Matt Damon credits an interesting person with his Hollywood success, saying that following the lead of one specific star changed his life. Damon got his start in professional acting when he appeared in a minor role in Mystic Pizza and then impressed audiences with his turn in School Ties. However, his true breakout didn’t come until 1997, when Damon and his friend Ben Affleck wrote and starred in the drama Good Will Hunting, a movie that won them an Oscar for screenwriting.

However, getting Good Will Hunting made was not an easy task. Damon had been working on the script since he was a student at Harvard. When he was out of school, Damon and Affleck began working to perfect the script before trying to sell it to studios. They finally optioned it to Castle Rock in 1994, but the movie studio was balking at one thing. It didn’t want Damon and Affleck to take the lead roles. That is where Sylvester Stallone comes into the story.

How Sylvester Stallone Influenced Matt Damon’s Breakout Role Alongside Ben Affleck

Matt Damon Credits Sylvester Stallone For Good Will Hunting’s Success

Sylvester Stallone had a similar start to his career as Matt Damon. He appeared in both smaller roles and more niche movies, but he had big dreams. After seeing the famed boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner in 1975, an inspired Stallone wrote Rocky in three days. The actor was broke and needed a job, but he refused to accept selling his script for someone else to star in. Stallone refused to accept a deal until he found someone who believed he could play Rocky Balboa.

When Matt Damon and Ben Affleck attempted to get Good Will Hunting made, they heard the same thing. The movie needed bigger stars. Damon refused to cave in and wouldn’t budge until the studio allowed him to star in the film. They finally moved to Miramax, and the rest is history (via Vanity Fair):

“Believe me, they really wanted to take it away from us. They were like, ‘God, Leonardo DiCaprio would be so good in this.’ Every time they said, ‘You can’t do this,’ we said, ‘Actually it’s been done once before.’ [Sylvester Stallone’s] story changed my life. He had an incredible amount of courage, and he changed the course of our lives.”

This story was something Damon kept to himself for a long time. He finally made the revelation at the National Board of Review dinner in New York in 2016, an event honoring Sylvester Stallone. Good Will Hunting might have looked very different if not for Rocky’s influence on two young actors.

It’s Hard To Imagine Good Will Hunting Without Damon & Affleck

Damon & Affleck Made Good Will Hunting A Success

While Sylvester Stallone had a lot to do with Matt Damon’s rise in Hollywood, it was Damon and, to a lesser extent, Ben Affleck who made Good Will Hunting such a great success. The three men who made this movie so great were Damon, as the тιтle character, Affleck, as his best friend, and Robin Williams, as Will’s mentor, Sean Maguire. This was a rare serious turn for Williams. Along with ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Poets Society, it remains proof of his amazing acting talent outside comedy.

Matt Damon wrote this script based on his experience as a young man in Boston. No, he isn’t a savant like Will Hunting, but that is only the driving force of the plot. The main story is the friendships between the boys in Boston, with Damon and Affleck providing the backbone of that tale. Seeing Affleck’s proud Chuckie letting his friend go to achieve success in the Good Will Hunting ending was the best moment of the movie. This was Damon and Affleck’s story, and they deserved to be the ones who told it.

The movie received nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Gus Van Sant), and Best Actor (Matt Damon). It won for Best Screenplay (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) and Best Supporting Actor (Robin Williams). While Williams was spectacular as Sean, Damon’s performance as the young Will Hunting allowed the two actors to deliver a performance of a lifetime. Good Will Hunting is why Matt Damon became a star, and without him, the movie wouldn’t have worked nearly as well.

Source: Vanity Fair