August 25, 2023 • 56 mins
Ever wondered what makes Good Will Hunting a timeless masterpiece? Curious about how the iconic roles of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Robin Williams have influenced the personal lives of our guests Jake Garringer and Joshua Ort? Join us as we revisit this classic film, sharing our personal connections and the lingering impact it has had on our lives. We dive in detail into the portrayal of real-life experiences, relationships, friendships, and mental health. Also, we rekindle why we regard it as one of the best Boston movies ever made.
In our intimate chat with Garringer and Ort, we dissect the unforgettable performance by Robin Williams, highlighting his character, Sean Maguire. We reflect on Sean’s vulnerability, which allowed him to break through the walls built by Will. This film has shaped our lives in ways we never imagined, and we share these revelations alongside a tribute to Robin Williams's performances in Dead Poets Society, Awakenings, and The Fisher King.
In the final segment, we celebrate the genius of the scriptwriting and the creative processes that shaped the film's narrative. We delve into Cole Hauser's casting, the role of independent cinema, and the significance of relationships and mental health in the film. We also announce our new YouTube channel, where we plan to share more movie reviews and other engaging content. Stay tuned, and join us on this cinematic journey!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello and welcome to this episode of this.
Won't Teach you Anything.
We will be discussing afavorite film amongst my two
guests and myself, jake Geringer.
Out of where you at tonight,jake.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Aloha, mr Hand, I am out in Redondo Beach.
What a jerk.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Is that Redondo Beach Hawaii?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yeah, that's we were having a little discussion here
beforehand, off topic of thesubject we're going to be
talking about, about fast timesat Ridgemont High and personal
feelings about said film.
Our other guest tonight is agood friend of mine.
He's been on the show beforeJoshua Ort Josh.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Hey, we're good friends now, I guess.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yes, it's elevated.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Upgraded.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
As far as the crowd's know, then yeah, we're on the
up and up.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yep, we are discussing tonight we're talking
Good Will Hunting a film.
I think that all of us, youknow, kind of we've known each
other for a long time, so itwasn't like we saw this movie
and became friends over thismovie.
I think we saw it at differenttimes and I think we each saw
(01:24):
something as cliched as itsounds, something you know.
We each saw something differentin it.
I think you know we saw whatmade most people love the film.
But you know, jake, what do youthink?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, I was thinking about that when we brought up
that we were going to watch itand discuss it, and I didn't see
this for a long time, yearsafter it had come out, because I
had strong feelings for MattDamon at the time, because you
were in love with him.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I don't find this shocking.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
No, I was not happy with him.
As well as a character oh, fromschool ties, he was such a good
actor and such a jerk in thatmovie that I didn't want to
support and see this movie, andI know that this became a pretty
personal movie for I think, allof us and you especially.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, yeah, you know, or what's your connection?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, you had asked me I don't know about six months
ago, some time ago, aboutpotentially doing this, but you
gave me like a day's notice, soI wanted to review the film,
which I've done now and I havenotes.
I'm glad you have your notes.
Yes, but no, like you guys aresaying, just looking back, early
(02:50):
career for Matt Damon and BenAffleck Just a movie that sticks
out for all of us.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
When you mentioned Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
As we get into this, we goahead and think about do you
think, when they're writing thisfilm I mean these guys have
lifelong friends, you know, yeah, you know, it's really is
semi-autobiographical.
You know, wouldn't you say Imean a lot of the stuff you know
(03:23):
because it's from their partwhere they grew up, and it's
really that type of thing.
Anybody that's an entertainmentfan and who has friends that
are entertainment fans, moviefans, you know, I think at one
point or another goes ahead anddecides or thinks about man, you
know what we should make amovie, you know, and these guys
did it.
(03:44):
I mean, these guys did it.
And not only did they do it,but they did it at the highest
level.
They walked away with Oscars.
They're Oscar winners.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, I mean, and early on in the career.
And I think when you saysemi-autobiographical, it
started with Matt Damon atHarvard and he wrote this in his
playwright class and it wasn'tfully fleshed out, but he came
away with that and I think theprofessor had said something.
(04:15):
He gave him an A on it and saidthat you know, I don't know
where this story is going, but Iwould like to know.
And I think that gave him some,some fire and some desire to be
able to push forward with thestory and wanting to flush these
characters out and they wereChucky and Will who wasn't named
(04:37):
Will at the time and Sean.
So I think that that was theimportant thing was to try to
bring those three characters out.
And then I think they alsowanted to write some parts,
because they were strugglingactors and trying to find some
parts out there and writingthemselves good parts for them
(04:59):
to be able to be cast in othermovies.
That was their whole goal ofthis script.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, no doubt I mean it shows through.
Right, if you're going to goahead and write a movie in the
hopes of you know starring in it, why not go ahead and do
something that's close to home?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, and they did exactly that, and they live and
breathe and that's one of thebest Boston films of all time.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, and it's a film .
You know, when I go ahead and Iwatch Good Will Hunting and
when I went in, admittedly, youknow, aside from the trailer, I
didn't know much about it, youknow it was a movie that my
fiance and I at the time my wifenow, but fiance at the time,
(05:47):
you know we went in and watched.
You know at the time that thiscame out God, it makes it really
hits home how long ago that wasLike it was like 25 years ago
45 years ago, man, yeah, it wasthat way, and it's crazy to
think it was that long ago.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah, so you saw it in the theater.
Then I did, I did.
Or did you see it in thetheater?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I'm.
You know we're talking.
I don't remember when I saw it,I just remember you because you
named your daughter Skylerafter but yeah, I can't put time
or place as far as that goes,but I remember walking away from
it, being very impressed withit.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, yeah, you know how great is it when you do see
a film that resonates with youso much.
I think they're the ones youknow.
If I go into a movie and I see,you know, I know what to expect
from a Marvel movie, a bigbudget Marvel movie right, I
know what to expect when I go in.
I may not know the entire arcof the story and what's going to
(06:52):
happen at the end, but I hadhigh hopes for things like end
game and infinity war.
Right, I mean, there's not.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, I mean like outline, knowing what was going
to be happening.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Right, you know, you got the good guys, you got the
bad guys.
This is a film that I just itlooks kind of interesting, you
know, and maybe there's nothingelse playing at the time.
I don't remember exactly whatit was.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
And now set of what Robin Williams, who were Affleck
and Damon at the time.
Exactly, yeah.
So it's always nice to bepleasantly surprised by a movie
that you're like.
Ah, we'll go check this out.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, those are.
I think those are the best, thebest surprises to go ahead and
see a film like that and then itreally sticks with you.
As you mentioned, josh, the youknow we, we saw that and we
really liked the name Skyler andthat was many drivers character
in the film.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
I was going to ask you when you came about the name
in Skyler that.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Well, that's how I knew it was.
25 years ago I had a personalthing for you.
Yeah, that's how I knew it was25 years ago was the fact that
my daughter is 25.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So so that's how that works out.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah.
So that's how I was able to goahead and measure that film was
from the fact that, yeah it, wewere playing with a few few
names at the time, and when wesaw the movie, we're just kind
of like, you know, I love thatname, and so that's where it
stuck.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And that was the name of the girl that Matt Damon was
dating at Harvard when he wrotethis.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
No kidding.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Skyler, I did not know that semi autobiographical.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
That is great.
We you know the film withoutgoing through, you know, and I
guess you know how we we usuallydo when we talk, we just kind
of jump around from differentthings, facts and things that
that struck us in the movie,things we liked, maybe things
that that we didn't like.
(08:46):
So you know, we've talked abouthow how it came about, from
from Affleck and Matt Damon andand Casey Affleck, you know,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Morgan.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I forgot he was in that till.
I rewashed it last week.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, Again, pleasant surprise, you know it.
It just was one of those filmsI don't even know I wanted to
and I didn't look it up here ina minute.
Does anybody have the budget onthis?
What it was budgeted?
Ten million, Ten million.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Oh, rain, man's got it there.
Lock and key yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Well, I would expect, if one of the three of us to
have it, it would be that guy.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah, I knew I wasn't going to have it, you know, so
it's.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
It's a bit of one of those.
I guess you could call it asleeper hit, wouldn't you?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
I mean the expectations couldn't have been
anywhere.
Yeah, but Robin Williams, Imean he was big.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Right, but you know he he had done dead poet society
by this time.
So you know him doing adramatic turn was not out of the
out of the ordinary but, youknow, still primarily known as a
, as a comedic actor and a standup.
But is is there, is there anyperformance that the Robin
(10:05):
Williams did that was any betterthan this?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I would think either awakenings or deadboats society,
either one of those.
I mean De Niro was great and Ithink he was nominated for an
Oscar in awakenings, but it wasa chance for Robin Williams to
really show like his wings inacting and the Fisher King as
well, which I think he wasnominated for but didn't get it.
So he definitely showed that hecould be serious when he needed
(10:35):
to be.
And especially deadboatssociety.
I mean these movies had majoreffects with me and in the way
that I was living my life basedoff of these things.
So I would say him as DeanKeating and deadboats society
would rival this, but this isone of those where he's a little
bit older and so he's no longer.
(10:58):
He's more of a father figurethan anything, and Keating was
more of a teacher figure.
He never felt like a fatherfigure.
But this one was really in theway that he speaks and the warm
and grace almost with his voicewas able to bring him in and
allow Will to be able to trusthim.
So I would go with this one.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
I think too, talking about being kind of
semi-autobiographical, knowingnow what we know about Robin
Williams going through some ofthe scenes with Will, the
painting sticks out to me as faras Robin Williams' character
and Will kind of breaking himdown during that scene and just
how powerful that was and justadmiring Robin Williams as an
(11:43):
actor and how much of himself heprobably brought to that that
kind of darkness of thecharacter in the movie.
But how much of that was himpersonal and kind of bringing
some of his demons, kind ofexpressing that on film for some
of those scenes.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
That's a great point because you have a lot of films
where you have a mentor to themain character and you see it
throughout film you can look at.
It doesn't matter the genre youcan have an.
Obi-wan Kenobi to a LukeSkywalker and a Mickey to Rocky.
(12:29):
You have these characters thatgo ahead and have that
relationship with the maincharacter who help guide him,
and kind of a moral compass, Iguess, or in some way a father
figure to the main character.
Now, what Orch just said aboutthe dynamic between Sean, who is
(12:55):
played by Robin Williams, andWill is the fact that it wasn't
all one sided Sean didn't haveall the answers and Will got to
him.
So before he I mean just byWill having that defense
mechanism to where he's justscrew everybody, nobody's out
(13:17):
there to help me and nobody'ssmart enough to help me if I
wanted him to.
