Where to watch Good Will Hunting (1997)
Good Will Hunting is available to stream in GB on Paramount Plus. It can also be rented or bought from Amazon and AppleTV.
A headstrong young genius from a working-class background works as a janitor while hiding extraordinary mathematical talent. After trouble with the law threatens his future, he is required to work with a professor and attend therapy, where a guarded relationship gradually challenges his defenses.
Cast: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård, Minnie Driver, Casey Affleck, Cole Hauser, Vik Sahay, John Mighton, Rachel Majorowski, Colleen McCauley, Matt Mercier
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Trivia & production notes
- Matt Damon wrote Good Will Hunting as a final assignment for a playwriting class at Harvard, submitting a 40-page script instead of the one-act play his professor requested.
- Only the scene of Will and Sean's first meeting survived verbatim from Damon's original script; the rest was substantially rewritten.
- Ben Affleck and Matt Damon structured Sean's character as a deliberately flexible role with minimal screen time but the best lines, designed to fit a major star's busy schedule.
- The early script featured action sequences inspired by Beverly Hills Cop and Midnight Run, with Will and his friends leading NSA agents in chases around the city.
- Gus Van Sant initially hesitated to direct because of producer Harvey Weinstein's reputation for having a volatile temper, which Tarantino had warned him about.
- Robin Williams agreed to lower his typical $20 million fee to $5 million but negotiated a contract clause giving him 20% of earnings if the film grossed over $60 million, a deal Miramax accepted because they doubted it would reach that threshold.
- Mel Gibson spent several months developing the film before Matt Damon asked him to step aside out of concern that he and Affleck would age out of their roles.
- Terrence Malick suggested the ending where Will follows Skylar to California, replacing the original ending that had Will killed by a gang or Chuckie dying in a construction accident.
- MIT Professor Daniel Kleitman and mathematician Tom Bohman suggested the P versus NP problem as the mathematical challenge Will solves in the film.
- Harvey Weinstein objected to casting Minnie Driver as Skylar in a note to the casting director that Driver stated was sexist, though Weinstein denied making the comment and said he preferred Ashley Judd for the role.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article Good Will Hunting, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.
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