Culture news “Ruined in six months” Matt Damon and Ben Affleck thought they were “rich for life”: they were sorely mistaken
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It’s a beautiful story that brings us together today. Two childhood friends triumph in Hollywood with their first film, win the jackpot, celebrate their success with dignity… and find themselves ruined in less than six months. This is the story of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
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The success of Will Hunting
In 1997, two young people arrived through the front door in Hollywood and caused a sensation. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon put together on paper the script for a film still recognized today as one of the best psychological dramas. With Will Hunting (1997), they won two statuettes out of nine nominations at the 70th Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay. First up goes to Robin Williams for his captivating portrayal of Dr. Sean Maguire. The second inducts Matt Damon and Ben Affleck into the big leagues of the 7th Art.
Will Hunting, ranked 53rd favorite film by The Hollywood Reporter in 2014, grossed no less than 225.9 million US dollars during its theatrical run for a modest budget of 10 million. Will Hunting was praised upon its release by the press (97% on RottenTomatoes) and the general public (94% on RottenTomatoes) who discovered two actors promised to great things. However, there is another story hidden behind this success story of which only Hollywood has the secret. With Will Hunting, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck pocket the jackpot, and suffice to say that at the end of the 1990s… they were not very thrifty.
“Ruined in six months”
At that time, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck shared a common bank account and lived on small contracts, mainly advertisements. However, after Will Hunting, things change drastically… for a while at least. Our two friends sold Will Hunting's script for the modest sum of 600,000 US dollars and then found themselves penniless barely six months later. Ben Affleck returned to this mishap during The Drew Barrymore Show:
I said to myself, “We are rich for life. I will never have to work again. I am rich.” Before that, we would work every now and then, do a little more work, a few lines here and there. , a typical Burger King commercial from time to time… and then we would take the money and put it in the joint account.
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. We paid about $160,000 in taxes so we had $110,000, we each bought a Jeep Cherokee for $55,000 and we had $55,000 left. Naturally, we decided to rent a $5,000-a-month party house on Glencoe Way, near the Hollywood Bowl, and found ourselves broke within six months. -Ben Affleck