Name: Matt Damon on Ben Affleck and the Overnight Success of “Good Will Hunting” | David Letterman
Uploaded: 2025-10-08T15:01:36.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Matt Damon on Ben Affleck and the Overnight Success of “Good Will Hunting” | David Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-10-08. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Matt Damon on Ben Affleck and the Overnight Success of “Good Will Hunting” | David Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-10-08. Transcript available.

- Matt Damon, ladies and gentlemen.
Well, you know, I watched this movie
and I thought it was very impressive.
I thought it was very impressive for many reasons.
I thought your acting was great.
I thought you played an interesting,
sort of complicated fellow.
I thought Robin Williams was also very good.
- Oh, he was terrific, yeah.
- And then you and the other gentlemen--
- Ben Affleck, yeah.
- Yeah, you wrote the thing,
and I'm thinking to myself, well, this guy is a kid.
He's just a kid, how old are you?
- 27.
- 27 years old, so how do you know,
how are you that smart?
How do you know to write a movie, for God's sakes?
- Well, it wasn't like any calling or anything.
We were just, we were pretty much broke,
me and my friend Ben, and so--
- And where were you, out in California, trying to be--
- Yeah, we were out in Los Angeles,
and he was actually, he had been engaged,
and then he broke up the engagement,
and he was kind of homeless, living on my couch.
- Right.
- And so we really were pretty broke,
and we were looking for some cash.
- So you thought you'd write a screenplay, write a movie?
- Yeah, yeah, we--
- But that's like one in a billion long shot, you know, I mean--
- Well, I mean, it couldn't have gotten any worse.
- Well, I suppose that's true.
But this was of you?
This was more or less your story, or a story from your past?
- I just kind of something I came up with.
I was in college, and I was writing a one-act play,
and I couldn't really finish it.
And so I took it to Ben, who's, you know, my best friend,
who I grew up with, and we kind of made a pact
to write it together.
- So then how do you market this thing?
This is like that old story about Sylvester Stallone and Rocky.
- Exactly.
- He writes the thing and takes it around and says,
"Yeah, but, you know, I want to be in it."
And they say, "Oh, fine, sure."
- Oh, yeah, no, and it was really because he did that
that we were able to kind of, he set the precedent for us.
But still, it's kind of difficult to go to Hollywood
with the script, and, you know, you're not really impressing
a lot of people when you walk in and say,
"You know, this is mine, man."
- Yeah.
- Just me, you know, they're kind of looking at you like,
"You know, there's no way you can be in this movie."
- They want it to be like Star Wars.
They don't care about you.
- Oh, yeah, they'll put a lot of other actors in it.
- So all of a sudden, it starts getting some interest, right?
- Yeah, yeah, and this bidding war kind of erupted
out of nowhere, and from a Monday to a Thursday,
the four-day time span where Ben was on my couch
and we were, like, sharing a chicken sandwich,
like, four days later, you know, it was just,
we sold it for this incredible amount of money.
And thank God for agents, by the way,
because the first day, the first call came in,
and, you know, they were, like, offering us,
like, 20 bucks and, like, a pack of cigarettes.
And we were, like, "Take it, man, take it!"
You know?
We would have pretty much given it, you know, for anything.
- But it went sky high from there, didn't it?
- It went sky high 'cause the agent never called us back.
He was, like, "Okay, I see what you guys want."
So he just kind of went off and was, like,
"No, no, no, that's way too little for those guys."
No, they want a lot more.
- Now, and I don't want to embarrass you,
do you mind telling people how much it was sold for, or?
- It was sold for just over half a million dollars.
- Whoa!
Wow.
It went, I mean, you know.
- Who bought it?
Now, who actually made the deal?
- Originally, Castle Rock Films bought it.
And actually, when we walked in there for our first meeting,
the executives there took one look at us
and kind of said, "Do you guys want, like, an advance?"
'Cause I think they could tell, you know.
- You're down on your luck.
- Like, is it that obvious?
- Did you get a Christmas gift from Castle Rock?
- No, actually, we ended up, Miramax, Harvey Weinstein,
I ended up buying it, and Harvey sent me a letter,
a picture frame, and a fruit basket.
- There you go, wow!
Pretty good.
Ah!
Now I don't feel so bad.
But it's a nice movie.
- But you're new in the business.
- Yeah, that's right.
The only thing, I'm new in these shoes, pal.
That's the only thing I'm new in.
- I don't even know what that means.
But, you know, it's a nice movie,
and I keep saying, like, the term they use is small,
because, you know, there's no rockets, there's no lasers,
there's no mechanical lizards eating trees
and knocking over buildings and stuff.
And there's no chase scene in it.
But yet again, it's a really interesting,
compelling story, nicely told.
But one of your co-stars is sort of now
kind of co-starring in your life.
- Oh, yeah, well, Minnie Driver, yeah.
- How is that going?
Pretty good? - That's going great.
- What did you think when you, how did this begin?
I mean, isn't there a law?
Shouldn't actors be kept apart when they're working like that?
- Yeah, it's like a do not fulfill the stereotype clause.
But we broke it, I guess.
- Yeah.
- No, I met her when she auditioned for the movie,
and I had never really known much about her.
And she just pretty much rocked my world, so.
- No, what does that mean exactly?
She rocked your world.
- She was the most extraordinary actress I'd ever seen,
and it just really blew me off my feet, yeah.
- And what kind of a life do you guys have now?
- Well, we're both working, so it's very,
it's pretty difficult.
Kind of our idea of fun is pretty much if we can get a night off
to kind of, I don't know, do a crossword puzzle.
You know, we're pretty much in bed before the news.
- Good for you, I never get a night off.
Night in, night out.
365 days a year right here, entertaining America.
- They should give you a gift for something like that.
- I didn't even get a ballpoint pen.
Yeah, you'd think, wouldn't you?
No, sir.
Is it a good idea?
Do you think you want to work in other projects with Minnie?
- Oh, I'd love to, yeah.
I'd love to keep working with her.
I mean, I think she's just exceptional.
I think she's...
- But is it possible that a little competition,
a little friction might develop?
I mean, where she starts giving you pointers,
or you start giving her pointers,
and then the next thing you know, bingo.
- I'm not the one giving her pointers.
I'll tell you that right now.
- Oh, see, that's a great attitude.
- Yeah.
- You're in good shape.
Let's show the folks a little bit of the motion picture.
You must be very excited because, I mean,
you've already been in great big films,
and people love you,
and now you've got your own work that you're in.
That must be very gratifying.
- It's a, yeah, it's pretty amazing.
- Tell the folks what we're gonna look at here.
- This is the first date scene with Minnie and I.
- There you go.
Take a look, ladies and gentlemen.
Good Will Hunting.
- All right, thank you.
- Well, good to have you here.
- Thank you very much for having me.
- Congratulations on all your success.
- Thank you.
- You seem like a very nice, deserving young man.
I couldn't be happier for you.
- Give me time.
- Happy New Year.
- Thanks a lot.
Thank you, Damon.
We'll be back with Alan Haley.