Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting
Image:Good-will-hunting.jpg
Produced by	Lawrence Bender
Directed by	Gus Van Sant
Written by	Matt Damon & Ben Affleck
Starring	Matt Damon Robin Williams Minnie Driver Ben Affleck
Music by	Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Jean-Yves Escoffier
Editing	Pietro Scalia
Distributed by	Miramax (USA)
Release date	December 5, 1997
Runtime	126 min.
Language	English
IMDb Page

Good Will Hunting is a 1997 film directed by Gus Van Sant set in greater Boston, Massachusetts, which tells the story of Will Hunting, a troubled young prodigy who works as a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology even though his knowledge of and facility with mathematics is superior to that of all of the school's faculty.

The movie was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The widely-spread rumor that Good Will Hunting was written by legendary screenwriter William Goldman was refuted in Goldman's book Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures In The Screen Trade as a joke that got out of hand.

It is often compared to J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, and some claim that it was written with a certain amount of influence from the novel. The protagonist of the movie also has notable similarities to Srinivasa Ramanujan or to the late George Dantzig.

1 Primary cast
2 Synopsis
3 Award wins
4 Award nominations
5 External links

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Primary cast

Robin Williams: Sean Maguire
Matt Damon: Will Hunting
Ben Affleck: Chuckie Sullivan
Stellan Skarsgård: Gerald Lambeau
Minnie Driver: Skylar
Casey Affleck: Morgan O'Mally
Cole Hauser: Billy McBride

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Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Set in Boston, Good Will Hunting is about Will Hunting (Matt Damon), a young man who immersed himself in books to release his anger and frustration with his abusive foster family. Will and his friend Chuckie Sullivan (Ben Affleck) are two drifters who hang out together with their friends, drinking and fighting in Southie. Will works as a janitor, construction worker, auto mechanic, and in other low-end jobs, hiding his talents for memorizing facts, solving complex math equations (including Parseval's theorem), and aptitude for knowledge and understanding.

Will and his friends pick a fight with a man who had picked on him in kindergarten, an act for which he is arrested. During the few days he is waiting for his trial, he meets Skylar (Minnie Driver) at a Harvard bar and she gives him her phone number. Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgård), a mathematics professor at MIT, discovers Will's talent and decides to help him turn his life around. One of the conditions to keep Will out of prison is that he must see a psychiatrist regularly. After unsuccessful attempts with several psychiatrists, Gerry takes Will to meet his former college friend and specialist, Sean Maguire (Robin Williams).

After a rough start, Sean concludes that Will's defensiveness is the result of years of abuse and violence. The two work together to break through Will's barriers and expose his true thoughts and feelings. Lambeau attempts to push Will to excel in his direction, not seeing that Will is a sensitive being who can easily snap when pressured. Skylar asks him to move to California with her. In a tense emotional scene, he refuses and leaves her.

At the end of the movie, upon reflecting on his options and current path in life, Will decides to go with his heart by following Skylar to California instead of continuing his life in Boston, thus setting aside the opportunities Lambeau offered him to win Skylar back first.

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