Gus Van Sant has one of the more interesting filmmaking careers in modern Hollywood. From his breakout film, “Drugstore Cowboy,” he would go on to direct some of the most beloved films (“Good Will Hunting,” “Milk”) to some of the most polarizing (“Elephant,” “Psycho” remake). Basically, you can’t really pin him down as an artist. He’s constantly surprising. So, it makes sense when you hear some of his stories from earlier in his career, from being asked to direct “G.I. Joe” to passing on a young Matt Damon before “Good Will Hunting.”
Speaking to THR, Gus Van Sant, who directed the FX series, “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans,” talked about his career, sharing some stories from the past. One of those stories is what was mentioned above—turning down “G.I. Joe.” This happened well before the live-action film from 2009 ever got off the ground. Apparently, Van Sant was approached as a wait to bait in some stars into what would have been a silly action film.
“After ‘Drugstore Cowboy,’ which was my first really visible film, I started getting these offers from studios because the movie included Matt Dillon in a role that he hadn’t done before,” explained the filmmaker. “They were trying to make ‘G.I. Joe’ in, like, 1990. At the time, it was a quote-unquote action movie, so the directors would get paid 10 times as much. They had a script, and they wanted me to direct. But it wasn’t that they desired me so much as they wanted me to lure actors like Matt into these movies. They needed big actors, but the actors didn’t want to be in kooky action movies. They’re still kooky, but they’ll do them now because there are no other choices.”
After the success of “Drugstore Cowboy,” Van Sant would go on to helm “My Own Private Idaho.” That film would then lead into the biggest film of his career, up to that point, “To Die For.” And while he was searching for the cast to lead his new film, he first ran into Matt Damon, who was vying for a role that would eventually go to Joaquin Phoenix. But it was that chance encounter that would perhaps lead to Van Sant and Damon collaborating on “Good Will Hunting.”
“When I first met Matt Damon, it wasn’t for ‘Good Will Hunting,’ it was for ‘To Die For,’” said Van Sant. “He tried out for Jimmy, who was supposed to be 16. Matt was maybe 24 and really trying to get the role, but he was too all-American — too well-adjusted to believe Nicole’s character could seduce him as a way to kill her husband. But after his first read, [the late producer] Laura Ziskin turned to me after he was gone and said, ‘That’s a movie star.’ I was like, ‘Really?’ (Laughs.) I can’t call things like that.”
It’s funny to see Van Sant readily admit to not really believing that Matt Damon would be a major star. Often, we hear these types of stories from filmmakers who would meet an A-lister before they got famous and say, “Oh yeah, I knew it from the moment I saw them…” But Van Sant doesn’t hide the fact that he didn’t recognize that potential when he met Damon for “To Die For.”
Clearly, it all worked out in the end. Damon and Van Sant would work on “Good Will Hunting,” which would lead to the filmmaker earning his first Best Director Oscar nomination. But perhaps in some alternate reality, who knows? Maybe Damon starred in “To Die For” and would go on to have a completely different career.
