The script for the film Good Will Hunting won an Oscar for two lifelong friends from Boston, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. In the film, two lifelong friends from South Boston, ôSouthiesö, spend their time playing baseball, drinking beer, and working blue-collar jobs. Will Hunting and Chuckie Sullivan, played by Damon and Affleck respectively, are from the wrong side of the tracks. Rough, abusive childhoods have made them tough kids, but WillÆs natural genius for mathematics is something he avoids using for his benefit. As Chuckie tells him at one point, ôYouÆre sitting on a winning lottery ticket. It would be an insult to us if youÆre still around here in 20 yearsö (Affleck and Damon 2004). Class distinctions keep Will from fitting in with the M.I.T. rich kids, even though he is more gifted at math than the M.I.T. professors. Four people try to help Will take advantage of his talents, four people he often pushes away to avoid having to change his life: an M.I.T. professor (Gerald Lambeau); a gifted counselor (Sean Maguire); his best friend (Chuckie Sullivan); and a rich girl he falls in love with (Skylar).
Will is threatened by all four, because to develop his talent, to enjoy genuine love, and to accept their help, he must abandon all of his old, dysfunctional behaviors and defense mechanisms. Affleck and Damon wrote the script for the film, while Gus Van Sant directed it. The script and film are fairly identical, with some difference between the written script and the finished film. In an interview, Gus Van Sant called the script a ôcolor-by-numbersö script, one he claims ôif you just filled in the scenes as they were written, it would come to lifeö (Keough 1998, 1). Despite this characterization of the script, there are differences between it and the film. Most of these changes are subtle and do little to change the tone or tenor of the script. For example, at one point Will and Skylar are at t
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