Matt Damon is no stranger to the world of writing and screenplay. In fact, he won his first Oscar in the Best Screenplay category alongside Ben Affleck for Good Will Hunting. And allegedly, he could have added another Oscar to the list had Damon gone through with a plan of his.
Matt Damon and John Krasinski, best known for his role in The Office, were two people who had the idea for the movie that would later come to be known as Manchester by the Sea. But instead of working on it themselves, they took the idea to a close friend if theirs, which gave them the career boost they desperately needed at the time.
Manchester by the Sea Became The Saving Grace For Its Director
While it was Matt Damon who initially wanted to direct Manchester by the Sea, delays and scheduling conflicts led to him giving up on that. And he bestowed the directorial duties upon his friend, Kenneth Lonergan. He had already roped in the latter to write the screenplay for the movie, and this would be yet another responsibility on his shoulders.
To Lonergan’s credit, he took his responsibility seriously, to an extent that it got him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Talking about Damon, and how the actor pushed him to do the movie, Lonergan told The Guardian:
I know he was worried about me, and I was glad, I had had a hard time. But I also wrote a play in 2009 [The Starry Messenger] and I wrote and directed a play in 2011/12 [Medieval Play]. I did need money because I was pretty badly in debt at the time. This was not a hugely high-paying job, but I really liked the idea for the story and I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.
Damon was also initially set to star in the lead role in Manchester by the Sea, but for similar reasons, he had to drop out of that as well. This became a turning point for another good friend of his – Casey Affleck. It also got the younger Affleck his first Oscar nomination, which led to him winning the Best Actor Oscar that year, leaving behind the likes of Denzel Washington, Andrew Garfield, Ryan Gosling, and Viggo Mortensen.
Manchester by the Sea Is An Emotional Punch to the Gut
The backdrop for Manchester by the Sea is the town itself, but it is seeped in sadness. The character of Casey Affleck, Lee Chandler, is faced with past trauma after a tragic accident involving his brother. He is not the sole guardian of his teenage nephew, which binds him to come back to a town he had left long ago to get away from all the hurtful memories of his past.
Director and Screenplay writer, Kenneth Lonergan, speaking of his Oscar-nominated movie said:
You can’t get through life without something happening to you that you can’t stand, and there’s nothing wrong with putting that in a story.
And this is exactly what the movie is all about. You face the sadness and the grief, and finally find the closure, or at least some form of it, that helps you move on from all the hurt and pain.
Manchester by the Sea is available for streaming on Prime Video.