It's kind of the attitude thatI he had all these walls put up
from everything that he'd beenthrough growing up and he wasn't
about to especially let thedoctors of shrinks that were put
(13:38):
before him before they got toSean McGuire.
They weren't.
He wasn't gonna let any ofthese people in to help him and
he did break Sean down.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
He did because when he first we'll get into the
middle of it, when he firstwe'll get into the move.
I'm sorry, I'm gonna jump in.
No, go ahead, let's do it WithRobin, when the first thing that
we see with Robin Williams ishim talking about trust when
he's teaching his class and he'slike, why is it important for
(14:16):
trust?
And as we see, that that's themost important thing for the
therapist or counselor to beable to have with the patient.
And so Will is just usingdefense mechanism after defense
mechanism to try to pusheverybody away because he
doesn't wanna show that he'svulnerable or that anybody can
(14:37):
do anything to him, physicallyor mentally.
Mentally he can stave them alloff because of his genius.
Physically he can do thatbecause of the buddies that he's
surrounded them with and he cantake on anybody.
So he's really put up thisstrong fortress around him.
But for somebody to be able tochallenge him in a way that Sean
(14:58):
has or does is something thatis so foreign to him and he
doesn't wanna show hisvulnerable side.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I think part of that, though, too, is because Sean
allowed himself to be vulnerable.
When Will goes after him, seandoesn't just try to take the
clinical approach.
It's like and I'm sure withoutbeing a professional myself,
there's this thing.
You don't do that as aprofessional, but he did, and he
(15:24):
showed I don't wanna sayweakness, but vulnerability to
Will, and I think that's part ofwhat allowed Will to be like
okay, this is a little different.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, it was.
It was something to where SeanI don't think any of the doctors
were ready for anything thatthey were gonna run into with
Will.
As Jake said, he used hisintelligence as, like, his
ultimate defense mechanism andhe was one step ahead of these
(15:58):
guys the whole way, and I thinkthat that's what ended up
working.
The dynamic between Sean andWill was he hit upon the fact
that they came from the sameneighborhood, they had done
these things and had theseshared experiences to a point,
(16:19):
and so he got Sean to the pointwhere he lost control.
He finally lost control.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, we showed toughness too, which Will, I
think, responded to like okay,this guy's not gonna back down
either.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, agreed, yeah, and that's seen right off the
bat.
He's.
You can just see that Will istrying to find the weakness and
with the other guys he foundthat weakness really quick and
was able to strike that nerveand cut that nerve and they
didn't have any kind of patiencefor him and so they just went
(16:51):
to I don't need this in my life.
And with Sean he's willing totake that and be able to dig a
little bit deeper.
I was like all right, you gaveme this and I'm gonna give it
back to you.
And if you're gonna disrespectme, that's where the Southie
upbringing comes into play.
It's like disrespect.
There's only so far that youcan allow that to happen.
(17:13):
Then you have to put your footdown.
And he realized that he crossedthe boundaries and if you see
any of the interaction afterthat, he's really hesitant when
he talks about his wife, aboutanything, and he says that like
not being disrespectful butasking important questions still
.
And Sean accepts that but stillpushes in polls.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, 100% going back into it, and I know we're
spending some time on this, butthis is really the crux of the
film, at least is Will's stateof mind and where he's at
currently what he'd been throughand where's he gonna go.
(17:59):
Where's this guy?
That is a genius.
No one can go ahead and denythat fact.
But he's just and it's talkedabout we'll touch upon it later
in one of my favorite scenesbetween Matt Damon and Ben
Affleck, when Ben Affleck'stalking to him about you're
(18:19):
wasting your time here, yeah thedemo scene.
Oh, my God, so good.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, there's at least like a handful of scenes
that all of us are just like man.
That's like a perfect scene.
I feel like this has happenedin my life, or I would love to
be a part of this in my life.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
It feels real right, you're not gonna go again.
I keep harkening back to theStar Wars or Marvel movie.
They're great to watch, they'regreat to see and, at sometimes,
just great movie making.
But the chances of us walkingout here and flying off or
getting into a lightsaber battleare slim.
(19:01):
We're seeing stuff in a filmlike this that we can all relate
to that maybe it's discussionswe've had in one way or another.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I think, too, what ties us together as movie fans
and as friends and when we talkabout the movies or books that
we do, is that Books Well, I gota pile on Edree Andy and when
he has Sean Kennedy on, and theyhave good talks.
But what I think bonds us withthese movies, and especially
(19:32):
this movie in particular, is themovie quotes.
And how many times have youheard, have we said, hey, you
want a double burger, or how?
you like dim apples.
So, being a pop culture podcast, that's probably a quote that
somebody has heard.
How do you like dim apples?
That you've said to somebodyfor many number of reasons.
(19:56):
So I do enjoy that about thismovie of some of the various
scenes and some of the quotesthat we like to pull out.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
And movie quotes are to therent of my wife just a huge part
of my life.
I don't go a day withoutquoting some movie, either at
work or here at the house.
I swear there's not a day thatgoes by that I don't find a
perfect situation for somethingI've heard in a movie, and you
(20:26):
know.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
What a miserable experience or existence that we
would have if we couldn't quotea movie one day.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Oh, yeah, it wouldn't be worth living.
We'd have nothing to say.
Exactly exactly.
I mean, you can't you just andagain with this film?
The movie quotes that we pullout from Caddyshack.
The movie quotes we pull outfrom Star Wars.
Are we like that?
They're great and most peopleour age with Caddyshack and
(20:58):
whatnot, are knowing what we'retalking about.
Maybe not so much, some of theyounger ones maybe so.
But the thing with quotes fromthis film is it's not just a
standalone quote.
You know, when I hear some ofthese things and it's not quotes
that I'm gonna go ahead andjust throw off handedly, except
(21:22):
I can think of a couple.
One would be you're theshepherd.
You know so good.
But you know, there's the otherthings that are a string, you
know, almost a paragraph of aquote, you know, and instead of
just a one liner, and you know,then next time you're gonna be
coming in here talking aboutGordon Wood, you're gonna be on
(21:44):
that.
Yeah, that whole diet tribeabout.
You know you spend how muchmoney.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Yeah, you know, it's funny too, you kind of making
that quote when he's talkingabout the book.
I didn't pick up on this beforewhen I watched the movie, but I
did this past time of you knowyou're talking about Will's
Genius.
I was watching him read througha book and just like he's
flipping the pages super fast.
So when he's in that Harvardbar talking about you know,
(22:14):
quoting this guy and pagewhatever, I'm like didn't really
appreciate it.
But after rewatching I wasseeing how fast he's reading
book.
That was a whole character ofjust how much he soaked that
stuff in and how photographichis memory was for that and I'd
never picked that up before.
I just said, ah, he's smart.
But then, yeah, rewatching Iwas like holy smokes, like the
(22:35):
whole character, like just boom,boom on that.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, and the thing, is the thing is, you know, with
that, again you know there'sproven that there are people out
there that can do that.
I mean, this isn't just youknow, they made this character a
superhero.
I mean there's people that cango ahead and do this.
So again, you know it'sgrounded in a reality.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah, and that's another thing with great scenes
where we find ourselves quotingin certain situations.
It's when Skyler is trying tounderstand that, like trying to
grasp that, and so like I wantto learn about this, and he
explains.
You know, I might not be ableto hit the ball out of Fenway
(23:25):
and I might not be able to playthe piano, but when it comes to
things like this, I could justplay, and it's something that
we've all been in, situationswhere we don't know why these
things come to us.
But when it came to that, thebest way to explain it is I can
just play.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, 100%.
And that was the scene when hewas talking to Skyler about.
You know, and it shows the.
You know you want to root forthis guy and whatnot.
But you know the guy is just isso damaged by the point that we
meet with him that you knowyou're rooting for this guy, and
then he does something you know, like when he tells Skyler like
(24:05):
you know all this stuff you'restudying, basically it's so
simple for me you know, and it'slike man.
What an asshole.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
You know, but it stays true to the character.
I mean, what he's got wrongwith him isn't something that
you just fix right away.
And so you know again, areality.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah, and they say that it's really difficult and I
find having this problem withyou guys.
If there's 50 point differencein IQ, it's really challenging
to talk to people.
So it's a little hard for me totalk down to you guys, but I'm
figuring it out.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Damn it.
He beat me to the much I knewit was going with it, and I just
had to sit here and steal it.
I knew it was coming, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
You know, with one of the quotes that Sean brings in,
you know, regarding that towhen he's talking to Stellan
Skarsgard, his characterprofessor, I don't have in front
of me X Lambo, yeah, lambo.
When he's talking to him he'sgiving you know kind of an
(25:12):
assessment of Will and he tellshim that, you know he pushes.
His quote is he pushes peopleaway before they get a chance to
leave him.
Yep, and that's exactly it.
It's a self-destructive defense.
You know he's been left.
He's been, you know, at somepoint had love as a child and
(25:33):
that was taken away or left.
And so, you know, he justdoesn't know how to go ahead and
process anything.
It really seems like the onlypeople who've never left him are
his three friends.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Yeah, yeah, and those guys are completely loyal.
They he's constantly testingpeople with their loyalty.
I mean, he goes out there andpicks that fight.
With what was it, Carmine?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Carmine is Garpaglia.
That was such a great scene todo that in real time, but doing
it in slow mo, yep.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah yeah.
That's such a great scene, butthat is just again testing
loyalty for these guys to be inmy life is doing something like
this.
They know that it's wrong andknow that it's illegal, but
these are my boys and I'm goingto test it.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Not that we're fighting these days as it is,
but we would always joke if wewere to get into a scrap.
Who was the one dude thatprobably wouldn't get into
anything?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Brandon Yep, we always said that dude, had your
way back.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Yep, he was not going to be involved.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
But no, and that's as guys identifying with the movie
.
Yeah, that was a beautifulthing to see that friendship and
, as Sean said, any of thosedudes would take a bat to
somebody for will yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
All he has to say is give the word.
I knew one of those guys woulddo it, and so that's another
thing.
That's why it's so, and it wasProfessor Lambeau that he was
telling how easy this stuff wasfor him.
Not Skyward, yeah, that's ajoke.
Yep, yeah that he's just socompletely on another level with
(27:16):
this and you can't even explainwhy.
So it's hard for him.
But his friends don't see himthat way.
They know it, but he doesn'tflash that around.
It's just kind of somethingthat's there to him.
It's just like it's just hejust have it Like.
(27:37):
Some guys know movie quotes,some guys know sports stats, you
know it's just something.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, he doesn't have to prove anything to them.
