The Time Ben Stiller Passed On Directing 'Good Will Hunting'

BOSTON —Ben Stiller was looking for a follow-up to his feature-length directorial debut, 1994's "Reality Bites," when the script for "Good Will Hunting" crossed his desk in the mid 1990s.

Nearly 30 years later, he's still wishing he had given it a closer look.

Gus Van Sant eventually signed on to direct the 1997 film, which starred Robin Williams and the two, then-unknown screenwriters, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. In addition to becoming a source of local pride in greater Boston, the film won two Academy Awards, grossed more than $225 million on its $10 million budget and launched the careers of those Affleck and Damon.

"I don't know if those guys even know if it was ever given to me," Stiller said Wednesday during an interview on the Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM Satellite Radio.

During the wide-ranging interview, Stern asked Stiller if he had ever passed on a script as a director or actor that he later regretted.

"I have passed on things and then regretted it, for sure," Stiller said. When Stern pressed for specifics, Stiller confessed he could have directed "Good Will Hunting."

"I got sent it by my agent at the time. The first turn-off was that these two guys who wrote it were attached to it to act in it," Stiller said. "I was like, 'What? Come on. I cast my own projects. I write my own scripts and attach myself to them. Who are these guys?'"

"But Good Will Hunting?" Stern said. "It's one of the greatest movies ever made, right?"

"I haven't seen it in awhile," Stiller deadpanned.

"And then the night of the Academy Awards, you see these two guys up there celebrating," Stern pressed.

"You never know," Stiller conceded.