Both Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have had remarkably long and fruitful careers, albeit with some valleys to go along with the peaks. Even the movie that made them, 1998’s Good Will Hunting, wasn’t without its headaches. Getting big at such a young age can be tricky, and after they got a not bad (but not great) payday for writing the script for what would prove their breakthrough, they wound up broke all but six months later.
#AirMovie‘s @BenAffleck and Matt Damon went broke just six months after selling the script for “Good Will Hunting.” pic.twitter.com/nYL4woytAs
— The Drew Barrymore Show (@DrewBarrymoreTV) April 21, 2023
“We sold [the script] for $600,000, we split that, $300,000 each, and then the agents got $30,000 so we had $270,000 and we paid about $160,000 in taxes so we had $110,000, each bought $55,000 Jeep Cherokees and then had $55,000 left,” Affleck revealed during an appearance Friday on The Drew Barrymore Show. “Naturally we decided to rent a $5,000 a month party house on Glencoe Way by the Hollywood Bowl and we were broke in six months.”
The pair reunited recently for Air, the hit film about the making of a (very nice and very profitable) shoe, and they’ve predictably been telling stories about their longtime friendship. For instance, the two lived together for a time — a time Affleck does not recall all that fondly given Damon’s penchant, at least in his younger days, for being a bit of a slob.
Barrymore — who’s proven an excellent and unique interviewer, especially with fellow screen stars — even got Affleck to open up about the slight difficulty of of shooting one of his even earlier works: a commercial for Burger King. Turns out the director made him self-conscious about his knack for driving. Still, it’s not as bad as being dubbed over the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. You can watch that BK ad below:
(Via Insider)