It’s hard to believe that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were in their mid-20s when Good Will Hunting opened in theaters on Dec. 5, 1997.
The aspiring writers and actors would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (along with a Golden Globe Award for the same category) the following year, forever changing their professional and personal lives.
15 years later, Will and Chuckie — Damon and Affleck — have multi-million dollar careers, families and box office hits under their belts.
Affleck, now 42, took a stab at directing for a third time in the thriller Argo. Damon, now 40, returned to the movies as a screenwriter in the new film Promised Land, reuniting him with Good Will Hunting director Gus Van Sant.
But the lifelong friends aren’t the only ones who’ve enjoyed strong careers since the release of the little movie that could.
Minnie Driver, who played the lovely Skylar in the 1997 film, has continued to receive critical acclaim for such works as The Phantom of the Opera, Barney’s Version and the FX series The Riches.
Perhaps the youngest of the original Good Will Hunting crew, Affleck’s brother Casey has since starred in a long list of big screen releases, including the Oceans Eleven franchise, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Gone Baby Gone.
Like his brother, Affleck stepped behind the camera in 2010 with the Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary I’m Still Here.
Check out the gallery above for a closer look at the stars of ‘Good Will Hunting,’ then and now. Do you have a favorite line or scene from the 1997 film? Share your thoughts below.
