After its release, the 1997 drama Good Will Hunting, starring Matt Damon, Robin Williams, and Ben Affleck, among others, was hailed as a brilliant cinematic pursuit. The incredibly moving story, accompanied by outstanding, enigmatic performances, profoundly impacted the public at the time. Critics lauded the film. On Rotten Tomatoes, the Gus Van Sant-directed endeavor has a favorable rating of 97%.
The script, written by Damon and Affleck, was awarded an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Besides this significant achievement, the film went on to attain several other accolades. The critical reception of the Matt Damon starrer is a testament to Good Will Hunting‘s pre-eminence as a noteworthy narrative. Despite its greatness, however, the movie suffered a minor setback due to a PG-13 age rating for the project being ruled out. You may wonder why that is.
Damon, making an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, shed light on the matter. Turns out, the acclaimed drama may have gone a tad bit overboard with its constant swearing; surpassing the prescribed limits of the time.
Matt Damon And Ben Affleck’s Good Will Hunting Has Too Much Swearing
The 1997 movie is responsible for a sizable chunk of the success and acclaim both Affleck and Damon enjoy today. The Gus Van Sant-directed venture kickstarted the careers of the two Hollywood stars. There is simply no denying the influence that the film has had. Even today, Good Will Hunting is a culturally significant and relevant tear-jerker.
What will shock you to know, however, is that back in 2017, Matt Damon stated that his kids have not watched any of the star’s career-defining projects, including the highly-renowned and popular 1997 film. Stephen Colbert initially raised the question of whether or not the talent’s children—four daughters to be exact—have ever expressed liking any of their father’s films. To this, The Martian alum revealed they didn’t watch any. Colbert inquired, “Not even Good Will Hunting?” The star responded, “No, god, no.”
Damon was prompted by Colbert to explain why that is the case. The Air actor then explained that the incessant swearing in the film was the reason behind Damon not showing his kids the uber-iconic Robin Williams starrer. The conversation then shifted to the talent recalling an anecdote that better clarifies the depth of the matter.
Good Will Hunting Could Not Get A PG-13 Rating
Matt Damon’s elaboration revealed that the film struggled to get a PG-13 rating and it was mostly due to the coarse language used throughout the narrative. Being a Bostonian, the leading actor of the psychological drama failed to realize the extent of the usage of profanities while he was writing down the script with co-star and co-writer Ben Affleck. Damon recounted Miramax, the distribution and production company backing up the film, coming up to the stars and telling them to make Good Will Hunting a movie suitable for teens to watch.
Damon wondered what was holding it back from receiving a PG-13 certification. However, soon the reality to him was disclosed and the actor was stunned.
Following is an excerpt from the anecdote the Oscar-winning actor told Stephen Colbert:
“I’m very enormously proud of it but I remember when people at Miramax came to us and said, ‘Can you make it PG-13? There’s no violence or s*x to speak of.’ And I said, ‘What’s making it rated R?’ and they said, ‘It’s the language.’”
The solution, as anyone would think, would be to bleep out the swear words, right? That’s what Matt Damon suggested as well. Alas, the talent found out that their film went well beyond the prescribed limit which was applicable for all cinematic endeavors back in the late 90s.
He stated the following:
“I think, at the time, you were allowed to say the f-word three times. I said, ‘Okay, well, how many are we off by? They said, ‘You go over by 145.’ Being from Boston, I don’t think we realized how much we swore. And I don’t swear that much anymore…”
The number of profanities was plenty; making it nearly impossible for all of them to be effectively redacted. Subsequently, Good Will Hunting became a Rated-R movie, mainly because of its “strong language, including some s*x-related dialogue.”
Despite the age restriction, which may have seemed like an obstacle at first, the film’s success was not at all obstructed. Instead, the recognition it received was astounding. Against a budget of $10 million, the 1997 Ben Affleck and Matt Damon-envisioned narrative triumphed in accumulating a whopping $225.9 million at the box office. And of course, the rest is history.
Good Will Hunting is available for streaming on Max.
Source: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
