Later in the day, Matt Damon appeared on Channel 4 screens to star in The Martian. Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic has been highly regarded and was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 2015.
But decades ago, Damon and his best friend Ben Affleck worked hard on a script of their own, but couldn’t get it done.
Damon and Affleck together wrote the script for the drama Good Will Hunting in the late 1990s.
The pair eventually made it up by Miramax Films, but they struggled to cross the line.
Affleck and Damon credit their good friend and fellow director Kevin Smith with producing and releasing the film.
Damon revealed “Kevin saved Good Will Hunting”. He said the studios were reluctant to let them star in the film they wrote themselves.
At that point Damon and Affleck had starred in some smaller films, including Smith’s Chasing Amy.
Smith supported young Hollywood stars. He told the studios involved that Affleck and Damon were the real deal.
Damon said, “Everything we wanted to be actors. Which is [Smith] I got it [executive producer] John Gordon and made people believe in him.”
As it turned out, Smith’s support was all they needed. Miramax Films agreed to allow Damon and Affleck to star in the film they wrote, on the condition that it be directed by Gus Van Sant.
READ MORE: Matt Damon Explains Why His 15-Year-Old Daughter Doesn’t Watch His Movies
Affleck and Damon were so thankful, they assured Smith that they would not forget him.
“I promised him I’d thank him if we got an Oscar,” Affleck revealed. However, he got it wrong when the moment came.
Good Will Hunting received nine nominations at the Academy Awards, winning two of them: Best Supporting Actor and Robin Williams, and Best Original Screenplay for Affleck and Damon.
When the duo arrived on stage to receive their award, Affleck remembered that he “immediately forgot” to thank Smith.
However, he noted, “delay is better than no delay.”
Affleck paid tribute to Smith in an article with Entertainment Weekly.
He explained, “I owe him a lot, and he did. He believed.”
Smith, at one point, was even in order to direct Affleck and Damon in Good Will Hunting.
Looking back, Smith didn’t think he could do that.
He admitted in 2020: “I still don’t think I’d be good at making Good Will Hunting. I didn’t have enough talent to get it done at the time. So far, I don’t think I’m doing it.”
On helping his friends, he added, “I was happy to help them make their stuff. And can you believe it? At some point in my life, I had enough juice to help someone else?”
Good Will Hunting is now available to watch.
The Martian is available to stream on Disney Plus.
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