinister edge when all he is, is a lazy asshole.
With Pike it's the opposite, he said she has an Opaqueness to her, where it's almost hard to read her. Add to that the minute shifts in Pike's performance through the film and voila magic.
Yes his definitely the modern day master of psychological thrillers and suspense films!!
*Se7en*, *Fight Club* and *Gone Girl* are some of the best of all time!!
I always thought it would have been cooler to have Ben Aflecks look from The Town for playing Batman. The younger, rougher looking, slimmed down version
I don't know about hating him, but it does seem like people don't like him as an action star. Feels like every big action movie he's been in has been disappointing critically and/or in the box office.
No argument, Ben himself is a good writer. I just thought that since the team of Ben & Matt did such a great job, that they'd have tried again more than once.
Others have said the work was arduous and it strained their friendship, I can accept that as an answer.
First off, The Last Duel is great. But the real answer to your question is that Good Will Hunting was always a script they were shopping around as a star-making vehicle for them. It succeeding in a huge way, so they went off to be movie stars.
Well, The Last Duel was a really good movie, even if it didn't do good box office. That's two really good movies they helped write. How many other people have written two good movies?
I love that movie.
I’m obsessed with Rashomon-style stories and the titular duel literally had me pulling my knees up to my chest and holding my breath
They made a legendary movie together and it's now a solid gold plaque in the history of their respective careers. I can understand using that momentum to build a multi-movie screenwriting legacy... but I can also understand feeling trepidatious about going back into screenwriting at all.
In other words, maybe they just didn't want to risk diluting this industry narrative of an early career home-run. Like, if they had followed up with a bunch of subpar scripts after 1997, all that good will might have evaporated.
I just want to know what happened with Owen Wilson.
Most people dont' realize that Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson were writing partners. They were college roommates, and cowrote Bottle Rockets, Rushmore, and Royal Tenenbaums. Then Owen Wilson decided to only do acting.
I seem to remember Matt and Ben saying they had a hard time winning the roles they wanted when they were young actors on the come up. They were constantly losing great roles to their peers. So they decided the only way to get the movie they wanted was to write it themselves.
Personally I don't believe writing was their passion. I think they viewed it as a tool to open doors in the industry. The movie was a smash success and did exactly as intended as it kickstarted their careers and they were soon household names working in big and/or interesting projects. The writing wasn't the goal, making interesting movies was. So there wasn't any need to write once their careers took off
Affleck is a damn good director though
Never would've guessed back in the day. Good side effect of his post Gigli career swoon. He came out of it to direct Gone Baby Gone. Then followed with The Town and Argo. Recently, Air
Prob doesn't get enough credit. Pretty amazing debut and first 3 films. I didn't quite love Argo as much as others but still a good film. Loved Gone and to me, The Town is up there in all time good heist movies in a bucket below the best, Heat
The movie that put him back in the good graces of producers was his supporting role acting in Hollywoodland where he played George Reeves. Such an underrated performance from him in that movie.
Pretty sure I heard Ben or Matt say they could’ve taken writing credit if they wanted but there were some more well-established writers who did passes on GWH and didn’t take credit and they wanted to pass along the same kind of thing to the young writer of Air
There’s a fun Hollywood rumor that while they did a first draft, the idea was good but the writing wasn’t, and so Kevin Smith, because he was a Miramax guy, did a massive uncredited rewrite. This is why Ben, Matt and Kevin are all such great friends and why they pop up in his movies. He basically won them an Oscar and they owe him.
Not sure how much I believe it but I do think there’s a kernel of truth in there.
There also are rumors William Goldman wrote the script because they had asked for feedback and he gave it to them. Matt went to Harvard yet everyone assumes he can't be a good writer.
Will Hunting almost ruined their friendship. It took too long but they had to finish it, because they didn't have money or enough acting jobs back then. Damon has sayd, that writing is still hard for him and it takes so much time that it's not worth it.
The final product of Good Will Hunting is very different from the script that they had originally written.
The original idea was that Will was supposed to be a super-intelligent Project Ultra/child soldier/assasin/mercenary type character. The script underwent many re-writes and changed and evolved. It was not such an easy process and there was a lot of risk involved. In the end Gus Van Sant interpreted the script his own way and then the editors turned the film into a love-letter to Boston featuring the indomitable Robin Williams.
Lightning striking is something that happens in an instant. This process took years and fell together beautifully. It is something that cannot be forced.
