Good Will Hunting
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Template:Infobox Movie (2) 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 Damon and 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.
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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
Synopsis
Set in Boston, Will Hunting is the child of an abusive family who uses books to treat his anger and frustration. Will and his friend Chuckie 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 other low-end jobs, hiding his talents for memorizing books, solving complex math equations, and other skills which would normally cause him to be cherished as a child prodigy.
A few days after meeting Skylar (Minnie Driver) at a Harvard bar, Will and his friends pick a fight with a gang harassing a girl on the street, but Will resists arrest when the cops come and faces jail time. 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 of the deal to keep Will out of prison is that he must see a psychiatrist. After breaking his commitment with several psychiatrists, Lambeau takes Will to meet his former college friend and specialist, Sean Maguire.
Maguire survives his initial meeting with Will only to see 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. After reflecting on his options, Will decides to follow Sean's footsteps and go to California to be with Skylar instead of continuing his life in Boston, thus rejecting the potentials that Lambeau offered him in favor of the feelings that Skylar can give him.
Award wins
- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – Robin Williams
- Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay - Matt Damon & Ben Affleck
- Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture - Matt Damon & Ben Affleck
Award nominations
- Academy Award for Best Picture
- Academy Award for Best Actor - Matt Damon
- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress - Minnie Driver
- Academy Award for Directing - Gus Van Sant
- Academy Award for Best Song – Elliott Smith (song "Miss Misery")
- Academy Award for Original Music Score - Danny Elfman
- Academy Award for Film Editing - Pietro Scalia
- Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama
- Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama - Matt Damon
- Golden Globe Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Robin Williams
- Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures - Gus Van Sant
- Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen - Matt Damon & Ben Affleck
External links
- Template:Imdb title
- The Mathematical Problem from the Movie (http://www.maplesoft.com/applications/app_center_view.aspx?AID=77) - requires free registration