The four famous directors who turned down ‘Good Will Hunting’: “Who are these guys?”
Good Will Hunting was a huge hit when it debuted in 1997, but not everyone was rushing to direct it before it hit production.
Two pals came together to make one of the best goddamn movies of the decade and launch their careers into super-stardom, which is the kind of storyline fit for its own movie. And it is the real-life unfolding of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s journey.
It might have seemed damn-near impossible considering that Damon and Affleck had never written anything before, while their acting credits (often appearing in the same movies together) were rather limited. They weren’t big names in the industry, but they knew they had to get Good Will Hunting off the ground somehow.
But who was going to direct it for them? The plan was for the pair to star in the film, too, so while they were super involved in the production, they still needed to find someone whom they could put their full trust into as a director. It took several tries for the pair to find this person, however, and they were even turned down by some pretty big names before Gus Van Sant eventually signed on, having recently worked with Affleck’s brother, Casey, on To Die For.
One of the filmmakers who just wasn’t remotely interested was Ben Stiller, who’d made his feature film debut as a director a few years before with Reality Bites. He admitted to Vulture that he passed on the film, explaining, “I remember my agent sent me the script for Good Will Hunting to direct, and I was like, ‘Who are these guys, Affleck and Damon? And why are they attached to this project? No, thank you!’ I mean, maybe I’d change that.”
So, with Stiller not interested, how about Smith, who had already directed Affleck and Damon in a few films, most notably Chasing Amy? Despite calling the script “one of the best things” he’d ever read, the chance for Smith to direct just wasn’t going to work. He told People, “The first question that I was asked by Ben and Matt and the Miramax folks was, ‘Do you wanna direct it?’ I think they all asked that with clenched assholes, hoping that I would say no. Naturally, I was like, ‘Oh my God, no. If I were to direct this, I would just turn around to Ben and Matt the whole time and say, ‘Is this what you saw when you wrote it?’”
Damon further expanded on Smith’s reluctance to shoot the movie, telling Boston Magazine, “Kevin read the script and was unbelievably kind. I still remember the message. He said, ‘I wouldn’t dare direct this movie, this is so beautiful.’ Kevin went in personally to Harvey Weinstein’s office at Miramax and handed him the script, and basically said, ‘Drop everything you’re doing right now and read this.’”
Smith even suggested that the pair direct it themselves, but Miramax weren’t keen, considering they had no prior experience. “20 of the top directors on the planet were interested in directing,” the filmmaker revealed, but it would be Van Sant who ultimately triumphed. Other directors who were in the running included Mel Gibson and Michael Mann, but it’s hard to imagine either of them getting the movie just right.
Recalling their interaction with Gibson, who was taking a long time to actually get his act together, producer Chris Moore said in the same interview, “Matt at one point said directly to Gibson, ‘Look, man. We’re getting too old. If this keeps going by, Ben and I can’t play these parts. Is there any chance you’d just let it go?’ And to Mel’s credit, he said, ‘I totally understand what you’re saying.’ That was a real stand-up thing to do.”
So, it all worked out in the end, and Van Sant wound up with a ‘Best Director’ nomination at the Academy Awards, while Damon and Affleck took home ‘Best Original Screenplay’.