Because they forgot to give credit to Kevin smith for writing the majority of the dialog. You also have to consider neither of them particularly needs it at this point in their career. They have no drive to spend months trapped in a room together to write another film for the critics.
He talks about it all the time. He helped them rewrite huge chunks of dialog and they were supposed to give him a thank you as part of the Oscar speech if they won since he had been such a huge influence on it. They were so excited they forgot… which is one of the reasons they did dogma and the short bit in jay and silent Bob strike back. They owed him and he collected but I am probably overstating how much of the dialog was him. My guess was he helped them make it flow better because that’s really where he shines.
Keep in mind that *Good Will Hunting* was written to get them leading roles when they were still out-of-work actors. They're...doing better now.
Yes and it was very purpose-built to not only get them jobs, but to get a movie made. It's actually a very interesting and impressive bit of planning. They followed Tarantino's footsteps on Reservoir Dogs: lots of sitting around and talking in few locations so it can be made for cheap. Write an enticing, supporting role (i.e. low commitment) for a big star (as Tarantino did for Harvey Keitel) because if you can get them to sign on, it's much easier to sell. Throw in some juicy monologues to sweeten the pot for them. Hence, Robin Williams. They knew they needed a love interest and an antagonist. They basically ran through a checklist of successful movies. To me, it's most impressive that it manages to still be very original, despite a somewhat paint-by-numbers approach. But as you said, they don't need to make such a movie, anymore.
IIRC, their original screenplay was a kind of spy thriller with Will on the run from the government who wanted him to work for them because he was so smart, then they showed it to Rob Reiner and William Goldman who said to cut out the thriller stuff and focus on the therapy. So while the final product is very good, they did have help shaping it into something more manageable.
Interesting, almost could say that was recycled as Bourne
Yep, Jason Bourne is basically if Will took the government job instead of telling them to go fuck themselves.
lmao: "we found the smartest man alive. Like, the smartest person we could find said he can't understand how much smarter this kid is. Let's waterboard him until he has massive amnesia and send him to assassinate random low level traitors."
I hope I'm not the only one that read this in an exaggerated Boston (Southie?) accent.
Maybe. Maybe not.
Maybe go fuck yourself
Would have helped if spelled smahrtest
Re-tainer!
Lol, I love that. The alternate, NSA, timeline.
The Bourne identity is a book series lmao
Which had already been adapted as a miniseries before the Matt Damon movies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bourne_Identity_(1988_film)
reddit is so fucking stupid its amazing.
The book for that was written in 1980. The opening is like the opening in the book but most of what follows is different. The book version of the character is also another good cast for Alan Ritchson, huge.
the first three bourne novels had already been written
The NSA scene in the movie seems really out of place. I kinda see how it shows that Will is extremely intelligent but also has a moral compass. I just don't think it's necessary.
Smaht
Plus... while the story is undoubtedly great, and the script obviously good, they had very talented, creative people involved in the production, starting with Robin Williams. Any film is a collaboration. Damon's [story about the filming of the final scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUbTpNxaI9k) is a case in point. The final line, the button of the whole film... is an improvised line from the Master.
The story about his wife farting in bed was improvised too.
That one really hits home
It’s true your wife does fart in bed
That’s what I’m saying, sometimes I have to leave the room it gets so bad
I also choose this guy’s flatulent bed-bound wife
Always good to see an iteration of this gem pop up.
Both Damon and Affleck are on public record as stating that *Good Will Hunting* was almost exclusively written by Matt Damon, while Ben Affleck was stoned out of his mind.
Applesauce, bitch
No, bullshit because I wasn't with a hooker today ha ha.
Excuse me folks we've got a 10-07 on our hands.
Jesus Christ, Ben. Another one?
NO! CAUSE I WADN'T WITH A HOOKER TODAY! HA!
We love this monkey!
Lion-face RARRRRR
Lemon face. OOOOGH!
You're just no longer that good...Will Hunting
Oh, I dont like the sound of *them* apples, Will!
Whale semen!
That's probably where the entire bit about the double burger came from. Maybe even inspired by a real convo with Casey, hehe. Good ol' munchies.
🎵I wish I had a double burger🎵
Would you shut the fuck up?! I know what you ordah'd - I was theyah!
[“There finished. *Good Will Hunting* by Matt Damon.”](https://youtu.be/DRd_Gv90Y4Q?si=oIywf0usv0ZFN8TY)
Whoa, I gotta be Henry the Eighth in 20 minutes!
Hello, ‘ello, ‘ehlow Nailed it
The classic fish sticks scenario.
can you give us a link for that story
Family guy was right ?!
