Matt Damon opens up about career setback that led him to write Good Will Hunting

Matt Damon has opened up about the 'impetus' that led to him and Ben Affleck writing the award-winning flick, Good Will Hunting.

Damon, before he was the co-writer of and actor in the Oscar-winning movie, was a largely unknown hopeful in Massachusetts.

He and Affleck at the time didn't have a lot of gigs under their belts, and with that, came some hard times to convince casting directors they were right for major roles.

However, while it appeared to be a setback, it ended up being the push the stars needed to ultimately succeed and become Hollywood legends.

In a conversation with his The Odyssey co-star, Tom Holland, for Complex’s GOAT Talk project, Damon explained that losing a role changed his life.

Matt Damon says he lost out on a role that helped him create Good Will Hunting (Miramax)

That role was the part of Aaron Stampler in Primal Fearm which ultimately went to Edward Norton.

He explained that it made him realize that things wouldn't just come to him, and he had to make his own new path.

“It was actually a real impetus behind us writing Good Will Hunting, because when Ben and I went out for that role, and Edward beat out everybody, and as he should have, he was phenomenal in the movie,” Damon said.

“And [we] looked at each other, and we were like, there’s never gonna be a role that good that comes down into the category of unknown actor, and we all can take a shot at it, but it’s, you know, 10,000 people going for this one thing. So we really buckled down and wrote Good Will Hunting a little more desperately.”

The role in Primal Fear was Norton's break-out role, leading him to win a Golden Globe Award and also be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He lost out to Edward Norton (Paramount Pictures)

In the end, Good Will Hunting was released just one year later in 1997, also starred the likes of the late comedian, Robin Williams, who played Damon's Will Hunting's therapist, Sean Maguire.

It won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and Williams also won an award for Best Supporting Actor.

According to Damon, the experience revealed to him just how he needed to act to ensure his dreams come true.

“It’s very, very hard, as you know, to break in,” he told Holland. “The hardest jobs to get are the first ones you get.”

As for how fans reacted to the news that he and Affleck lost out on the Primal Fear role, there were mixed thoughts.

Some believe Norton getting the part was well-deserved, while others sympathized with the young actors.

A TikTok user wrote under a clip of the interview: " Edward Norton was f******phenomenal in that role."

Another said: " Edward Norton owned that role. I would hesitate watching a remake."

Someone else wrote: " He had his moment in Crowded Room."