Matt Damon is a big star these days. Take one look at what The Odyssey is doing to the box office. But back in the 1990s, the future A-lister hadn't penned his drama Good Will Hunting. So it's a little bit of a head-scratcher that he would turn down work on an iconic western.
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In 1993, Damon appeared alongside Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall in Geronimo: An American Legend. He got the opportunity for a much larger role with Hackman in the western film The Quick and the Dead in 1995. But shockingly, the actor turned down the role.
And it has everything to do with Duvall. Damon walked away from an estimated $250,000 payday to star in a supporting role in the western. Author Adam Woog explains that Damon said, "I want the kind of career Robert Duvall has. I don't feel [that] chasing movies like this is going to lead to a 40-year career. I'd rather be broke."
To put this in perspective, a young Leonardo DiCaprio ultimately accepted the role and appeared in the Western. The film didn't exactly light up the box office, but it did go on to become a cult classic and would have given Damon a much needed boost at that stage in his career.
Matt Damon and a Western
Instead, Damon appeared in the western called The Good Old Boys, which few remember these days. Damon was adament about the kinds of movies he wanted to star in.
He previously explained, "You know what I did last night? I watched Bullitt. Robert Duvall drives a cab in that movie, and he has, like, four lines, but he was totally believable, and he was really good, and at the end of the day, he was in Bullitt. He's in all these great movies because he doesn't do this kind of thing."
Meanwhile, agent Patrick Whitesell reflected on the film and Damon's role.
"This was a movie that, on its surface, everybody wanted," said Whitesell. "Sharon Stone — great actress but a female gunslinger? You're not going to believe the movie."
Since then, Damon's attitude has cooled a bit. He admitted that he was "probably too cocky for my own good."
