Commencement season has come and gone, and as always, this one was ripe with Good Will Hunting references, most notably the “real life ‘Good Will Hunting’” janitor who graduated from Columbia with honors.
And for a commencement speech, especially in this town, a Good Will Hunting reference is the obvious go-to. Amy Poehler circled around one in her Harvard Class Day address last year, but this year Andy Samburg went right for it. Within 30 seconds, boom! (Including the introduction, it comes in at about the 3:15 mark.) And lots of The Social Network references too, just to sweeten the deal.
Okay Boston*, let’s watch Good Will Hunting together.
On Saturday, July 21 at 2pm (EDT) we’re all going to hit the play button on our DVDs (or digital copies) of the one and only Good Will Hunting. And we’re going to tweet about it.
— Blog Will Hunting (@blogwillhunting) June 15, 2012
Follow along with @blogwillhunting as we enjoy every minute of the classic film together. Join the conversation with #GWHLive.
If “How do you like them apples” isn’t trending by 2:23pm we haven’t done our job.
The bigger this is, the better, guys. Spread the word. Media outlets with questions? Contact us at contact@blogwillhunting.com. Feel free to use the above image and re-post it everywhere (here’s the high-res version.)
Don’t have Good Will Hunting?
Seriously, what’s your problem?
Buy the DVD from wicked awesome local retailer Newbury Comics.
Central Square Theater's production of "Matt & Ben" with Philana Mia (Matt) & Marianna Bassham (Ben) Photo: A.R. Sinclair Photography
Interior. Ben’s apartment. A lazy Saturday in Somerville, Massachusetts. Stage right we see a desk, a computer, all untouched. Center stage we got a second hand couch. Pan left we see various junk food . . .
Thus the stage is set—early on in the play Matt & Ben.
Known as the ”Braasch House,” “Ma Castle,” and—by some—the “Good Will Hunting house,” this is the house in which Matt and Ben penned their Good Will Hunting, sometime in the mid-nineties.
I think it’s safe to say—the popular mythology of Matt and Ben’s rags-to-riches (or “Boston-to-Hollywood”) tale brings to mind something a little less grand than what we see here. (Certainly something a little less Viking-French Norman.) Despite being described in the realtor’s listing as “a fixer with great potential,” this is not the Boston-area apartment with pizza boxes and School Ties posters we were probably imagining. Much like Matt Damon’s Will Hunting (that twinkle in his eye! that beautiful shimmering hair! those wicked smart math skills!), the potential is quite obvious.
A duo of underemployed actors write starring roles for themselves and go on to great acclaim? In 2002 the play Matt & Ben was a hit at the International Fringe Festival and the next year Off Broadway. Playwrights Mindy Kaling (a Cambridge native, now on NBC’s The Office and author ofIs Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?) and Brenda Withers (actor/writer of the recent play The Ding Dongs, or What Is the Penalty in Portugal?) wrote Matt & Ben in their crummy, railroad-style Brooklyn apartment and went on to star in the play in Manhattan and then L.A.
Good Will Hunting was based on a story Matt wrote at Harvard [citation needed, I know, I know]. According to the version of the legend being pushed on the realty blogs—one stretches the facts even further to claim the house was built in the 19th century and that Matt and Ben themselves owned the place, rather than simply renting it once upon a time—the duo wrote the screenplay itself here:
My favorite part of the press release, by real estate site Zillow:
No, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon do not come with this house at 2327 Hill Drive. But as a result of the creative whirlwind the pair cooked up inside these funky walls, this Eagle Rock address has unofficially become known as the “Good Will Hunting” home.
So I just want to know… where exactly did they hang their School Ties poster? That fireplace eats up so much wall space!
From the Central Square Theater production of "Matt & Ben." (Yup, that's a School Ties poster on the wall behind Ben.)
Mindy Kaling is quick to point out in her recent book that they basically did no research on the real Matt and Ben’s journey. She and Brenda were essentially more interested in playing with the mythology of the duo’s celebrity.
So, why is it so disappointing to see how bitchin’ their pad was?
And I have plenty of backed-up ruminations on how walking through Harvard Yard on quiet evenings recalls Good Will Hunting, and what it means to make a Boston Movie in this cinematic age.
But instead of blogging about any of that, I’m going to just post this and call it a day:
We're just some guys in Boston who think that Good Will Hunting is more than just the sum of its parts. Learn more about the blog here.
Thrillist calls us a "seemingly 10-year-too-late fansite based entirely on the TNT classic" and
someone on Metafilter recently stated, "After five minutes wandering around it, I still couldn't figure out if it was a fan site or a parody." Well... both. You're all right, I guess. At least we weren't unoriginal.
Jimbo: Zinn's actually pretty shallow, in the grand scheme of things. Yes, you can't divorce objectivity from bias, but that's no substitute for making a good faith effort to...
Guest: THANK YOU. I've been looking for a proof of Sloane series A000014, which gives the number of potential trees for a given n, but can't find it for the life of me.
Thor: Giving an answer vs. proofing that that is the only answer is not same.
Jayson: in William Goldman's second screenwriting book, Which Lie Did I Tell. He talks about this rumor. He actually says that he wrote every single word of the screenplay and was then paid...
G Marchant: I thought the line, "I have to see about a girl", was perfect. And it was Will's stepfather who abused him. Probably one of many as he was moved from one foster home to...
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