Millions of people around the globe knew about his life and work and Williams’ influence on his fellow actors was evident. In a recent interview Damon thanks Williams twice for being an influential figure in his life.
Good Will Hunting has vivid memories of Williams’s valuable lessons that he taught him while working on set over twenty years ago. “I just have so many memories of that guy,” Damon recalls his recent interview with GQ. One aspect of Williams’ acting style that Damon admired (and still admires) was his ability to improvise lines effortlessly while filming.
For example, the very last line spoken by Williams’ character in Good Will Hunting was entirely improvised. To this day, Damon still can’t believe how Williams came up with such a perfect line to end the film.
As he remembers the moment Williams coined that famous line, “Son of a bitch – he stole my line” Damon smiles and recalls how it “wasn’t scripted, Robin just did that.” “He was a guy who could come in and just throw lines out,” Damon says of Williams.
In an interview, Damon looks back on all his past acting roles when he describes his time working on Good Will Hunting alongside Robin Williams, there’s just a bit more enthusiasm in his voice. Damon recalls the lengthy process he and Ben Affleck went through to turn their Good Will Hunting script into a movie.
With that, Damon reveals that the moment Williams signed on to the project was the moment the movie really got off the ground. Attaching a huge star like Williams allowed them to get the funding they needed to make the now-classic film.
From there, Damon only had good things to say about Williams. Whether it be his natural ability to light up a room or his versatile talents, Damon couldn’t say enough about the positive influence Williams had on him.
When Damon remembers working with Williams on Good Will Hunting, he describes him as someone who “couldn’t have been more gracious or more hardworking”, he then goes on to say that Williams had a “beautiful brain” and that “he changed our lives.”
It was working on Good Will HuntingWilliams made an additional move that would propel him forward Damon becomes a superstar. It also happened that Steven Spielberg was present in Boston while we were rehearsing for the movie Amistad. As Damon recalls, he had auditioned for a role in what would be Spielberg’s next movie, Private Ryan’s Savings but he hadn’t gotten a callback.
Damon had lost 40 lbs for his role in heroin addiction Courage Under FireDamon said it: “It was only because Robin introduced me to him that he went, ‘oh, ok, you’re the kind of guy I’m looking for that job. So Robin not only got our dream in Good Will Hunting made, he actually got me the role in Saving Private Ryan.”