He can just be himself and hefeels that he's accepted for
that and he doesn't need to askthem for help, for love, for
support or any of those thingslike typical guy stuff that when
it comes to emotion it's alittle difficult for us to show
(28:04):
that, and so he doesn't have todo that with them and he knows
that they'll still judge him forwho he is and not what he's
doing.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know at its heart what would
be the best way to describethis movie.
I mean, don't put a label on it, but what you see, this movie
is it?
I mean, to me this thing is a.
You know, we were talking aboutit before we started recording.
(28:31):
Was, you know, a?
The term coming of age, right?
So I'd put that in it, I'd puta love story.
Love story yeah, what else yougot?
What else would you classify?
This is, and again, not drama,comedy, that type of stuff, but
what else does this?
What else?
What makes this film and itcan't be just us One best
(28:56):
original screenplay at theOscars.
So it resonated with a bunch ofpeople.
It still talked about to thisday.
My kids have seen it.
I've got a 25-year-old, I'vegot a 17-year-old, They've both
seen it.
You know, again, with it beingas old as it is and it still
blows my mind that it's 25 yearsold what else would you
(29:17):
classify?
You know what other?
What does it have?
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Well, it could also be like a buddy movie with
Chuckie, but it shows friendshipand how friendship can be
earned and it can be expressedwithout somebody saying it
directly and having to prove itby being with somebody.
You can show your friendship by, like Chuckie did, and he's
(29:44):
like if you're going to bearound, I'd kill you, because we
know who you are and what youare capable of doing.
And we don't have that and youbeing around here is almost like
rubbing it in our face.
So it also shows, with thefriendship, that he's thinking
that he needs to hang around, tobe around these guys and be
(30:06):
buddies with them for the restof his life.
But for other people that'slike not cashing this $100
million check and just hangingout with all these people that
wish they could have cashed thatcheck and they'd be out of the
neighborhood in a second becausethey want to provide for a
family or something.
So that's what I would think itwould be about.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
I would 100% agree.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
I like that it doesn't fit into a box, that
it's its own thing and we'reable to talk about it.
Today I was telling somebody atwork that we're going to be,
you know, doing a podcast on it,and they hadn't seen it and I
said, oh, you got to check itout.
I said, but you're ready, it'llget you.
It's just one of those.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
What was the age range of the person you were
talking to?
Speaker 3 (30:52):
30s, ok yeah.
Yeah, so again with this littlehead of their time, right, yeah
, and it'd be interesting to seewhat they thought.
Yeah, because it does it.
It usually that we as friendscan watch movies several times
and pick something out, or justfor the enjoyment and some folks
will just watch something onceand be content with it, but I
(31:15):
like that.
Like I said, I revisited,picked up something I didn't
before, but it still got me.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, I mean there's numerous times in there that
that it'll get you.
I mean, you know, if I've gotone, one area in it that that I
was kind of like, eh, it wouldbe.
Does anybody, does anybody havea feeling?
And it was such a small part,it wasn't anything that ruined
(31:43):
anything for me, but it was justso tonally different that I was
kind of like it kind of a snapout of the film.
You know to where I was like.
That just really doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
What part.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yeah, what was it when Chucky went to the
interview for him?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
I love that scene yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Well, it may be funny , yeah, but you know I mean with
with the suit that doesn't fitin the hair and the.
You know, I mean it's a funnyscene.
It just didn't seem.
It felt really farfetched forcomedic value.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Yeah, I think that's why I appreciated it about it
was because Will Will got alaugh about it when he told I
think he's telling Sean, like Ididn't go to that you know, and
so you get Will's reaction towhat it is, even though he's not
in the room with them, but youstill get his reaction from this
scene, from not being there,yeah, and so you're not going to
(32:42):
appreciate that.
But I see what you're saying.
But given the movie, even ustalking about it, you need a
little levity.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Oh, I don't mind.
I don't mind the humor part ofit.
I think the suit that didn'tfit and looked at literally
ridiculous.
But look where they're from.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
They're from Southie.
They're dirt poor.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
You know he's not going to go spend $200 on a suit
Edges for me, felt really,really out, brought me out of
the movie Funny.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I like that.
It's that character trying toagain that 50 point difference
where he's trying to use all thesmart words, quote, unquote,
that he knows, even if they fitor not, like aforementioned,
when nobody talked about alawyer.
Here to four.
(33:31):
Yeah, keep your ear to thegrind.
So I mean he's he's just tryingto say smart things in front of
them and he's doing the samething with the costume or the
clothes.
This is what he thinks thatsmart people wear and he's
probably hasn't had a new suitsince the last person died or
when he was a kid and graduate.
He's grown probably from that.
(33:51):
So I think that has somethingto do with you just have one
suit and for it to not fit himwell is true to a character like
that, where that dude's truewearing track suits all day.
I think that's that is true tohis character.
And for him to go to dosomething like that, knowing he
(34:12):
looks ridiculous, shows moreloyalty of what kind of a friend
he is that that he would dothat, even though we see that as
looking ridiculous, and knowingthat that's ridiculous.
But he's just.
Yeah, I'll do it for Willie.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I think he was out of his element, but I'm going to
do it for well, Cause it makessome money make some money along
the way.
Right now right now.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Retain her, yeah, like I said funny.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
But uh, you know from , for me it just was like that's
a bit much.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Um, yeah, I think that there was people that were
in in your boat where, wherethat scene didn't exactly fit.
That funny thing about thiswith the script there is a lot
of this script getting into thenuts and bolts of it.
It's, they had it, they've beenworking on it for over five
years and they sold it to um RobReiner and Castle Rock for that
(35:07):
to be developed into something.
They wanted to put Brad Pittand Leo in in this movie and
those lead roles when they hadit.
But there was a big NSA part ofit.
It was.
It was almost like an actionmovie and I think Michael Mann
was supposed to at one pointdirect this, and so they had all
these things and there's alittle conspiracy theory behind
(35:29):
this.
If you guys are ready for alittle conspiracy theory from me
about this, uh, I know one ofus is oh, I love your, I got a
bunch.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
We have another hour we can tack on to this.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, we do, we'll hit that right up.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
So, so a lot of the stuff that was cut out of the.
They just stripped it down tothis, this relationship, these
relationships, but they were.
That story that um will tell usabout the NSA is like why
wouldn't you work for us?
And then he describes thatthing Well, he was like supposed
to work for the NSA.
A lot in this original scriptand the stuff that they threw
(36:08):
out that Michael Mann was goingto direct Um.
They say that it turned into theaccountant with the Ben Affleck
that later did that movie, sothat that the the stuff that he
did was will hunting if he wentto the NSA.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
No kidding how about that.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
That's interesting.
So you see all the math andwhat he would have done.
And he went to the trainingwith the NSA, become this like
super spy and being able to dothese things and that was who he
would have been if he grew upwas the accountant.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Now you being the film student going to film
school Jake, I loved.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
I graduated Yep.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I think that's the second time we've covered that
on this podcast.
Well, I don't see the diplomaon the wall, so I just want to
remind the listeners.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
So, um, I love the scene where he's describing why
he shouldn't, the fact that hehad just a uh, very quick-witted
answer for that, and he'stelling the guy there and then
it cuts to him finishing thisstory with Sean and ties that
back in the office.
I just love how they did thatstory and broke that, broke that
down like that.
That's a great scene, causeit's talking about getting shot
(37:19):
in the ass and all this otherstuff.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Just so quick.
Well, and it shows us creativity, but also his intelligence to
be able to retell that story,for beat him right to Sean and
he was hoping that their buddiesand their friends that he would
get a laugh out of it like heis.
But Sean, being the fatherfigure, just like gives a little
bit of a hmm, that's funny kindof thing.
(37:42):
And then what's the talk to himabout his future?
Yeah, what, showing distinctlines between therapist and
friend, and that's somethingthat will was having a problem
with, and Sean too, because hewants to be vulnerable and have
him, trust him.
So he tells him stories abouthis wife farting in the sleep.
That was the initial thing thatbroke them into like a trusting
(38:04):
relationship, because he'sexpecting will to be vulnerable,
but he hasn't been vulnerablewith himself.
So he opened himself up to beable to have that kind of
relationship with him.
But there is still adistinction between Sean trying
to be like a figure that he hasnever had in his life, that's,
trying to do what's best for him, and him as a person, not him
(38:26):
as a brain.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Right and you go ahead and put the fact that
Professor Lambeau put themtogether to go ahead and you
know, basically to kind of guidewill in the direction that
Lambeau wanted him to go, andyou know, so there's there's
kind of that relationship thatthat Sean and Jerry, as he call
(38:50):
him, as he calls him, wereclassmates and so you know, one
of them went on to be a field asmetal winner and one of them
teaches, I mean, at thecommunity college you know, but
Booker Hill.
Yeah, but he's not, you know andthat's.
It seems like that's where he'swhere he wants to be.
(39:10):
He doesn't they even talk aboutit.
He and Lambo get into it about,yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
And I think that's one of the reasons why Lambo
didn't go to him first isbecause he wanted these other
guys to push them in the waythat he wanted them to.
Like the, he could really besomething for developing new
theorems and proofs and beingable to go into the field like
Einstein, where I mean he'sgoing in and he's talking about
rockets and bombs and Adamsplitting and and trying to be
(39:40):
something that's important forhumanity and down the line with
human beings and discovering thedifferent mathematical
equations that could improve ourway of life.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Yeah, just something.
We're talking about some ofthat, something that took me out
of the movie Math.
He's got, he's doing the thingon the chalkboard and there's
just dots on there, and thenhe's making other squiggly lines
.
I'm like I don't know what'sgoing on here.
I don't like it, took me wayout of it.
Yep.
Well, there you go.
I mean.
(40:13):
I could have got a field'smetal.
But then yeah, the math part.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
But math, yeah, I'm like I'm going to go away it
sure does.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
You got to prove things yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
But no, just talking about people that do math, like
you see that, and just watchingthe movie, you're like there's
people that can, like that, meansomething to them.
You know, not you, and Can youimagine?
Speaker 1 (40:37):
can you imagine where we would be in the world if the
three of us were in charge ofadvancing human technology?
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Yeah.
We wouldn't be talking intothese computers and sound boards
, we'd talk about conspiracytheories.
That's why I fully believe inaliens, because if we relied on
me or us to I mean hundreds ofthousands of years before you
know, we made a wheel even.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
I had a campfire tonight.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
That's pretty impressive.
Thank you, yeah, that's.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
I remember having this discussion with or when we
were in St Louis and we learnedhow they build the arch in the
in St Louis and they bothstarted at different points and
they met in the middle.
