Matt Damon and Ben Affleck rose up the ranks in Hollywood together as they started their creative partnership as school friends. The two won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for their screenwriting debut Good Will Hunting and have since worked on multiple other projects together.
Despite their beautiful writing about the important moments in life in the coming-of-age film, one classic moment from the film featuring Robin Williams was reportedly unscripted. Damon and Affleck recounted how Williams did close to 60 takes and improvised a line that became the perfect end to the film.
Robin Williams Improvised A Line That Made Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Screenwriting Debut A Certified Classic
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have been working together for decades and got their breakthrough with their screenwriting debut, Good Will Hunting. The duo reportedly wanted to make it as actors and hence began writing the script for the coming-of-age film about a math genius who is stuck in the wrong social order.
The film, which was directed by Gus Van Sant, was a huge commercial success, earning $225 million against a $10 million budget. The film also garnered multiple nominations at the Oscars, including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay among others.
While Damon and Affleck won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, they reportedly did not write the ‘Son of a b*tch stole my line’ dialogue that ends the film. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Damon revealed that Robin Williams actually improvised the line,
What was scripted was that he just takes a moment and realizes I’m gone. But in true Robin fashion, we did like 60 takes. We just left the camera rolling… and he did something different every single time. I remember when he said, ‘Son of a b*tch, he stole my line,’ I grabbed Gus’ shoulders and I felt him tense up. We both knew. We were like, ‘holy s*it, what a line, how did we not think of that?’
Damon also noted that the whole film was leading up to that line and that in the end, it made sense to include it.
Only Five Pages From Matt Damon’s Original Script For Good Will Hunting Made It Into The Film
Before Matt Damon and Ben Affleck became Hollywood A-listers and Oscar-winning writers, they were two struggling actors trying to make it in the business. While still in college, Damon reportedly took a playwriting elective at Harvard University and was tasked with writing a one-act play, which eventually became Good Will Hunting.
Damon mentioned that he had written 40 pages of the story before he submitted it to his teacher, who gave him an A. He then asked his friend Ben Affleck to write it with him. He said to Vanity Fair,
Because of this Professor’s reaction, I had enough confidence to show it to my friend. And I said, ‘I don’t know what to do. Like I’m stuck with this.’ And Ben read it and goes, ‘I don’t know what to do either, but we should do it together.’ Of that 40 pages, only 5 pages survived. The one scene that survived was the first meeting that I had with Robin Williams.
Ben Affleck mentioned that the scene that made it into the film was almost verbatim to what Damon had written in the first draft.
Good Will Hunting is available to stream on Max.
