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Why Kevin Smith Turned Down Chance to Direct Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Good Will Hunting

Kevin Smith tells PEOPLE why he turned down an opportunity to direct Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's 1997 Oscar-winning drama 'Good Will Hunting.' The trio collaborated on 1999's 'Dogma.'

Kevin Smith helped Ben Affleck and Matt Damon get their 1997 breakout Good Will Hunting to the big screen, but the filmmaker tells PEOPLE he turned down an opportunity to direct it"I was like, 'Oh my God, no. As Smith recalls, "Twenty of the top directors on the planet were interested in directing" Good Will Hunting, including Michael Mann and Mel Gibson. The filmmaker had given Affleck the scripts for Dogma and Chasing Amy at the same time years earlier but warned Affleck that producing Dogma would require "movie stars" in order to secure the larger budget required to make it.

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