That's how they built it allthe way up there and I was like
there's no way, if we were, wewould meet at the middle.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
No, at least six, eight, 12 inches apart.
We like we screwed this upsomewhere.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Yeah, well, don't look right.
If you threw me in there, thearch would be something you
would walk over.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
That'd be about the bridge.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Yeah, no, I mean, it would just be something that you
would literally step over,because if that's about it would
be something that I made.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
It just kind of stood up you know, a trip hazard.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
I think they'd call it.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
But yeah, that's you know again.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
They did a really good job, though, of
illustrating you know, with,with that, just without hitting
you in the face and telling youyou're stupid.
They went ahead and just did anexcellent job of showing you
know again, his, hisintelligence is such a huge part
of the story that they theywere able to really quickly
(42:18):
illustrate how smart this guywas.
But as smart as he is, you knowit's, it's there's so much that
he's missing.
He's got so much that thatother people don't have, but
there's so much that he knowsnothing about.
And that's what you know.
John, again, the best scenesfor me are with, with, with him
(42:39):
and Will.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Oh yeah, that makes the movie.
I mean, we pull some otherscenes that we like, but that's
that's the whole crux of themovie.
Is those two?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (42:49):
And that's what got the movie made was that that
bench scene they called it well,they called Sean requires role
of the Harvey Keitel role,because Harvey Keitel, once he
was attached to reservoir dogs,is what made reservoir dogs be
able to be green lit.
And so they wrote that scenespecifically that an actor
(43:10):
coming in and wanting a juicyrole would see this and it could
.
They were thinking MorganFreeman when they were writing
it.
They were thinking of De Niroand they even thought, like
Meryl Streep was a possibilityto be in that role, just because
it's it's a counselor thatwould be able to help that
person.
And then they would just if itwas Meryl Streep, they could go
(43:33):
into a mother aspect instead ofa father aspect very easily.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
I can't help it when I hear Meryl Streep think of the
stripper from stuck on you.
Oh yeah, how do you think?
Do either of you have insighton how they got Robin Williams
in that, like what, anybackstory and what attracted him
?
Speaker 2 (43:56):
or there was connection I don't know it
offhand, but I did hear I thinkit was through agents like
somebody works for anotherperson and got it into their
hands and Matt Damon worked withsomebody that Robin Williams
(44:18):
knew and asked them how he wasto work with and then he put his
hat into the ring after findingout that it was pretty good and
I think it might have beenDenzel because of courage under
fire just beforehand, I think,but I'm not sure.
That's not a hundred percent.
That's all gossip.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
It's all hearsay.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
Yeah, it's definitely hearsay.
You know, it is interesting howthey got into the casting of,
like Cole Hauser.
They all met on school ties andone of the reasons that they
developed this script was to beable to give them roles, and
they were thinking of thisscript as their rocky script,
(45:04):
because so as just alone wasattached to the script and he
wouldn't let anybody else takethat role over.
So they were thinking the samething with this was how they're
going to break into the industry, because they kept losing to
people like Chris O'Donnell orBrendan Frazier for those roles
that they want to do, and sothey were trying to write
(45:26):
themselves the good roles to beable to break themselves into
the industry a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Yeah, definitely the you know.
Again, going back into, youknow the movie about.
I think Jake was that youtalking about relationships.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
He don't know nothing about relationships.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Oh my goodness, you know ships he does.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
He's a good buddy.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
Well, yeah, you got, you got the relation.
So you know relationship as a.
You have a patient doctorrelationship with with Sean and
will.
You've got friendships withMorgan and and Chucky and Bill
Yep, you've got thatrelationship.
You've got a romanticrelationship with with Skylar,
(46:14):
you know, so it does.
It does a really good job, Ithink, of giving each of those
aspects of his life appropriateattention.
I mean, you know, sometimes inmovies you know you get rushed
through certain things to goahead and get to either you know
more plot development orsomething like that.
You get things spoon fed to youto get to the next point that
(46:39):
the story needs to go to.
Yeah, this does a really goodjob of not going from point A to
, you know, from A to Z in order.
You know you get some of youstart off with Will and his
friends and it's not the last.
You see, you don't see hisrelationship evolve away from
his friends.
You see him go from there tohis relationship with Professor
(47:03):
Lambeau, to his relationshipwith Sean, to his relationship
with Skyler, but then things goback and forth.
He still spends, you know,spending his time with his
friends once to still going tohis therapy sessions with Sean
spending time with Skyler andyou know making time for
everything.
So it's the way it'sconstructed.
(47:25):
Does a for me, did a reallygreat job of not doing that
thing to where?
You know a lot of stories.
You know they go the clicheroute, you know the character
grows and you know he does thisand it's not not until the end
that you get kind of that nextstep.
(47:46):
Yeah, you know, for thecharacter.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Yeah, this, this came out at a time when independent
film was really blowing up, andthis, this is an independent
film as well, and so a lot ofthose scripts and those plot
plot lines had had a lot moreleniency in the films that they
were coming out with, becauseyou had films like clerks where
(48:12):
it, and slackers, where therewasn't necessarily a traditional
first act, second act, thirdact, rising action, all those
things, conclusions, and it'sand it's a formula that you can
just be rest assured.
If it came out of Hollywood it'sgoing to have this formula God
gets the girl at the end.
But with this and a lot ofindependent film, they were
(48:35):
shaking things up so much thatyou just you were just going for
a ride, you were sitting inthat car with them and just
hanging out with these and theseguys and seeing what they were
going to do, rather than hopingthat at the very end he gets the
job, gets the girl, gets thewhite picket fence and things
like that.
So I think that's what allowedthis script to be done and the
(48:59):
timing of it worked out wellbecause of the independent film
and the rising of Sundance filmsand and Boogie Nights came out
the same year as this I think itwas, and so you were a little
more lenient with the way thatthe script was developed.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
Yeah, you don't.
You know, going back on whatyou were saying, how dare or
question you as a film student,because you just broke down a
lot of stuff and I'd like to goand give you props for that.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
Oh, thank you.
Question him as a film student.
I gave you a film student yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Yeah, do I call you a cast tech student.
Speaker 3 (49:37):
I'm not a student, I'm a master.
But no, I I like talking to youabout movies because you have,
I'm just a fan, but you got totake 100% inside and that's why
I brought up about my how Iliked how they did that scene.
Because you're always talkingabout like lighting and all
kinds of artsy stuff that I'mlike what stuff you pick up on
(50:00):
that adds to the story.
Those things add to the story.
Yeah, you don't always realizeit as a as a fan, until you see
something that removes you fromit.
Then you can sometimes pick itout.
Speaker 1 (50:10):
But yeah, yeah, I think you could, if I think
Christian Bale did a great ideaof bringing the lighting into
into focus a few years back whensomebody stepped into the scene
Good for you.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
Good for you and that kind of ruined that dude.
But he he months back to.
He's done some good stuff sincethen.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
Yeah, yeah, well, you're not talking about the
lighting dude, you get fired.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
Well, I think, yeah, I mean there's, there's
transcendent actors, and andChristian Bale is, is right up
there, and if anybody wants it,anybody wants to go ahead and
say that that he's not a greatactor, then they can go ahead
and they can fight me right now.
Yeah, because if you've neverseen specifically American
Psycho.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Just so over the top work.
Have you seen that?
I just sent something, was it,I think, to you?
Jake sent something about sawsomething on YouTube and Bale
was going over some of his rolesyeah, yeah, yeah, yeah On GQ
yeah, and he was they were goingto pass him up, like he had a
director step up and stood herground on him and they both lost
(51:26):
it.
They gave it to somebody elseand then it circled background
and they they both ended upgetting it.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
But one of one of female director did that
American Psycho female director.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Yeah, so good.
One of my favorite film scenesyou know, I'm not saying top
five, but a favorite is thatbusiness card scene.
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Oh, yeah, just how much detail.
Speaker 3 (51:50):
They went to the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (51:52):
Yeah, I mean is a complete color.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
That is that bone.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, and the way he's, the way he's looking at it
and starting to sweat, and thejust these tiny facial
expressions and how much thoughthe's overthinking this is.
It's a perfect illustration ofa psychopath.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
Yeah, yeah, you know everything that he does in there
is funny because I was watchingsome some videos about the
psychiatrist that were breakingdown some some scenes like that
and, of course, like theGoodwill hunting scenes, and
they were talking about howGoodwill hunting's, the
therapist and patient sceneswere among the best that have
(52:36):
been depicted in film, and so itstands up, and that was at a
time when mental health wasn'texactly like the priority when
it comes to to people, and eventhe character Jerry Lambeau was
don't give me that like defensemechanism crap, you know and
he's trying to talk to him in aprofessional way and Sean is
(52:57):
knowing what would be best forhim and and Lambeau is one of
those people that old schoolmentality oh, don't give me that
crap about that, because it'sjust mumbo, mumbo shit.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
Well, the thing about you know mental health, you
know, especially 25 years ago,was it wasn't something that
that you talked about.
I'm sure you know a lot ofpeople you know, especially in
the Midwest, where we're, whereI'm from well, we're all from.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
I mean we're all yeah yeah is.
Speaker 1 (53:29):
You know.
It just wasn't something thatthat is talked about, right.
I mean it's more accepted thesedays.
That it's not a weakness, it'snot something that that you hide
from.
You know it's.
You break your leg, you go tothe hospital, you know it's
something that that you needhelp to fix.
(53:52):
And yeah, the way that and thething about it is, it's got to
be so infinitely much harder togo ahead and and and do because
it's not a one size fits all.
It's not a broken leg to whereyou can go in and get an x-ray,
and they know exactly what to dowith this broken leg that
they've probably seen hundredsof times before.
(54:13):
The doctors or team.
They know how to fix that.
You know, and that's why youknow this film.
Here Sean's character had tofigure it out.
It's not a one size fits all.
Every time somebody comes inand you know they're, they're
depressed, they've got anxietyor whatever it is, you know, and
so that's why it's such a greatscene with the one where he
(54:35):
comes in and they just sit anddon't say anything for an hour.
Speaker 3 (54:40):
He had to be more stubborn than he was.
Speaker 1 (54:42):
Yeah, he had to go ahead and find it, you know, and
when they talked to youmentioned it, or about the
painting, you know.
And then the next time he comesin after he puts him up against
a wall, you know, loses it onhim, you know.
He comes back the next time andtalks to him about how he
ripped his life apart.
So there you have it, the endof this episode, part one of our
(55:08):
discussion on good will hunting.
I hope you enjoyed it.
One thing that I know you willenjoy is if you enter the
contest.
That's right, we did not have awinner.
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(55:28):
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(55:49):
Again, I really appreciateeveryone listening.