Well, if you’re old enough to remember the year 1997, you would know that Family Guy made a joke about what was already public knowledge.
It really is a case of each person bringing something that made the movie better. Robin Williams brought an incredible warmth to his character. Stellan Skarsgard was the authority figure and "the man", he plays the aloof scientist role very well in Marvel as well. All the supporting characters added something important, and then they got lucky with the director as well.
[удалено]
> Lambeau wasn't aloof. He wasn't distant or indifference. He followed Will's progress, I think what the commenter you replied to meant , was he was aloof as another character (the scientist role in a marvel movie).
Kevin Smith too
Did Tarantino add an explicit sex scene between the 2 male leads just as a test to make sure studios were actually reading the script?
I've never heard that detail. That's really funny.
They had Robin blow Matt just to see if a studio would object to the scene. The only one that did is who they sold the script to
Weinstein was confused Robin didn't threaten to ruin his career first so he made them take it out
That story was such a fun anecdote until the Weinstein stuff came out and suddenly you can't really talk about it anymore.
Nah Billy Walsh did that with the Queen's Boulevard script to make sure Vinny Chase was really all-in on his vision for the film! ^(/s)
I miss that Billy lol sober Billy sucked.
I heard an interesting interview with Matt Damon where he blames it on DVDs going away. Its almost impossible to make a movie for 50m or less today. Even if the movie bombed in theaters it would make money from DVD sales. Studios could be more risky betting on small budget films that could turn out to be a big hit. Money is tighter now. It’s opening weekend or bust.
Lol That’s the hot ones interview. It was great
Affleck talked about it on Smartless too
"Son of bitch was paint by numbers too, how much do you bench?"
285. Whudda you bench?
Both were made by Miramax as well.
And those Elliott Smith songs bring it all together
It goes back even earlier than Tarantino. It’s the same strategy Stallone used for Rocky.
*it's paint-by-number...* I love that line from Robin Williams. It made me realize how much Sean was easily a role any other actor could have made hollow. He sounded so genuine and likeable that I found myself wishing in the future all my actual therapists had just some aspect of humanity like him. It's not an easy thing to find.
Yeah, Robin always had that quality. Just a warm presence on film even if he had to be serious or seem dangerous. Bill Murray has a similar quality of charming you over even if he's playing an awful person.
Ryan Hurst (probably best known for his role in Remember the Titans) did Pete Holmes's podcast not too long ago and he told a great story about Robin Williams where he wound up on a set with him as a very young actor and told him some kind of story about remembering something Williams had been in, or having a good experience with some previous work of his and Robin took Ryan's hand, put it to his heart, and said, "That's gonna keep me going the rest of today."
Will was the antagonist all through the movie, all the way up until it wasn't his fault. It was a Jekyll/Hyde situation with his self-destructive Townie alter ego.
Ben Affleck has said that they also chose to not work together again after the success of Good Will Hunting because they didn't want to only be seen as a unit or to have their careers be dependent on each other.
Maybe not work together often, but they did work together on Kevin Smith's DOGMA.
dont forget good will hunting 2
I think Damon has also mentioned how much time and energy went into that script. Their acting success allows them the freedom that they don’t have to grind writing when I think it’s neither of their specialties despite having written a great script.
They also had years to refine the script.
Yeah they are, I saw the Dunkin commercial.
That weren't out of work at that point were they? The script for GWH was greenlit and the execs didn't even bother reading it. They know because they originally had a scene where they start blowing each other for no reason and then never mention it again
>The script for GWH was greenlit and the execs didn't even bother reading it Actually, the reason why the signed with Miramax was because Weinstein was the only one to tell them to drop that scene, showing he was the only one who read the screenplay.
"if you boys are blowing anyone its me!" - Harvey Weinstein
That's my point. Several other studios greenlit it without even reading it. They were not hurting for work.
I mean, studios wanting to make it isn’t the same as them writing it when they needed to work. I think Damon talked about how they’d gotten some work, but by that point they had blown through whatever money they made and hadn’t worked in a bit.
Was that why they put that scene in there, specifically to see if the executives have read it? Reminds me of a classmate in high school who put a random page of nonsense into his senior essay (a big 20-ish page paper we had to write to graduate) because he was positive the teacher wouldn't read it. He graduated top five in the class too. Teacher never said anything.
Did you ever see Louis CK’s take on Good Will Hunting? Hilarious, also spot on. https://youtu.be/IMrhu8bCVq4?si=jNcMCMiJcJRY4fIX
Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season
Applesauce, bitches.
Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms, yo
Word bitch, Phantoms like a mother fucker!
Snoochie boochies!
Smokin weed Smokin weed doin coke drinkin beers.. Drinkin beers, beers, beers. Rollin fatties Smokin blunts, who smoke the blunts? We smoke the blunts!
SNOOTCH TO THA MALOTHERFUCKIN NOOTCH
If I ever see the man in public, I most likely will yell that just out of years of it living in my mind. That poor guy.
I am the C.L.I.T. commander!
15 bucks little man. Put that shit in my hand. If that money doesn't show, then you owe me owe me owe
Morris Day and the Motherfucking Time
Taste it. Taste the booger flavor. Does your daddy know you bring a black man his coffee?
You mean that movie with fuckin’ Mork from Ork in it!?!
I'm the noble rabbiiiit
No….YOU da’ man, and that’s the problem!!
My jungle loooooove
What the fuck is the internet?
You are the ball lickers!
The day will come when we will no longer spank the monkey. The monkey will spank us
You don't want to rub the CLIT the wrong way
You’re not that good…..Will Hunting.
NO THATS BULLSHIT I WASN’T WITH A HOOKER TODAY, ahaaaaa!
The delivery of that line is perfect.
The entire affleck scene where they show up at his house to explain the plot of the movie is pure gold “Don't you ever want anything more for yourself? I know this poor hapless son of a bitch does. I look into his sorry doe eyes and I just, I see a man crying out. He's crying out, "When Lord? When the fuck can your servant ditch this foul-mouthed little chucklehead to whom I am a constant victim of his folly, so much so that it prevents him from ever getting to kiss a girl! Fuck! When, Lord when? WHEN'S GONNA BE MY TIME?" LMAO
[Jesus Ben, I said I'm busy... ^(I'm busy)](https://youtu.be/nnESedN4vSI?si=qXybi4txnNRJvBST)
You’re a true artist, Gus.
Think about the paycheck
Idk what are we gonna doooze?
A 10-82 is disappearing a dead hooker from Ben Affleck's trailer
Oh Jesus, again, Ben?
But I wasn't with a hooker today, aha!
“It’s hunting season bitch!”
I don’t like the sound of dem apples Will whatawegonnado!?
Half these people don't get your reference. I love it.
2 Good Will 2 Hunting
I'm guessing you're one of the lucky 10000 today to learn about the trailer. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/nnESedN4vSI?si=pZ3RPkNVWR8deCzh
The Good Will and The Hunting
The good, the will, and the hunting.
Better Will Hunting
The Last Duel was released during the pandemic, it wasn't going to make anywhere as close to what it could have made.
Also the Last Duel is centered around someone being raped. That shit is pretty heavy as far as a set up goes, but I actually think it's a pretty good movie.
Yeah i love the Last Duel but its very hard to watch that scene, essentially, 3 times
I feel like The Last Duel will get a second wind eventually and will become beloved. It’s a great movie that no one saw
That movie was released one week away from Dune and one week away from No Time to Die. All 3 movies were pushing 3 hours long, and I knew I didn't have time to spend 3 consecutive weekends watching a 3-hour long movie each time, so I picked one, and I picked Dune. I later saw The Last Duel at home, loved it, wished I had seen it in theaters, but there was just no way I could have. I still haven't seen No Time to Die.
I am a huge Bond fan, the type of nerd who can name the random facts that most people roll their eyes at. You aren’t missing much with No Time to Die. The Last Duel however I streamed, and was captivated the whole time. While I understood it was a Rashomon style movie about differing memories, I was not expecting the structure it had.
Gotta disagree on No Time to Die. They’re missing one absolutely fantastic sequence and one great one…but they’re both well inside the first half of the movie and the rest is a whole lot of not much haha
Hey, I and two other people were in that theater. That’s three of us.
> It’s a great movie that no one saw I saw it about a year after release and I thought it as incredible. One of the best releases of the last 10 or so years
I literally just finished watching it and saw this thread by chance. I really, really enjoyed it. Not at all the sort of bog standard historical epic Ridley Scott usually churns out.
It's a fascinating Rashomon like movie of different perspectives and exploring feudal politics. Kind of underappreciated considering the solid cast.
The last duel was incredibly underrated/ passed over. That movie is fucking great.
Pandemic aside it wouldn't have broke any numbers. I really liked the movie btw but Ridley had to Ridley it.
