Good Will Hunting was, and remains to this day, a family affair. It is, after all, the film that best friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon created together and cemented their careers in Hollywood. The movie also features Affleck’s younger brother, Casey Affleck, and in younger brother fashion, he made some major claims about production. Both his older brother and Damon had other things to say about his comments.
The long-time besties, who are working on a new thriller together, sat down with Deadline to talk about their newest film, Small Things Like These, which comes from their production company, Artist Equity. Before their time together was up, the duo was asked about the validity of younger brother Casey’s behind-the-scenes involvement of the classic film. The claims include his suggestion of taking the script to Gus Van Sant and a promised role as one of the friends. Damon responded:
That is a bold-face lie. Everything about that story is untrue…
It’s pretty funny to hear these behind-the-scenes rumors being debunked by its stars. It’s even funnier because there’s nothing like a younger sibling fabricating some fun amidst an older sibling’s work. Ben Affleck set the record straight on Casey’s words about Good Will Hunting.
Really? When you hear a story like that, usually you go, ‘Oh, I see what he’s saying,’ but there’s nothing about that story that’s rooted in truth. I don’t know where to start. First of all, we wrote the part for Casey. He knew it the whole time. There was no audition. Oh my God. Yeah. I don’t know why he says what he says sometimes. I think he’s just an inveterate prankster.
Spoken like a true big brother! I’m glad to see the dynamics between all three of them seem the same as it ever was. Their back and forth reminds me of their fictionalized dynamics and I’m here for it.
Good Will Hunting is still revered as one of the best ’90s movies, and Damon and Affleck still run into fans of it everywhere, including sets they’re working on. I mean, it’s hard not to swoon over the cinematography, root for Will (Damon) and Chuckie (Affleck), and, of course, fawn over Robin Williams from start to finish. Surprisingly, it’s all thanks to Kevin Smith for Good Will Hunting, who saw to the film making it to the public.
Hopefully, the three of them are having a good laugh over Casey Affleck’s claims right now. Now that all of that information can be filed away, I’d love to know about these claims of a Good Will Hunting 2. Maybe the three of them can shoot this idea down officially so I, and possibly others ,aren’t hoping for these claims to come true someday.
Want to rewatch arguably the partners’ best film to date? You can stream Good Will Hunting with a Paramount+ subscription or Prime Video subscription.