Your support means the world tome.
And a little surprise here thatwe're going to be instituting
is a YouTube channel, and assoon as I have that channel set
in stone and ready to go.
We'll be posting little videoshere and there on pop movie
(56:10):
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, but for now we'll see you nexttime on.
This won't teach you anything.
Hello and welcome to this episode of this.
Won't Teach you Anything.
We will be discussing afavorite film amongst my two
guests and myself, jake Geringer.
Out of where you at tonight,jake.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Aloha, mr Hand, I am out in Redondo Beach.
What a jerk.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Is that Redondo Beach Hawaii?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yeah, that's we were having a little discussion here
beforehand, off topic of thesubject we're going to be
talking about, about fast timesat Ridgemont High and personal
feelings about said film.
Our other guest tonight is agood friend of mine.
He's been on the show beforeJoshua Ort Josh.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Hey, we're good friends now, I guess.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yes, it's elevated.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Upgraded.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
As far as the crowd's know, then yeah, we're on the
up and up.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yep, we are discussing tonight we're talking
Good Will Hunting a film.
I think that all of us, youknow, kind of we've known each
other for a long time, so itwasn't like we saw this movie
and became friends over thismovie.
I think we saw it at differenttimes and I think we each saw
(01:24):
something as cliched as itsounds, something you know.
We each saw something differentin it.
I think you know we saw whatmade most people love the film.
But you know, jake, what do youthink?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, I was thinking about that when we brought up
that we were going to watch itand discuss it, and I didn't see
this for a long time, yearsafter it had come out, because I
had strong feelings for MattDamon at the time, because you
were in love with him.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I don't find this shocking.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
No, I was not happy with him.
As well as a character oh, fromschool ties, he was such a good
actor and such a jerk in thatmovie that I didn't want to
support and see this movie, andI know that this became a pretty
personal movie for I think, allof us and you especially.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, yeah, you know, or what's your connection?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, you had asked me I don't know about six months
ago, some time ago, aboutpotentially doing this, but you
gave me like a day's notice, soI wanted to review the film,
which I've done now and I havenotes.
I'm glad you have your notes.
Yes, but no, like you guys aresaying, just looking back, early
(02:50):
career for Matt Damon and BenAffleck Just a movie that sticks
out for all of us.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
When you mentioned Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
As we get into this, we goahead and think about do you
think, when they're writing thisfilm I mean these guys have
lifelong friends, you know, yeah, you know, it's really is
semi-autobiographical.
You know, wouldn't you say Imean a lot of the stuff you know
(03:23):
because it's from their partwhere they grew up, and it's
really that type of thing.
Anybody that's an entertainmentfan and who has friends that
are entertainment fans, moviefans, you know, I think at one
point or another goes ahead anddecides or thinks about man, you
know what we should make amovie, you know, and these guys
did it.
(03:44):
I mean, these guys did it.
And not only did they do it,but they did it at the highest
level.
They walked away with Oscars.
They're Oscar winners.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, I mean, and early on in the career.
And I think when you saysemi-autobiographical, it
started with Matt Damon atHarvard and he wrote this in his
playwright class and it wasn'tfully fleshed out, but he came
away with that and I think theprofessor had said something.
(04:15):
He gave him an A on it and saidthat you know, I don't know
where this story is going, but Iwould like to know.
And I think that gave him some,some fire and some desire to be
able to push forward with thestory and wanting to flush these
characters out and they wereChucky and Will who wasn't named
(04:37):
Will at the time and Sean.
So I think that that was theimportant thing was to try to
bring those three characters out.
And then I think they alsowanted to write some parts,
because they were strugglingactors and trying to find some
parts out there and writingthemselves good parts for them
(04:59):
to be able to be cast in othermovies.
That was their whole goal ofthis script.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, no doubt I mean it shows through.
Right, if you're going to goahead and write a movie in the
hopes of you know starring in it, why not go ahead and do
something that's close to home?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, and they did exactly that, and they live and
breathe and that's one of thebest Boston films of all time.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, and it's a film .
You know, when I go ahead and Iwatch Good Will Hunting and
when I went in, admittedly, youknow, aside from the trailer, I
didn't know much about it, youknow it was a movie that my
fiance and I at the time my wifenow, but fiance at the time,
(05:47):
you know we went in and watched.
You know at the time that thiscame out God, it makes it really
hits home how long ago that wasLike it was like 25 years ago
45 years ago, man, yeah, it wasthat way, and it's crazy to
think it was that long ago.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah, so you saw it in the theater.
Then I did, I did.
Or did you see it in thetheater?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I'm.
You know we're talking.
I don't remember when I saw it,I just remember you because you
named your daughter Skylerafter but yeah, I can't put time
or place as far as that goes,but I remember walking away from
it, being very impressed withit.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, yeah, you know how great is it when you do see
a film that resonates with youso much.
I think they're the ones youknow.
If I go into a movie and I see,you know, I know what to expect
from a Marvel movie, a bigbudget Marvel movie right, I
know what to expect when I go in.
I may not know the entire arcof the story and what's going to
(06:52):
happen at the end, but I hadhigh hopes for things like end
game and infinity war.
Right, I mean, there's not.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, I mean like outline, knowing what was going
to be happening.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Right, you know, you got the good guys, you got the
bad guys.
This is a film that I just itlooks kind of interesting, you
know, and maybe there's nothingelse playing at the time.
I don't remember exactly whatit was.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
And now set of what Robin Williams, who were Affleck
and Damon at the time.
Exactly, yeah.
So it's always nice to bepleasantly surprised by a movie
that you're like.
Ah, we'll go check this out.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, those are.
I think those are the best, thebest surprises to go ahead and
see a film like that and then itreally sticks with you.
As you mentioned, josh, the youknow we, we saw that and we
really liked the name Skyler andthat was many drivers character
in the film.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
I was going to ask you when you came about the name
in Skyler that.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Well, that's how I knew it was.
25 years ago I had a personalthing for you.
Yeah, that's how I knew it was25 years ago was the fact that
my daughter is 25.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So so that's how that works out.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah.
So that's how I was able to goahead and measure that film was
from the fact that, yeah it, wewere playing with a few few
names at the time, and when wesaw the movie, we're just kind
of like, you know, I love thatname, and so that's where it
stuck.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And that was the name of the girl that Matt Damon was
dating at Harvard when he wrotethis.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
No kidding.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Skyler, I did not know that semi autobiographical.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
That is great.
We you know the film withoutgoing through, you know, and I
guess you know how we we usuallydo when we talk, we just kind
of jump around from differentthings, facts and things that
that struck us in the movie,things we liked, maybe things
that that we didn't like.
(08:46):
So you know, we've talked abouthow how it came about, from
from Affleck and Matt Damon andand Casey Affleck, you know,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Morgan.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I forgot he was in that till.
I rewashed it last week.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, Again, pleasant surprise, you know it.
It just was one of those filmsI don't even know I wanted to
and I didn't look it up here ina minute.
Does anybody have the budget onthis?
What it was budgeted?
Ten million, Ten million.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Oh, rain, man's got it there.
Lock and key yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Well, I would expect, if one of the three of us to
have it, it would be that guy.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Yeah, I knew I wasn't going to have it, you know, so
it's.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
It's a bit of one of those.
I guess you could call it asleeper hit, wouldn't you?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
I mean the expectations couldn't have been
anywhere.
Yeah, but Robin Williams, Imean he was big.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Right, but you know he he had done dead poet society
by this time.
So you know him doing adramatic turn was not out of the
out of the ordinary but, youknow, still primarily known as a
, as a comedic actor and a standup.
But is is there, is there anyperformance that the Robin
(10:05):
Williams did that was any betterthan this?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I would think either awakenings or deadboats society,
either one of those.
I mean De Niro was great and Ithink he was nominated for an
Oscar in awakenings, but it wasa chance for Robin Williams to
really show like his wings inacting and the Fisher King as
well, which I think he wasnominated for but didn't get it.
So he definitely showed that hecould be serious when he needed
(10:35):
to be.
And especially deadboatssociety.
I mean these movies had majoreffects with me and in the way
that I was living my life basedoff of these things.
So I would say him as DeanKeating and deadboats society
would rival this, but this isone of those where he's a little
bit older and so he's no longer.
(10:58):
He's more of a father figurethan anything, and Keating was
more of a teacher figure.
He never felt like a fatherfigure.
But this one was really in theway that he speaks and the warm
and grace almost with his voicewas able to bring him in and
allow Will to be able to trusthim.
So I would go with this one.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
I think too, talking about being kind of
semi-autobiographical, knowingnow what we know about Robin
Williams going through some ofthe scenes with Will, the
painting sticks out to me as faras Robin Williams' character
and Will kind of breaking himdown during that scene and just
how powerful that was and justadmiring Robin Williams as an
(11:43):
actor and how much of himself heprobably brought to that that
kind of darkness of thecharacter in the movie.
But how much of that was himpersonal and kind of bringing
some of his demons, kind ofexpressing that on film for some
of those scenes.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
That's a great point because you have a lot of films
where you have a mentor to themain character and you see it
throughout film you can look at.
It doesn't matter the genre youcan have an.
Obi-wan Kenobi to a LukeSkywalker and a Mickey to Rocky.
(12:29):
You have these characters thatgo ahead and have that
relationship with the maincharacter who help guide him,
and kind of a moral compass, Iguess, or in some way a father
figure to the main character.
Now, what Orch just said aboutthe dynamic between Sean, who is
(12:55):
played by Robin Williams, andWill is the fact that it wasn't
all one sided Sean didn't haveall the answers and Will got to
him.
So before he I mean just byWill having that defense
mechanism to where he's justscrew everybody, nobody's out
(13:17):
there to help me and nobody'ssmart enough to help me if I
wanted him to.
It's kind of the attitude thatI he had all these walls put up
from everything that he'd beenthrough growing up and he wasn't
about to especially let thedoctors of shrinks that were put
(13:38):
before him before they got toSean McGuire.
They weren't.
He wasn't gonna let any ofthese people in to help him and
he did break Sean down.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
He did because when he first we'll get into the
middle of it, when he firstwe'll get into the move.
I'm sorry, I'm gonna jump in.
No, go ahead, let's do it WithRobin, when the first thing that
we see with Robin Williams ishim talking about trust when
he's teaching his class and he'slike, why is it important for
(14:16):
trust?
And as we see, that that's themost important thing for the
therapist or counselor to beable to have with the patient.
And so Will is just usingdefense mechanism after defense
mechanism to try to pusheverybody away because he
doesn't wanna show that he'svulnerable or that anybody can
(14:37):
do anything to him, physicallyor mentally.
