6 Things About "Good Will Hunting" That You Can't Just Read In A Book

By now, if you haven't seen this incredibly witty and emotional classic film you've either been living under a rock, or are too much of a genius to have ever left the library. But either way, don't worry. It's not your fault.

The character drama about a boy genius who is making his way through life in Boston has had an unbelievably strong pull on audiences for the past three decades.

Whether it was because of the lovable debut of screenwriters Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the gripping performance by Robin Williams, or the narrative around a prodigy who has become disillusioned in a world run by institutions that don't have a place for him.

Here are 6 things about the movie hardly anyone knows about that are gonna make yah wicked smart!

"Say I'm Working At The N.S.A."

The first version of the script involved a genius kid who outsmarts the government. When it was finally picked up by the producers at Castle Rock, they said that they should decide if they want a story about a whiz who doesn't want to work for clandestine organizations, or a drama between the same character and his therapist. They made the right call.

"Are We Gonna Have A Problem Here?"

Even though Castle Rock loved the script they had bought, they didn't want the young writers to direct it themselves. They threatened to sell it, so Affleck reached out to his director friend, Kevin Smith, who got it into the hands of Miramax. The rest as they say is history. That's gonna last until next year...

"It's all right. You've never been out of Boston"

When Robin Williams signed onto the movie, he asked Damon and Affleck to take him on a tour in their side of Boston. They took him to a bar where he was mobbed by fans, and Affleck nearly got into a fight. They apologized, but Williams said they absolutely needed to use the location in the film for it's gritty realism.

"That's Not A Threat, That's A Fact"

The director actually wanted to kill off Affleck's character. Specifically, he said "I want Chuckie to get flattened on a construction site...cruched like a bug." It was meant to be one of the catalysts to set up the end of the movie. The friends hated the idea, but wrote it in. The director read it and immediately changed his mind.

"How Do You Like Them Apples?"

Damon and Affleck actually really wanted Will to die at the end. They thought it would add a nice finish to a tragedy, and that it would suit the main characters subconscious desire to die anyways.

"It's A Defense Mechanism"

So...Will's hair... Yes, Damon does know how bad it looks now, but that wasn't always the case.

"That is so my fault. For whatever reason at that age, I loved that haircut. Gus was like, ‘Really?’ Ben was like, ‘Really?’ If you look at Ben’s hair in that movie, it’s totally acceptable by today’s standards, but no, I wanted the frosted f*****’ hair," he said. "I don’t know what my problem was. I looked like I should be singing backup for Color Me Badd."

Share if you learned something new about your favorite movie!