‘I Thought We Had been Wealthy for Life’

The screenplay for Gus Van Sant’s 1997 drama “Good Will Looking” turned Ben Affleck and Matt Damon into Oscar winners, nevertheless it didn’t make them wealthy for very lengthy. Throughout a current go to to “The Drew Barrymore Present” (by way of IndieWire), Affleck confirmed the duo have been broke six months after incomes a $600,000 paycheck from promoting the “Good Will Looking” script.

“After we offered ‘Good Will Looking’ I assumed we have been now wealthy for all times,” Affleck stated. “My wants are over! I’ll by no means must work once more! I’m wealthy eternally! We offered [the script] for $600,000. We break up that, $300,000 every, after which the brokers bought $30,000, so we had $270,000. We paid about $160,000 in taxes so we had $110,000. We every purchased $55,000 Jeep Cherokees after which had $55,000 left.”

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Affleck added, “Naturally we determined to lease a $5,000-a-month occasion home on Glencoe Manner by the Hollywood Bowl and we have been broke in six months.”

The “Good Will Looking” expertise definitely taught Affleck and Damon a lesson in the best way to save a Hollywood paycheck. Simply final month, Damon and Affleck revealed to Selection that the duo had been courted to script a “Good Will Looking” sequel.

“Somebody simply tried to pitch Ben ‘Good Will Looking 2,’” Damon stated. “I shit you not — that occurred. He instructed me at present. He was like, ‘You’re not going to consider what I heard.’ This was a flat-out sequel. I don’t get it.”

When requested for particulars, Affleck laughed: “It’s not a sequel we’re going to pursue.”

The 2 actors additionally revealed on a March episode of “The Invoice Simmons Podcast” that they shared a checking account as younger actors earlier than “Good Will Looking” turned them into business heavyweights.

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“It was uncommon, however we wanted the cash for auditions,” Damon stated, calling it “a bizarre factor looking back.”

“We have been going to assist one another and be there for one another,” Affleck stated. “It was like, ‘You’re not going to be alone. I’m not going to be alone. Let’s go on the market and do that collectively.’”

Any time Affleck or Damon booked a task, the cash from the gig would get deposited into the checking account. As Damon defined, “So long as certainly one of us had cash we knew the facility wasn’t going to get shut off. After doing [1992′s] ‘Geronimo’ I in all probability had 35 grand within the financial institution. I used to be like, ‘We’re good for a yr.’”

In fact there have been guidelines, however they have been considerably stretched.

“You have been allowed to go to [auditions in] New York with the cash. You have been allowed to take out $10 and get quarters and go to [the arcade] and play video video games,” Damon stated. “Finally we have been allowed to attempt to purchase beer, which by no means fucking labored.”

Affleck and Damon most not too long ago starred collectively in Affleck’s Michael Jordan-Nike drama “Air.”

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