Mentally he can stave them alloff because of his genius.
Physically he can do thatbecause of the buddies that he's
surrounded them with and he cantake on anybody.
So he's really put up thisstrong fortress around him.
But for somebody to be able tochallenge him in a way that Sean
(14:58):
has or does is something thatis so foreign to him and he
doesn't wanna show hisvulnerable side.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I think part of that, though, too, is because Sean
allowed himself to be vulnerable.
When Will goes after him, seandoesn't just try to take the
clinical approach.
It's like and I'm sure withoutbeing a professional myself,
there's this thing.
You don't do that as aprofessional, but he did, and he
(15:24):
showed I don't wanna sayweakness, but vulnerability to
Will, and I think that's part ofwhat allowed Will to be like
okay, this is a little different.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, it was.
It was something to where SeanI don't think any of the doctors
were ready for anything thatthey were gonna run into with
Will.
As Jake said, he used hisintelligence as, like, his
ultimate defense mechanism andhe was one step ahead of these
(15:58):
guys the whole way, and I thinkthat that's what ended up
working.
The dynamic between Sean andWill was he hit upon the fact
that they came from the sameneighborhood, they had done
these things and had theseshared experiences to a point,
(16:19):
and so he got Sean to the pointwhere he lost control.
He finally lost control.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, we showed toughness too, which Will, I
think, responded to like okay,this guy's not gonna back down
either.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, agreed, yeah, and that's seen right off the
bat.
He's.
You can just see that Will istrying to find the weakness and
with the other guys he foundthat weakness really quick and
was able to strike that nerveand cut that nerve and they
didn't have any kind of patiencefor him and so they just went
(16:51):
to I don't need this in my life.
And with Sean he's willing totake that and be able to dig a
little bit deeper.
I was like all right, you gaveme this and I'm gonna give it
back to you.
And if you're gonna disrespectme, that's where the Southie
upbringing comes into play.
It's like disrespect.
There's only so far that youcan allow that to happen.
(17:13):
Then you have to put your footdown.
And he realized that he crossedthe boundaries and if you see
any of the interaction afterthat, he's really hesitant when
he talks about his wife, aboutanything, and he says that like
not being disrespectful butasking important questions still
.
And Sean accepts that but stillpushes in polls.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, 100% going back into it, and I know we're
spending some time on this, butthis is really the crux of the
film, at least is Will's stateof mind and where he's at
currently what he'd been throughand where's he gonna go.
(17:59):
Where's this guy?
That is a genius.
No one can go ahead and denythat fact.
But he's just and it's talkedabout we'll touch upon it later
in one of my favorite scenesbetween Matt Damon and Ben
Affleck, when Ben Affleck'stalking to him about you're
(18:19):
wasting your time here, yeah thedemo scene.
Oh, my God, so good.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, there's at least like a handful of scenes
that all of us are just like man.
That's like a perfect scene.
I feel like this has happenedin my life, or I would love to
be a part of this in my life.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
It feels real right, you're not gonna go again.
I keep harkening back to theStar Wars or Marvel movie.
They're great to watch, they'regreat to see and, at sometimes,
just great movie making.
But the chances of us walkingout here and flying off or
getting into a lightsaber battleare slim.
(19:01):
We're seeing stuff in a filmlike this that we can all relate
to that maybe it's discussionswe've had in one way or another.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I think, too, what ties us together as movie fans
and as friends and when we talkabout the movies or books that
we do, is that Books Well, I gota pile on Edree Andy and when
he has Sean Kennedy on, and theyhave good talks.
But what I think bonds us withthese movies, and especially
(19:32):
this movie in particular, is themovie quotes.
And how many times have youheard, have we said, hey, you
want a double burger, or how?
you like dim apples.
So, being a pop culture podcast, that's probably a quote that
somebody has heard.
How do you like dim apples?
That you've said to somebodyfor many number of reasons.
(19:56):
So I do enjoy that about thismovie of some of the various
scenes and some of the quotesthat we like to pull out.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
And movie quotes are to therent of my wife just a huge part
of my life.
I don't go a day withoutquoting some movie, either at
work or here at the house.
I swear there's not a day thatgoes by that I don't find a
perfect situation for somethingI've heard in a movie, and you
(20:26):
know.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
What a miserable experience or existence that we
would have if we couldn't quotea movie one day.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Oh, yeah, it wouldn't be worth living.
We'd have nothing to say.
Exactly exactly.
I mean, you can't you just andagain with this film?
The movie quotes that we pullout from Caddyshack.
The movie quotes we pull outfrom Star Wars.
Are we like that?
They're great and most peopleour age with Caddyshack and
(20:58):
whatnot, are knowing what we'retalking about.
Maybe not so much, some of theyounger ones maybe so.
But the thing with quotes fromthis film is it's not just a
standalone quote.
You know, when I hear some ofthese things and it's not quotes
that I'm gonna go ahead andjust throw off handedly, except
(21:22):
I can think of a couple.
One would be you're theshepherd.
You know so good.
But you know, there's the otherthings that are a string, you
know, almost a paragraph of aquote, you know, and instead of
just a one liner, and you know,then next time you're gonna be
coming in here talking aboutGordon Wood, you're gonna be on
(21:44):
that.
Yeah, that whole diet tribeabout.
You know you spend how muchmoney.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Yeah, you know, it's funny too, you kind of making
that quote when he's talkingabout the book.
I didn't pick up on this beforewhen I watched the movie, but I
did this past time of you knowyou're talking about Will's
Genius.
I was watching him read througha book and just like he's
flipping the pages super fast.
So when he's in that Harvardbar talking about you know,
(22:14):
quoting this guy and pagewhatever, I'm like didn't really
appreciate it.
But after rewatching I wasseeing how fast he's reading
book.
That was a whole character ofjust how much he soaked that
stuff in and how photographichis memory was for that and I'd
never picked that up before.
I just said, ah, he's smart.
But then, yeah, rewatching Iwas like holy smokes, like the
(22:35):
whole character, like just boom,boom on that.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, and the thing, is the thing is, you know, with
that, again you know there'sproven that there are people out
there that can do that.
I mean, this isn't just youknow, they made this character a
superhero.
I mean there's people that cango ahead and do this.
So again, you know it'sgrounded in a reality.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah, and that's another thing with great scenes
where we find ourselves quotingin certain situations.
It's when Skyler is trying tounderstand that, like trying to
grasp that, and so like I wantto learn about this, and he
explains.
You know, I might not be ableto hit the ball out of Fenway
(23:25):
and I might not be able to playthe piano, but when it comes to
things like this, I could justplay, and it's something that
we've all been in, situationswhere we don't know why these
things come to us.
But when it came to that, thebest way to explain it is I can
just play.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, 100%.
And that was the scene when hewas talking to Skyler about.
You know, and it shows the.
You know you want to root forthis guy and whatnot.
But you know the guy is just isso damaged by the point that we
meet with him that you knowyou're rooting for this guy, and
then he does something you know, like when he tells Skyler like
(24:05):
you know all this stuff you'restudying, basically it's so
simple for me you know, and it'slike man.
What an asshole.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
You know, but it stays true to the character.
I mean, what he's got wrongwith him isn't something that
you just fix right away.
And so you know again, areality.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah, and they say that it's really difficult and I
find having this problem withyou guys.
If there's 50 point differencein IQ, it's really challenging
to talk to people.
So it's a little hard for me totalk down to you guys, but I'm
figuring it out.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Damn it.
He beat me to the much I knewit was going with it, and I just
had to sit here and steal it.
I knew it was coming, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
You know, with one of the quotes that Sean brings in,
you know, regarding that towhen he's talking to Stellan
Skarsgard, his characterprofessor, I don't have in front
of me X Lambo, yeah, lambo.
When he's talking to him he'sgiving you know kind of an
(25:12):
assessment of Will and he tellshim that, you know he pushes.
His quote is he pushes peopleaway before they get a chance to
leave him.
Yep, and that's exactly it.
It's a self-destructive defense.
You know he's been left.
He's been, you know, at somepoint had love as a child and
(25:33):
that was taken away or left.
And so, you know, he justdoesn't know how to go ahead and
process anything.
It really seems like the onlypeople who've never left him are
his three friends.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Yeah, yeah, and those guys are completely loyal.
They he's constantly testingpeople with their loyalty.
I mean, he goes out there andpicks that fight.
With what was it, Carmine?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Carmine is Garpaglia.
That was such a great scene todo that in real time, but doing
it in slow mo, yep.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah yeah.
That's such a great scene, butthat is just again testing
loyalty for these guys to be inmy life is doing something like
this.
They know that it's wrong andknow that it's illegal, but
these are my boys and I'm goingto test it.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Not that we're fighting these days as it is,
but we would always joke if wewere to get into a scrap.
Who was the one dude thatprobably wouldn't get into
anything?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Brandon Yep, we always said that dude, had your
way back.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Yep, he was not going to be involved.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
But no, and that's as guys identifying with the movie
.
Yeah, that was a beautifulthing to see that friendship and
, as Sean said, any of thosedudes would take a bat to
somebody for will yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
All he has to say is give the word.
I knew one of those guys woulddo it, and so that's another
thing.
That's why it's so, and it wasProfessor Lambeau that he was
telling how easy this stuff wasfor him.
Not Skyward, yeah, that's ajoke.
Yep, yeah that he's just socompletely on another level with
(27:16):
this and you can't even explainwhy.
So it's hard for him.
But his friends don't see himthat way.
They know it, but he doesn'tflash that around.
It's just kind of somethingthat's there to him.
It's just like it's just hejust have it Like.
(27:37):
Some guys know movie quotes,some guys know sports stats, you
know it's just something.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, he doesn't have to prove anything to them.
He can just be himself and hefeels that he's accepted for
that and he doesn't need to askthem for help, for love, for
support or any of those thingslike typical guy stuff that when
it comes to emotion it's alittle difficult for us to show
(28:04):
that, and so he doesn't have todo that with them and he knows
that they'll still judge him forwho he is and not what he's
doing.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know at its heart what would
be the best way to describethis movie.
I mean, don't put a label on it, but what you see, this movie
is it?
I mean, to me this thing is a.
You know, we were talking aboutit before we started recording.
(28:31):
Was, you know, a?
The term coming of age, right?
So I'd put that in it, I'd puta love story.
Love story yeah, what else yougot?
What else would you classify?
This is, and again, not drama,comedy, that type of stuff, but
what else does this?
What else?
What makes this film and itcan't be just us One best
(28:56):
original screenplay at theOscars.
So it resonated with a bunch ofpeople.
It still talked about to thisday.
