Turns out the upcoming Damon-Affleck project will likely be The Trade, the story of two New York Yankees in the seventies who swapped wives. The blogosphere is all atwitter with the notion that we may soon see the Boston duo in pinstripes.
You can thank the crackerjack photoshop staff at the MTV Movie Blog for the image above.
Thanks to Adam, for the heads up on this one.
Sorta!
Google image search: "Matt Ben shiny joy"
Matt ‘n’ Ben are re-forming their production company for a “first look” deal at Warner Bros. In movie lingo, “first look” refers to this exchange: “First, look – Ben, I wish you hadn’t sold my Oscar on eBay to fund Gone Baby Gone. But what the hell, let’s re-form our production company!”
Of course, I’m being unfair (and hilarious!). Affleck has become a well-respected director after Gone Baby Gone, and his next film, the highly anticipated The Town, is due in September. With his newfound clout and Damon’s ongoing credibility as an actor and a box-office draw, the timing for this thing seems right. Ready those Gerry 2 pitches …. now.
Howard Zinn died today, and how astounding is it that the Associated Press couldn’t get through the obituary of the legendary historian without mentioning Good Will Hunting?
Howard Zinn (1922-2010)
Howard Zinn, an author, teacher and political activist whose book “A People’s History of the United States” became a million-selling leftist alternative to mainstream texts, died Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 87 and lived in Auburndale, Mass.
… “A People’s History” had some famous admirers, including the actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The two grew up near Professor Zinn, were family friends and gave the book a plug in their Academy Award-winning screenplay for “Good Will Hunting.”
As a math genius once said about Zinn’s People’s History of the United States, that book “will knock you on your ass.”
When I first heard about Gerry, the 2002 film written by Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, and Gus Van Sant and starring two of our darling Bostonian golden boys—well, I was excited. Could this be a Good Will Hunting renaissance of some sort? Is this the film we’ve all been waiting for, after the promising start that was Good Will Hunting? After all, it was directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Matt Damon and, well… an Affleck! Not Ben, but pretty close. Maybe it would be almost like a sequel? Or would that be too much to ask?
And, I suppose, one could regard it as something like a sequel. It’s as if Morgan accompanied Will on his cross-country road trip and we find them somewhere in the southwest. And they’ve lost their accents. And Will got a haircut. And they don’t talk much. And–OK, in spite of the superficial similarities, I guess there’s not actually much of a connection between the two movies, despite how badly I was hoping to find one.
The beginning of the film, however, does almost seem like an oblique, teasing reference to the final scene in Good Will Hunting where we watch Will’s car disappear down the highway while Afternoon Delight plays and the credits roll. Gerry opens in much the same way—a car traveling down a road, through a dry desert-scape.
It’s like we’ve picked up right where we left off! It’s Good Will Hunting, but without the Afternoon Delight!
Alas, nearly immediately it became obvious that these were not Will and Morgan that we were dealing with. Gerry aspires to be a serious, high-art film: lots of long, unbroken takes; awkwardly long close-ups; long stretches where the only soundtrack is the sound of Damon and Affleck’s feet crunching against the gravelly desert ground for whole minutes at a time; grandiose, sweeping shots of the (admittedly stunning) scenery; and a deliberate vagueness as to who exactly our characters are and what they are doing.
It starts out with a long drive, as mentioned, and then our two heroes—both named Gerry—set out on a wilderness trail. They are headed for “the thing,” but after about 45 seconds they decide to “fuck the thing” and turn back. Unfortunately, within moments they manage to become spectacularly lost amidst an ever-changing backdrop of mountains, ravines, and desert scrub. No spoilers here, but you can probably imagine how this will end.
As for the script, I imagine it’s probably about 3 pages long—there isn’t much dialogue, and I got the impression that most of it was improvised.
Certainly, this is no Good Will Hunting, but it isn’t bad. I guess you could say my taste in film veers more towards the popular than the high-art, but in the end I still appreciated this film and its intentions. It’s earnest and thoughtful and interesting, and visually very beautiful.
And I bet Will Hunting would have loved it.
RT @LoveandMovies: You're not perfect... this girl you met isn't either. The question is whether or not you're perfect for each other. ~Good Will Hunting
Nunca entendi el "Do you like apples?" De matt damon en good will hunting, quien me lo explica?
You're not perfect... this girl you met isn't either. The question is whether or not you're perfect for each other. ~Good Will Hunting
"Is this Good Will Hunting?" "No it isn't." "It sounds a lot like Good Will Hunting. "Yeah... My best friend is Ben Affleck."
