Matt Damon Backs New ‘Good Will Hunting’ Project in Massachusetts

It’s an iconic, critically-acclaimed film that put Matt Damon and his best friend, Ben Affleck, on the map to superstardom.

Good Will Hunting originally started its writing process in a film class Matt was taking. He brought Ben in later on, and voila. The 1997 film grossed over $225 million in the theater against a $10 million budget, receiving nine Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Director.

It won two.

Matt and Ben won for Best Original Screenplay, and Robin Williams won for Best Supporting Actor.

Now here we are, 10 years since Robin Williams’ tragic death on August 11, 2014. Matt is on a mission to commemorate his friend with a permanent memorial.

According to Boston Globe Media, Matt wants a statue of Robin in Boston Public Garden. As you probably know, Matt and Ben are Boston boys, raised on the other side of the Charles River in Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Good Will Hunting takes place around South Boston and MIT.

One of the most memorable scenes in the movie takes place in Boston Public Garden, and according to Boston Globe Media, this scene helped catapult Robin to winning that Oscar.

Have you ever visited the bench? It’s a total tourist attraction for those in the know.

In 2015, an MIT administrator named Garry McLinn reached out to Friends of the Public Garden (a nonprofit with Boston’s Department of Park and Recreation), and received “a very polite” rejection, according to Boston Globe Media.

Gaining steam once again, the proposed statue would be right next to that bench, according to People Magazine, and Matt Damon supports it wholeheartedly.

I don’t know if it will happen, but I really hope it does. Someone proposed to us an artist to do a bronze statue of Robin and permanently put it there, and the idea being that if you feel alone you can go sit next to him, which I think is the coolest idea. It would be the most beautiful installation and such a tribute to that guy, who I think would have loved that.

I don’t know if it will happen, but I really hope it does. Someone proposed to us an artist to do a bronze statue of Robin and permanently put it there, and the idea being that if you feel alone you can go sit next to him, which I think is the coolest idea. It would be the most beautiful installation and such a tribute to that guy, who I think would have loved that.

Source: Boston Globe Media, People Magazine