Ben Stiller puts a major part of his time into his career as a director these days and he has some amazing projects in his portfolio. Stiller directed acclaimed films like Tropic Thunder and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. He also served as the director and executive producer of the AppleTV+ series, Severance. However, there were a few scripts he had to turn down for reaching such height in his filmmaking career and some of them turned out to be huge successes.
Out of these films, one film could’ve won him his much-deserved Oscar back in the ’90s itself. Stiller was just two feature films into his directorial career when the Oscar-winning script of Good Will Hunting was sent to him. The Zoolander actor unfortunately turned down Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s best work due to one reason.
Ben Stiller Turned Down Directing Matt Damon And Ben Affleck’s Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting changed the star status of both Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The duo wrote and rewrote drafts of the script from Damon’s days at Harvard until the film was made in 1997. They faced several rejections but finally found a producer in Miramax and a director in Gus Van Sant.
Many might find it surprising that the Good Will Hunting script was once sent to Ben Stiller for directing the film. Stiller revealed the story with Howard Stern on his show when they discussed how the screenplay of Severance sat in his company for years before he decided to make it. When Stiller mentioned the scripts that he regretted turning down, Stern asked him to name the most famous one.
Even Howard Stern was taken aback when the Little Fockers actor revealed that he turned down Good Will Hunting. The script was sent to him by his agent but he found one thing that troubled him about taking the film. Affleck and Damon were attached to play the lead roles in the film and Stiller didn’t like the fact that he didn’t get a say in their casting. He admitted that he missed the boat on the film. Stiller told The Howard Stern Show:
“I got sent it by my agent at the time. The first turn off was that these two guys were attached to it to act in it who wrote it. I was like, ‘What? Come on. I cast my own projects. Who are these guys?’. So that was one that I was like, ‘Uh, I missed the boat.’”
At the time, Ben Stiller had already two movies to his name as a director. His feature directorial debut was the romantic comedy-drama, Reality Bites. He also directed Jim Carrey in the absurdist black comedy film, The Cable Guy, in 1996.
Ben Stiller May Have Missed The Opportunity To Grab His First Oscar
Good Will Hunting went on to earn nine Oscar nominations and won two for Best Supporting Actor (Robin Williams) and Best Original Screenplay (Damon and Affleck). The film was also nominated for the major categories of Best Picture and Best Director. However, the film was beaten in both these categories by James Cameron‘s epic film Titanic.
However, as opposed to Gus Van Sant, Ben Stiller stood a better chance of winning the top award. Van Sant, an acclaimed independent film director, did not have the necessary backing for his Oscar campaign. However, Ben Stiller alongside Miramax could’ve swayed the awards, just like Harvey Weinstein did the very next year with Shakespeare in Love. He managed to outrun Steven Spielberg‘s Saving Private Ryan in the Oscar race at the 71st Academy Awards.
Stiller is returning to his comedy role with the upcoming film Nutcrackers. He is also in the works of Severance Season 2. Good Will Hunting is now available for streaming on Max.
