The finished version of Good Will Hunting wasn’t noted for its hot gay sex scenes, but that doesn’t mean they never existed! Indeed according to producer Harvey Weinstein, Matt Damon & Ben Affleck included one just to see who was paying attention.
While appearing on The Graham Norton Show, Weinstein told the host (via Mental Floss), “Everyone in Hollywood wanted Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and the film. In the meeting with them, I said ‘I only have one really big note on the script. About page 60, the two leads, both straight men, have a sex scene. What the hell is that?'”
It turns out though that it was included as a deliberate ploy, as the actors/writers told him, “That’s the scene we wrote to see if guys like you read the script, because every studio executive we went to hadn’t read it. You’re the only guy who brought it up, so you get the movie”.
Without any gay sex, the script went on to win Damon and Affleck the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, while the movie itself became a major hit, grossing over $200 million.
However I’m now kind of wishing I was a Hollywood executive, as I’d have told them I’d have made the movie, but only if they kept that scene in. Sure it wouldn’t have made any sense, but who the hell cares?
And just as an aside, isn’t it slightly disturbing how young Damon and Affleck look in the pic above?
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