Have you ever found yourself questioning the future success of an up-and-coming star, only to be later delightfully proven wrong? That was precisely the case with The Dark Knight star Christian Bale, who, after watching Matt Damon’s performance in Robert Mandel’s School Ties, harbored doubts about the latter’s prospects in Hollywood.
In a candid GQ interview, Bale reflected on a time when his own career seemed to be in a lull, revealing how he wasn’t quite convinced that Damon, despite his evident talent, would achieve fame. For Bale, the realization came quickly, but just “three days” later, while watching Good Will Hunting, it led him to the undeniable conclusion: talent combined with perseverance is a force to be reckoned with!
Note that School Ties did launch the careers of many acclaimed actors working today, including Anthony Rapp, Brendan Fraser, Chris O’Donnell, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and more.
The Road to Hollywood Success: Christian Bale’s Initial Doubts About Matt Damon
Even though it starred a good number of promising actors, including Chris O’Donnell, Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Cole Hauser, School Ties received a mixed reception upon its 1992 release.
Indeed, despite the movie’s disastrous box office performance—making only $14 million against its $18 million budget (Box Office Mojo)—it is now regarded as one of Damon and Fraser’s known works. But in a 2019 interview with GQ, Christian Bale revealed that he once had doubts about the Mystic Pizza actor’s potential for success in Tinseltown.
Bale was not sure Damon had what it took to succeed in the movie business after seeing his performance in Robert Mandel’s School Ties.
The American Psycho star acknowledged:
And I remember I wasn’t really getting hired at the time at all. But I remember watching that and I was going, ‘I don’t know if this is going to pan out.’ Because I remember thinking, ‘That bloke in School Ties? He was great and look at him: he’s gone nowhere, has he?’
However, Bale’s doubts were quickly dispelled when he saw Damon’s performance in the critically acclaimed film Good Will Hunting just “three days later”. The former recalled:
And I remember sitting there going, ‘That’s Sod’s Law. The best people don’t always get to keep working at all.’ It was literally three days after that I saw you guys in Good Will Hunting. I was like, “Oh, no, forget that. He figured it out…’
Ultimately, Damon proved Bale wrong and went on to become one of the most successful and respected actors working in the entertainment industry.
Brendan Fraser’s Account: How Matt Damon Influenced School Ties Casting
In a 2017 interview with Entertainment Weekly, the cast and crew of School Ties discussed the film’s production and the ways in which it impacted the careers of several actors.
Brendan Fraser, the star of Darren Aronofsky’s critically acclaimed drama The Whale, acknowledged that Matt Damon helped him get his first lead role in 1992. He told the outlet:
I was wearing an awful shirt by today’s standards. I read with Matt Damon. I got the job because of Matt. I believed everything that came out of his mouth. I remember having this moment of thinking, ‘Just match [his] pitch. Don’t put curlicues on this. Don’t swing for the fences.’ I felt great after that. I had so much admiration for him.
Anthony Rapp, who donned the role of nerd Richard ‘McGoo’ Collins, told EW that he was genuinely surprised that the film did not achieve greater success at the time:
Because of Ben [Affleck] and Matt [Damon] and Chris [O’Donnell] and Brendan [Fraser], who went on to have such fame and fortune, that’s probably what has retroactively brought attention to it. But I always thought it had real power to it.
Although the casting team felt that Fraser’s physicality fit the role well, it was his audition with Damon that convinced them he could take the lead in the film. Though far less endearing, Damon is equally amazing as the self-centered Charlie.
School Ties is a 1950s drama that centers on 17-year-old David, a Jewish high school student from a working-class family (Fraser), who is awarded a scholarship to attend an exclusive prep school for his senior year.
You can watch all of these celebrities when they were younger by watching School Ties on Paramount+.