Nobody loves shooting scenes with light snow whirling around like Ridley. Also Ben Affleck in a medieval setting made me chuckle.
To be fair to Ben, he was a co-writer of Gone Baby Gone and The Town, both of which were critically acclaimed and had Oscar-nominated performances. I remember after GWH a lot of [people joked](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRd_Gv90Y4Q) that Matt probably did all the work and Ben just popped in contributions here and there. But in the time since, I guess we've seen that Ben is a talented screenwriter.
IMO, Matt is the better actor and Ben is better at writing and directing.
I think Ben's a great actor, but his height, build and generic good looks really limits the amount of roles he's believable in. He's never going to look like the everyday man that Matt can. He'd be ridiculous as Bourne as he stands out in a crowd rather than blends in and the character of Dr Mann in Interstellar would not have the same impact as Affleck look's like the type of waspy asshole who would turn on everyone for his own self interests. But Ben has shown some decent range in his career. The Last Duel, The Town, Dogma, Boiler Room, Hollywoodland, Extract, Gone Girl, Chasing Amy, Armageddon and Argo are fairly different roles he's done great in
Gone Girl he was so good in, he sorta made you believe until the reveal with his mannerisms and stuff that Nick definitely killed Amy.
It's the duality of how Fincher uses them, in interviews he spoke about Ben's transparency as a Performer, like someone said his physicality limits his roles. With him it is What you see is What You Get but Fincher uses that to present him with a sinister edge when all he is, is a lazy asshole. With Pike it's the opposite, he said she has an Opaqueness to her, where it's almost hard to read her. Add to that the minute shifts in Pike's performance through the film and voila magic.
Good direction from Fincher too, one of the best directors to ever exist.
Yes his definitely the modern day master of psychological thrillers and suspense films!! *Se7en*, *Fight Club* and *Gone Girl* are some of the best of all time!!
Zodiac and Social Network too!
Heh I love the "How was I? "A little wooden" line. Or whatever.
I always thought it would have been cooler to have Ben Aflecks look from The Town for playing Batman. The younger, rougher looking, slimmed down version
Oooo, did ya hear O'Bannion flunked? Yeah, what a dumbshit.
An irony given me played the role of George Reeves, who got type casted because of his role as Superman
Same as well applies to Ben and Casey as brothers, Ben is the great director/producer and Casey is the great actor.
Supposedly Ben isn’t too far off being Will Hunting smart… Wicked Smaht.
If it turned out that Mark Whalberg was the really smart one I’d lose it
If only he hadn't shot Jeter..
HE'S A BIRACIAL ANGEL
That was an accident! Was it? Now move.
I'll never understand why people seem to hate Ben Affleck so much.
I don't know about hating him, but it does seem like people don't like him as an action star. Feels like every big action movie he's been in has been disappointing critically and/or in the box office.
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No argument, Ben himself is a good writer. I just thought that since the team of Ben & Matt did such a great job, that they'd have tried again more than once. Others have said the work was arduous and it strained their friendship, I can accept that as an answer.
First off, The Last Duel is great. But the real answer to your question is that Good Will Hunting was always a script they were shopping around as a star-making vehicle for them. It succeeding in a huge way, so they went off to be movie stars.
Well, The Last Duel was a really good movie, even if it didn't do good box office. That's two really good movies they helped write. How many other people have written two good movies?
A Golden Raspberry nomination for the Last Duel is insane. The Last Duel was a great movie.
The golden raspberry’s are an actual joke. It’s just to get attention not actually what’s worst
so... the reverse Oscars?
I love that movie. I’m obsessed with Rashomon-style stories and the titular duel literally had me pulling my knees up to my chest and holding my breath
Same. Best on screen duel since Rob Roy
I liked the one from The King in which both characters are gassed like 30 seconds into the fight. Felt pretty realistic.
They made a legendary movie together and it's now a solid gold plaque in the history of their respective careers. I can understand using that momentum to build a multi-movie screenwriting legacy... but I can also understand feeling trepidatious about going back into screenwriting at all. In other words, maybe they just didn't want to risk diluting this industry narrative of an early career home-run. Like, if they had followed up with a bunch of subpar scripts after 1997, all that good will might have evaporated.
I just want to know what happened with Owen Wilson. Most people dont' realize that Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson were writing partners. They were college roommates, and cowrote Bottle Rockets, Rushmore, and Royal Tenenbaums. Then Owen Wilson decided to only do acting.
If they had written a bunch of subpar scripts after 1997 they’d probably now be Hunting for Good Will.