My kids have seen it.
I've got a 25-year-old, I'vegot a 17-year-old, They've both
seen it.
You know, again, with it beingas old as it is and it still
blows my mind that it's 25 yearsold what else would you
(29:17):
classify?
You know what other?
What does it have?
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Well, it could also be like a buddy movie with
Chuckie, but it shows friendshipand how friendship can be
earned and it can be expressedwithout somebody saying it
directly and having to prove itby being with somebody.
You can show your friendship by, like Chuckie did, and he's
(29:44):
like if you're going to bearound, I'd kill you, because we
know who you are and what youare capable of doing.
And we don't have that and youbeing around here is almost like
rubbing it in our face.
So it also shows, with thefriendship, that he's thinking
that he needs to hang around, tobe around these guys and be
(30:06):
buddies with them for the restof his life.
But for other people that'slike not cashing this $100
million check and just hangingout with all these people that
wish they could have cashed thatcheck and they'd be out of the
neighborhood in a second becausethey want to provide for a
family or something.
So that's what I would think itwould be about.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
I would 100% agree.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
I like that it doesn't fit into a box, that
it's its own thing and we'reable to talk about it.
Today I was telling somebody atwork that we're going to be,
you know, doing a podcast on it,and they hadn't seen it and I
said, oh, you got to check itout.
I said, but you're ready, it'llget you.
It's just one of those.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
What was the age range of the person you were
talking to?
Speaker 3 (30:52):
30s, ok yeah.
Yeah, so again with this littlehead of their time, right, yeah
, and it'd be interesting to seewhat they thought.
Yeah, because it does it.
It usually that we as friendscan watch movies several times
and pick something out, or justfor the enjoyment and some folks
will just watch something onceand be content with it, but I
(31:15):
like that.
Like I said, I revisited,picked up something I didn't
before, but it still got me.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, I mean there's numerous times in there that
that it'll get you.
I mean, you know, if I've gotone, one area in it that that I
was kind of like, eh, it wouldbe.
Does anybody, does anybody havea feeling?
And it was such a small part,it wasn't anything that ruined
(31:43):
anything for me, but it was justso tonally different that I was
kind of like it kind of a snapout of the film.
You know to where I was like.
That just really doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
What part.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yeah, what was it when Chucky went to the
interview for him?
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
I love that scene yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Well, it may be funny , yeah, but you know I mean with
with the suit that doesn't fitin the hair and the.
You know, I mean it's a funnyscene.
It just didn't seem.
It felt really farfetched forcomedic value.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Yeah, I think that's why I appreciated it about it
was because Will Will got alaugh about it when he told I
think he's telling Sean, like Ididn't go to that you know, and
so you get Will's reaction towhat it is, even though he's not
in the room with them, but youstill get his reaction from this
scene, from not being there,yeah, and so you're not going to
(32:42):
appreciate that.
But I see what you're saying.
But given the movie, even ustalking about it, you need a
little levity.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Oh, I don't mind.
I don't mind the humor part ofit.
I think the suit that didn'tfit and looked at literally
ridiculous.
But look where they're from.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
They're from Southie.
They're dirt poor.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
You know he's not going to go spend $200 on a suit
Edges for me, felt really,really out, brought me out of
the movie Funny.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
I like that.
It's that character trying toagain that 50 point difference
where he's trying to use all thesmart words, quote, unquote,
that he knows, even if they fitor not, like aforementioned,
when nobody talked about alawyer.
Here to four.
(33:31):
Yeah, keep your ear to thegrind.
So I mean he's he's just tryingto say smart things in front of
them and he's doing the samething with the costume or the
clothes.
This is what he thinks thatsmart people wear and he's
probably hasn't had a new suitsince the last person died or
when he was a kid and graduate.
He's grown probably from that.
(33:51):
So I think that has somethingto do with you just have one
suit and for it to not fit himwell is true to a character like
that, where that dude's truewearing track suits all day.
I think that's that is true tohis character.
And for him to go to dosomething like that, knowing he
(34:12):
looks ridiculous, shows moreloyalty of what kind of a friend
he is that that he would dothat, even though we see that as
looking ridiculous, and knowingthat that's ridiculous.
But he's just.
Yeah, I'll do it for Willie.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I think he was out of his element, but I'm going to
do it for well, Cause it makessome money make some money along
the way.
Right now right now.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Retain her, yeah, like I said funny.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
But uh, you know from , for me it just was like that's
a bit much.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Um, yeah, I think that there was people that were
in in your boat where, wherethat scene didn't exactly fit.
That funny thing about thiswith the script there is a lot
of this script getting into thenuts and bolts of it.
It's, they had it, they've beenworking on it for over five
years and they sold it to um RobReiner and Castle Rock for that
(35:07):
to be developed into something.
They wanted to put Brad Pittand Leo in in this movie and
those lead roles when they hadit.
But there was a big NSA part ofit.
It was.
It was almost like an actionmovie and I think Michael Mann
was supposed to at one pointdirect this, and so they had all
these things and there's alittle conspiracy theory behind
(35:29):
this.
If you guys are ready for alittle conspiracy theory from me
about this, uh, I know one ofus is oh, I love your, I got a
bunch.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
We have another hour we can tack on to this.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, we do, we'll hit that right up.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
So, so a lot of the stuff that was cut out of the.
They just stripped it down tothis, this relationship, these
relationships, but they were.
That story that um will tell usabout the NSA is like why
wouldn't you work for us?
And then he describes thatthing Well, he was like supposed
to work for the NSA.
A lot in this original scriptand the stuff that they threw
(36:08):
out that Michael Mann was goingto direct Um.
They say that it turned into theaccountant with the Ben Affleck
that later did that movie, sothat that the the stuff that he
did was will hunting if he wentto the NSA.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
No kidding how about that.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
That's interesting.
So you see all the math andwhat he would have done.
And he went to the trainingwith the NSA, become this like
super spy and being able to dothese things and that was who he
would have been if he grew upwas the accountant.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Now you being the film student going to film
school Jake, I loved.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
I graduated Yep.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I think that's the second time we've covered that
on this podcast.
Well, I don't see the diplomaon the wall, so I just want to
remind the listeners.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
So, um, I love the scene where he's describing why
he shouldn't, the fact that hehad just a uh, very quick-witted
answer for that, and he'stelling the guy there and then
it cuts to him finishing thisstory with Sean and ties that
back in the office.
I just love how they did thatstory and broke that, broke that
down like that.
That's a great scene, causeit's talking about getting shot
(37:19):
in the ass and all this otherstuff.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Just so quick.
Well, and it shows us creativity, but also his intelligence to
be able to retell that story,for beat him right to Sean and
he was hoping that their buddiesand their friends that he would
get a laugh out of it like heis.
But Sean, being the fatherfigure, just like gives a little
bit of a hmm, that's funny kindof thing.
(37:42):
And then what's the talk to himabout his future?
Yeah, what, showing distinctlines between therapist and
friend, and that's somethingthat will was having a problem
with, and Sean too, because hewants to be vulnerable and have
him, trust him.
So he tells him stories abouthis wife farting in the sleep.
That was the initial thing thatbroke them into like a trusting
(38:04):
relationship, because he'sexpecting will to be vulnerable,
but he hasn't been vulnerablewith himself.
So he opened himself up to beable to have that kind of
relationship with him.
But there is still adistinction between Sean trying
to be like a figure that he hasnever had in his life, that's,
trying to do what's best for him, and him as a person, not him
(38:26):
as a brain.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Right and you go ahead and put the fact that
Professor Lambeau put themtogether to go ahead and you
know, basically to kind of guidewill in the direction that
Lambeau wanted him to go, andyou know, so there's there's
kind of that relationship thatthat Sean and Jerry, as he call
(38:50):
him, as he calls him, wereclassmates and so you know, one
of them went on to be a field asmetal winner and one of them
teaches, I mean, at thecommunity college you know, but
Booker Hill.
Yeah, but he's not, you know andthat's.
It seems like that's where he'swhere he wants to be.
(39:10):
He doesn't they even talk aboutit.
He and Lambo get into it about,yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
And I think that's one of the reasons why Lambo
didn't go to him first isbecause he wanted these other
guys to push them in the waythat he wanted them to.
Like the, he could really besomething for developing new
theorems and proofs and beingable to go into the field like
Einstein, where I mean he'sgoing in and he's talking about
rockets and bombs and Adamsplitting and and trying to be
(39:40):
something that's important forhumanity and down the line with
human beings and discovering thedifferent mathematical
equations that could improve ourway of life.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Yeah, just something.
We're talking about some ofthat, something that took me out
of the movie Math.
He's got, he's doing the thingon the chalkboard and there's
just dots on there, and thenhe's making other squiggly lines
.
I'm like I don't know what'sgoing on here.
I don't like it, took me wayout of it.
Yep.
Well, there you go.
I mean.
(40:13):
I could have got a field'smetal.
But then yeah, the math part.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
But math, yeah, I'm like I'm going to go away it
sure does.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
You got to prove things yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
But no, just talking about people that do math, like
you see that, and just watchingthe movie, you're like there's
people that can, like that, meansomething to them.
You know, not you, and Can youimagine?
Speaker 1 (40:37):
can you imagine where we would be in the world if the
three of us were in charge ofadvancing human technology?
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Yeah.
We wouldn't be talking intothese computers and sound boards
, we'd talk about conspiracytheories.
That's why I fully believe inaliens, because if we relied on
me or us to I mean hundreds ofthousands of years before you
know, we made a wheel even.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
I had a campfire tonight.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
That's pretty impressive.
Thank you, yeah, that's.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
I remember having this discussion with or when we
were in St Louis and we learnedhow they build the arch in the
in St Louis and they bothstarted at different points and
they met in the middle.
That's how they built it allthe way up there and I was like
there's no way, if we were, wewould meet at the middle.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
No, at least six, eight, 12 inches apart.
We like we screwed this upsomewhere.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Yeah, well, don't look right.
If you threw me in there, thearch would be something you
would walk over.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
That'd be about the bridge.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Yeah, no, I mean, it would just be something that you
would literally step over,because if that's about it would
be something that I made.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
It just kind of stood up you know, a trip hazard.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
I think they'd call it.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
But yeah, that's you know again.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
They did a really good job, though, of
illustrating you know, with,with that, just without hitting
you in the face and telling youyou're stupid.
They went ahead and just did anexcellent job of showing you
know again, his, hisintelligence is such a huge part
of the story that they theywere able to really quickly
(42:18):
illustrate how smart this guywas.
But as smart as he is, you knowit's, it's there's so much that
he's missing.
