Matt Damon left university literally one semester shy of graduating. Instead, he took an acting gig, 'Geronimo: An American Legend'. Prior to that, again as a student, he had written a script for 'Good Will Hunting'. He and childhood friend Ben Affleck had envisioned taking over Hollywood with the script one day and that's exactly what went down when the film was made in 1997.
The film received rave reviews and in truth, it opened a lot of doors.
Damon had auditioned for a certain part, and he never got the callback. However, when he was introduced to the man behind the film, thanks to a certain iconic actor, everything changed and he was cast in the epic Steven Spielberg classic, 'Saving Private Ryan'.
We'll take a look back at the audition process and what changed that ultimately caused Damon to get the role.
Damon Initially Didn't Get Cast
At that point, Matt Damon was slowly but surely starting to make a name for himself in Hollywood. Just a year prior, he starred in the smash hit, 'Good Will Hunting' alongside Robin Williams. With a small budget of $10 million, the film entered icon territory, receiving huge reviews as one of the great classics. In addition, fans got to know Damon, as the film made over $225 million at the box office.
Despite the hit, not all doors were open at the time and in fact, Damon had auditioned for 'Saving Private Ryan' and has never received a callback.
"I had put myself on tape and I had read for Private Ryan and I hadn’t been cast. He met me in person and said ‘I think I know you from somewhere,’ and I said ‘Well I did this movie called Courage Under Fire,’ and he goes ‘That’s the one."
That meeting alongside Steve Spielberg changed everything and he would later get cast into the film.
As it turns out, there was someone behind the scenes that played a huge role in getting that meeting in the first place.
Robin Williams Got Him The Role
That's right, it was none other than his 'Good Will Hunting' co-star Robin Williams that got him on the map for the role.
"Robin took Ben and me to meet Steven [Spielberg] because he knew it was never a bad thing to meet the greatest filmmaker of all time and how much we’d appreciate that."
Ultimately, it was Williams that got him two dream roles, including 'Saving Private Ryan'.
"It was only because Robin introduced me to him that he went ‘Oh OK, no you’re the kind of guy I’m looking for 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 as well."
It changed Damon's career, just the only problem, he was hated by his peers for this old-school tactic put together by the film's creator.
"I was all ready to go to boot camp. He said, ‘Absolutely not. You can train however you want, but I’m separating you from the other guys.’ They were--they were totally resentful every time they brought up boot camp. Because I think it rained the whole time. I think they had a tough few days."
As one might expect, it didn't sit well with others... nonetheless, the film soared.
The Film Enjoyed Huge Success And Changed Matt's Career
With a large budget of $70 million, the 1998 film proved to be worth every penny. It made $482 million at the box office and it won multiple Academy Awards on the year.
The likes of Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 93% approval rating, while IMDB also gave it 8.6 stars out of 10.
Perhaps the best work of his career, Spielberg admitted with the LA Times that he had never imagined such success for the film, especially given the screenings early on. According to some, the film was too violent. Of course, this was not the case.
“I didn’t anticipate the success of the movie,” he says today. “In very early screenings, certain associates and other people in my life were saying that I made it too tough. I feared that almost nobody would see it because the word of mouth would spread quickly after the first 25 minutes.”
The film changed Damon's career as well and it would open multiple doors for his career in the 2000s. In truth, had he never got to meet Spielberg, thanks to Williams, who knows where his career might be today.