Rewatchables Reference

• Chris's pick: the farting wife story – Robin Williams ad-libbed it and the crew's laughter is real.
• Shea's pick: the ponytail/Clark bar scene – 'How do you like them apples?' Will destroys a Harvard guy and gets the girl's number.
• Bill's pick: Chucky's construction site speech – 'You know what the best part of my day is? The ten seconds before I knock on your door.' Also loves the playground fight and the park bench scene.
• Sean's pick: the 'it's not your fault' scene – despite debates about whether Will's breakdown is too fast, it's the most iconic moment in the film.

• Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt were going to star when Castle Rock had the project.
• Mel Gibson wanted to produce and possibly direct.
• Michael Mann wanted to direct and reportedly pitched a version where Will was a car thief.
• Chris O'Donnell was Damon's main rival for roles in the mid-'90s before 'Good Will Hunting' changed everything.

• The friendships – the Southie crew dynamic feels authentic and lived-in.
• Matt Damon's performance – he has to play dumb, smart, physical, romantic, and tough, and pulls it all off.
• The dialogue and quotability – 'How do you like them apples?', 'It's not your fault', 'I gotta go see about a girl.'
• The Boston accents – widely considered the most authentic of any Boston movie.
• Elliott Smith's music on the soundtrack.
• Ben Affleck's wardrobe – peak late-'90s Southie fashion.

• Robin Williams' Boston accent – not great, especially compared to the real Boston guys.
• Matt Damon's frosted tips.
• The Miramax logo at the front of the movie (given the Weinstein revelations).
• The breakup scene between Will and Skylar.
• Danny Elfman's score – feels wrong for this movie, too whimsical.
• Beating 'Boogie Nights' for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars.

• Casey Affleck – makes the most of limited screen time as the funniest member of the crew.
• Cole Hauser – the muscle, always looks like he's about to fight someone.
• Stellan Skarsgård – brings gravitas to the professor role.
• Scott William Winters as Clark/ponytail guy – everyone remembers getting humiliated by Will at the Harvard bar.

• Scott William Winters as Clark the ponytail guy – leaning all the way into the smug Harvard douche.
• Damon's crying face in the 'it's not your fault' scene – debated among the hosts. Some think he's overpowered by Williams in that moment.

• The NSA would recruit a guy with a felony record? That's a stretch.
• Chucky would have fought ponytail Clark immediately – no way he lets that slide in real Southie.
• Nobody at MIT solved that equation and just left the answer on the hallway chalkboard? A janitor had to do it?
• Sean giving up his World Series tickets to talk to a girl – Bill Simmons finds this the most unrealistic part of the movie.
• The Danny Elfman score doesn't fit the movie at all.

• Damon and Affleck inserted a fake gay sex scene into the script to test which producers actually read it – only Harvey Weinstein flagged it.
• Robin Williams insisted on using the real L Street Tavern in Southie.
• Robin Williams ad-libbed the farting wife scene – the camera shaking is from the cameraman laughing.
• Three thousand people showed up to watch the park bench scene filming at the Boston Public Garden.
• Terrence Malick suggested the ending where Will drives to California to be with Skylar.
• Gus Van Sant painted the painting that hangs in Sean's office.
• William Goldman did NOT rewrite the script despite persistent Hollywood rumors – he only told them to drop the CIA subplot.

Extensive discussion of a Netflix limited series version – the CIA second half of the original script could become a whole second season. First season is the therapy/MIT story, second season Will gets recruited by the government.

• Where is Will Hunting in 2018? Alive, in jail, or dead? The hosts all think he's alive.
• Does Skylar take him back when he shows up in Palo Alto, or does she say GTFO?
• Why haven't Damon and Affleck made another movie together?
• Why wasn't Ben Affleck in 'Ocean's Eleven'?
• Is this the best Boston movie of all time? (Final three: 'The Departed', 'Good Will Hunting', 'The Verdict'.)

• Shea's pick: Robin Williams – it's his best performance, and 'it's not your fault' will be at the center of any posthumous tribute montage.
• Bill and Chris's pick: Matt Damon – he has to do everything in this movie (dumb, smart, physical, romantic lead, tough guy, genius) and no one else could have played it. Leo is a great actor but would be missing 5% of the Boston authenticity.