He's got so much that thatother people don't have, but
there's so much that he knowsnothing about.
And that's what you know.
John, again, the best scenesfor me are with, with, with him
(42:39):
and Will.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Oh yeah, that makes the movie.
I mean, we pull some otherscenes that we like, but that's
that's the whole crux of themovie.
Is those two?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (42:49):
And that's what got the movie made was that that
bench scene they called it well,they called Sean requires role
of the Harvey Keitel role,because Harvey Keitel, once he
was attached to reservoir dogs,is what made reservoir dogs be
able to be green lit.
And so they wrote that scenespecifically that an actor
(43:10):
coming in and wanting a juicyrole would see this and it could
.
They were thinking MorganFreeman when they were writing
it.
They were thinking of De Niroand they even thought, like
Meryl Streep was a possibilityto be in that role, just because
it's it's a counselor thatwould be able to help that
person.
And then they would just if itwas Meryl Streep, they could go
(43:33):
into a mother aspect instead ofa father aspect very easily.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
I can't help it when I hear Meryl Streep think of the
stripper from stuck on you.
Oh yeah, how do you think?
Do either of you have insighton how they got Robin Williams
in that, like what, anybackstory and what attracted him
?
Speaker 2 (43:56):
or there was connection I don't know it
offhand, but I did hear I thinkit was through agents like
somebody works for anotherperson and got it into their
hands and Matt Damon worked withsomebody that Robin Williams
(44:18):
knew and asked them how he wasto work with and then he put his
hat into the ring after findingout that it was pretty good and
I think it might have beenDenzel because of courage under
fire just beforehand, I think,but I'm not sure.
That's not a hundred percent.
That's all gossip.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
It's all hearsay.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
Yeah, it's definitely hearsay.
You know, it is interesting howthey got into the casting of,
like Cole Hauser.
They all met on school ties andone of the reasons that they
developed this script was to beable to give them roles, and
they were thinking of thisscript as their rocky script,
(45:04):
because so as just alone wasattached to the script and he
wouldn't let anybody else takethat role over.
So they were thinking the samething with this was how they're
going to break into the industry, because they kept losing to
people like Chris O'Donnell orBrendan Frazier for those roles
that they want to do, and sothey were trying to write
(45:26):
themselves the good roles to beable to break themselves into
the industry a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Yeah, definitely the you know.
Again, going back into, youknow the movie about.
I think Jake was that youtalking about relationships.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
He don't know nothing about relationships.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Oh my goodness, you know ships he does.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
He's a good buddy.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
Well, yeah, you got, you got the relation.
So you know relationship as a.
You have a patient doctorrelationship with with Sean and
will.
You've got friendships withMorgan and and Chucky and Bill
Yep, you've got thatrelationship.
You've got a romanticrelationship with with Skylar,
(46:14):
you know, so it does.
It does a really good job, Ithink, of giving each of those
aspects of his life appropriateattention.
I mean, you know, sometimes inmovies you know you get rushed
through certain things to goahead and get to either you know
more plot development orsomething like that.
You get things spoon fed to youto get to the next point that
(46:39):
the story needs to go to.
Yeah, this does a really goodjob of not going from point A to
, you know, from A to Z in order.
You know you get some of youstart off with Will and his
friends and it's not the last.
You see, you don't see hisrelationship evolve away from
his friends.
You see him go from there tohis relationship with Professor
(47:03):
Lambeau, to his relationshipwith Sean, to his relationship
with Skyler, but then things goback and forth.
He still spends, you know,spending his time with his
friends once to still going tohis therapy sessions with Sean
spending time with Skyler andyou know making time for
everything.
So it's the way it'sconstructed.
(47:25):
Does a for me, did a reallygreat job of not doing that
thing to where?
You know a lot of stories.
You know they go the clicheroute, you know the character
grows and you know he does thisand it's not not until the end
that you get kind of that nextstep.
(47:46):
Yeah, you know, for thecharacter.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Yeah, this, this came out at a time when independent
film was really blowing up, andthis, this is an independent
film as well, and so a lot ofthose scripts and those plot
plot lines had had a lot moreleniency in the films that they
were coming out with, becauseyou had films like clerks where
(48:12):
it, and slackers, where therewasn't necessarily a traditional
first act, second act, thirdact, rising action, all those
things, conclusions, and it'sand it's a formula that you can
just be rest assured.
If it came out of Hollywood it'sgoing to have this formula God
gets the girl at the end.
But with this and a lot ofindependent film, they were
(48:35):
shaking things up so much thatyou just you were just going for
a ride, you were sitting inthat car with them and just
hanging out with these and theseguys and seeing what they were
going to do, rather than hopingthat at the very end he gets the
job, gets the girl, gets thewhite picket fence and things
like that.
So I think that's what allowedthis script to be done and the
(48:59):
timing of it worked out wellbecause of the independent film
and the rising of Sundance filmsand and Boogie Nights came out
the same year as this I think itwas, and so you were a little
more lenient with the way thatthe script was developed.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
Yeah, you don't.
You know, going back on whatyou were saying, how dare or
question you as a film student,because you just broke down a
lot of stuff and I'd like to goand give you props for that.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
Oh, thank you.
Question him as a film student.
I gave you a film student yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Yeah, do I call you a cast tech student.
Speaker 3 (49:37):
I'm not a student, I'm a master.
But no, I I like talking to youabout movies because you have,
I'm just a fan, but you got totake 100% inside and that's why
I brought up about my how Iliked how they did that scene.
Because you're always talkingabout like lighting and all
kinds of artsy stuff that I'mlike what stuff you pick up on
(50:00):
that adds to the story.
Those things add to the story.
Yeah, you don't always realizeit as a as a fan, until you see
something that removes you fromit.
Then you can sometimes pick itout.
Speaker 1 (50:10):
But yeah, yeah, I think you could, if I think
Christian Bale did a great ideaof bringing the lighting into
into focus a few years back whensomebody stepped into the scene
Good for you.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
Good for you and that kind of ruined that dude.
But he he months back to.
He's done some good stuff sincethen.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
Yeah, yeah, well, you're not talking about the
lighting dude, you get fired.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
Well, I think, yeah, I mean there's, there's
transcendent actors, and andChristian Bale is, is right up
there, and if anybody wants it,anybody wants to go ahead and
say that that he's not a greatactor, then they can go ahead
and they can fight me right now.
Yeah, because if you've neverseen specifically American
Psycho.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Just so over the top work.
Have you seen that?
I just sent something, was it,I think, to you?
Jake sent something about sawsomething on YouTube and Bale
was going over some of his rolesyeah, yeah, yeah, yeah On GQ
yeah, and he was they were goingto pass him up, like he had a
director step up and stood herground on him and they both lost
(51:26):
it.
They gave it to somebody elseand then it circled background
and they they both ended upgetting it.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
But one of one of female director did that
American Psycho female director.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Yeah, so good.
One of my favorite film scenesyou know, I'm not saying top
five, but a favorite is thatbusiness card scene.
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Oh, yeah, just how much detail.
Speaker 3 (51:50):
They went to the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (51:52):
Yeah, I mean is a complete color.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
That is that bone.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, and the way he's, the way he's looking at it
and starting to sweat, and thejust these tiny facial
expressions and how much thoughthe's overthinking this is.
It's a perfect illustration ofa psychopath.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
Yeah, yeah, you know everything that he does in there
is funny because I was watchingsome some videos about the
psychiatrist that were breakingdown some some scenes like that
and, of course, like theGoodwill hunting scenes, and
they were talking about howGoodwill hunting's, the
therapist and patient sceneswere among the best that have
(52:36):
been depicted in film, and so itstands up, and that was at a
time when mental health wasn'texactly like the priority when
it comes to to people, and eventhe character Jerry Lambeau was
don't give me that like defensemechanism crap, you know and
he's trying to talk to him in aprofessional way and Sean is
(52:57):
knowing what would be best forhim and and Lambeau is one of
those people that old schoolmentality oh, don't give me that
crap about that, because it'sjust mumbo, mumbo shit.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
Well, the thing about you know mental health, you
know, especially 25 years ago,was it wasn't something that
that you talked about.
I'm sure you know a lot ofpeople you know, especially in
the Midwest, where we're, whereI'm from well, we're all from.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
I mean we're all yeah yeah is.
Speaker 1 (53:29):
You know.
It just wasn't something thatthat is talked about, right.
I mean it's more accepted thesedays.
That it's not a weakness, it'snot something that that you hide
from.
You know it's.
You break your leg, you go tothe hospital, you know it's
something that that you needhelp to fix.
(53:52):
And yeah, the way that and thething about it is, it's got to
be so infinitely much harder togo ahead and and and do because
it's not a one size fits all.
It's not a broken leg to whereyou can go in and get an x-ray,
and they know exactly what to dowith this broken leg that
they've probably seen hundredsof times before.
(54:13):
The doctors or team.
They know how to fix that.
You know, and that's why youknow this film.
Here Sean's character had tofigure it out.
It's not a one size fits all.
Every time somebody comes inand you know they're, they're
depressed, they've got anxietyor whatever it is, you know, and
so that's why it's such a greatscene with the one where he
(54:35):
comes in and they just sit anddon't say anything for an hour.
Speaker 3 (54:40):
He had to be more stubborn than he was.
Speaker 1 (54:42):
Yeah, he had to go ahead and find it, you know, and
when they talked to youmentioned it, or about the
painting, you know.
And then the next time he comesin after he puts him up against
a wall, you know, loses it onhim, you know.
He comes back the next time andtalks to him about how he
ripped his life apart.
So there you have it, the endof this episode, part one of our
(55:08):
discussion on good will hunting.
I hope you enjoyed it.
One thing that I know you willenjoy is if you enter the
contest.
That's right, we did not have awinner.
You guys are a little shy onleaving reviews, so again, t
shirt goes to the winner pickedat random.
All you have to do isscreenshot a picture of a review
(55:28):
that you leave on whateverplatform you listen on.
Send that screenshot to thiswon't teach.
At gmailcom, you can also followus at Twitter or X at this
won't teach.
Instagram at this underscorewon't underscore, teach,
underscore, you underscoreanything.
And Facebook at this, won'tteach.
(55:49):
Again, I really appreciateeveryone listening.
Your support means the world tome.
And a little surprise here thatwe're going to be instituting
is a YouTube channel, and assoon as I have that channel set
in stone and ready to go.
We'll be posting little videoshere and there on pop movie
(56:10):
reviews and just little thingshere and there that are too hard
to do on a podcast and reallyneed a visual aspect.
So I will be posting the infoabout how to reach us on YouTube
, but for now we'll see you nexttime on.
This won't teach you anything.
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