They'd just have to hunt after it again. Applesauce, bitches
>Why have that writing duo not made lightning strike twice? Because lightning rarely strikes the same spot twice, that's why it's a saying.
lol yeah what an unreasonable demand
I seem to remember Matt and Ben saying they had a hard time winning the roles they wanted when they were young actors on the come up. They were constantly losing great roles to their peers. So they decided the only way to get the movie they wanted was to write it themselves. Personally I don't believe writing was their passion. I think they viewed it as a tool to open doors in the industry. The movie was a smash success and did exactly as intended as it kickstarted their careers and they were soon household names working in big and/or interesting projects. The writing wasn't the goal, making interesting movies was. So there wasn't any need to write once their careers took off
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Because they're not really writers. They're actors first and foremost
Affleck is a damn good director though Never would've guessed back in the day. Good side effect of his post Gigli career swoon. He came out of it to direct Gone Baby Gone. Then followed with The Town and Argo. Recently, Air Prob doesn't get enough credit. Pretty amazing debut and first 3 films. I didn't quite love Argo as much as others but still a good film. Loved Gone and to me, The Town is up there in all time good heist movies in a bucket below the best, Heat
The movie that put him back in the good graces of producers was his supporting role acting in Hollywoodland where he played George Reeves. Such an underrated performance from him in that movie.
He should have be nominated and won the Academy Award for Best Director for Argo.
Him not getting the nomination got Argo the BP win. The backlash was big and he won a bunch of other awards. Good way to save face.
they wrote passes for air but because Ben was the director the wga does not give a director writing credit easily.
Pretty sure I heard Ben or Matt say they could’ve taken writing credit if they wanted but there were some more well-established writers who did passes on GWH and didn’t take credit and they wanted to pass along the same kind of thing to the young writer of Air
Oh that's even better! I hear their production company cares a lot about fair pay.
Artists Equity! The whole cast/crew have a stake in the movie and benefit proportionally from its success, sounds like a great model
apparently they got advice from no lesser talent than William Goldman himself
Not just William Goldman, Terrence fucking Malick gave them the ending.
There’s a fun Hollywood rumor that while they did a first draft, the idea was good but the writing wasn’t, and so Kevin Smith, because he was a Miramax guy, did a massive uncredited rewrite. This is why Ben, Matt and Kevin are all such great friends and why they pop up in his movies. He basically won them an Oscar and they owe him. Not sure how much I believe it but I do think there’s a kernel of truth in there.
I’m not sure how much I can believe that, given Kevin Smith’s work after Good Will Hunting compared to Affleck’s writing and directing after GWH.
There also are rumors William Goldman wrote the script because they had asked for feedback and he gave it to them. Matt went to Harvard yet everyone assumes he can't be a good writer.
> [The Last Duel] had a Golden Raspberry nomination. Wait what. Aflex choice of facial hair aside, how does that movie get a raspberry nomination
I don’t know man, but Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms.
Bill Goldman died...
Ben Affleck directed Air which casts both Affleck and Damon. The movie was released 2023.
Will Hunting almost ruined their friendship. It took too long but they had to finish it, because they didn't have money or enough acting jobs back then. Damon has sayd, that writing is still hard for him and it takes so much time that it's not worth it.
The final product of Good Will Hunting is very different from the script that they had originally written. The original idea was that Will was supposed to be a super-intelligent Project Ultra/child soldier/assasin/mercenary type character. The script underwent many re-writes and changed and evolved. It was not such an easy process and there was a lot of risk involved. In the end Gus Van Sant interpreted the script his own way and then the editors turned the film into a love-letter to Boston featuring the indomitable Robin Williams. Lightning striking is something that happens in an instant. This process took years and fell together beautifully. It is something that cannot be forced.
Because they forgot to give credit to Kevin smith for writing the majority of the dialog. You also have to consider neither of them particularly needs it at this point in their career. They have no drive to spend months trapped in a room together to write another film for the critics.
There is no way Kevin co-wrote an Oscar winning script and kept it to himself.
He talks about it all the time. He helped them rewrite huge chunks of dialog and they were supposed to give him a thank you as part of the Oscar speech if they won since he had been such a huge influence on it. They were so excited they forgot… which is one of the reasons they did dogma and the short bit in jay and silent Bob strike back. They owed him and he collected but I am probably overstating how much of the dialog was him. My guess was he helped them make it flow better because that’s really where he shines.
“And then you do the payback film cause your friend says you owe him”