Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman was released in 2022, compiled from the personal diaries of late actor Alan Rickman spanning over 25 years. Rickman passed away in 2016 at the age of 69 due to pancreatic cancer. He is best remembered for his iconic roles, including Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series and Hans Gruber in Die Hard.

Alan Rickman’s personal diaries were released as a book posthumously

According to the Love Actually actor’s wife, Rima Horton, the diaries provided insights into the real Alan Rickman. The diaries delve deep into his humor sense, unfiltered opinions, sharp observations, and passion for the arts. However, some of his opinions turned out to be rather unpopular.

Alan Rickman Was Not Impressed By This Oscar-Winning Movie

Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Robin Williams after their Oscar wins for Good Will Hunting

The publishers of Alan Rickman’s book highlighted its selling point as the unpopular personal opinions shared by the actor, which are sure to spark conversations among readers. Rickman had written down personal notes about some of the famous movies he watched. The opinions certainly caught the reader’s eye, especially the one where the Sense and Sensibility actor shared that he was not a fan of an Oscar-winning movie.

Good Will Hunting, released in 1997, was penned by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who both won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the movie. The movie also featured Robin Williams in an iconic role as a therapist, and he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the movie. While Rickman was impressed with both Damon and Williams, he couldn’t quite grasp what all the fuss surrounding the movie was about. The Gambit actor wrote in his diary (via The Guardian):

“Ultimately a bit of a let down. Matt Damon is a really fine actor, however. But the film feels as if it is looking for a sense of purpose, or that it has too many. And Robin Williams is too sweet from the word go.”

It is interesting to note that Alan Rickman later appeared in a film alongside both Affleck and Damon in the 1999 Kevin Smith film, Dogma. It appears that Good Will Hunting simply did not work for the Alice in Wonderland actor’s taste.

Did The Movie Have Too Many Sense Of Purposes As Alan Rickman Said?

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting

One of the major criticisms Alan Rickman directed at the movie was its surplus sense of purposes. The movie revolves around Will Hunting, who must confront the demons of his past to move forward in his life. The film takes its time in exploring Will’s relationship with his mentor figures, Dr. Sean Maguire and Professor Gerald Lambeau, his best friend, Chuckie Sullivan, and his girlfriend Skylar. At times, these relationships also clash with the identity Will seeks to establish for himself.

Ultimately, Alan Rickman’s critique of the film for having “too many purposes” holds some validity. Interestingly, when Matt Damon and Ben Affleck first came up with the story, the film featured more plotlines (Rickman would have hated the film). In addition to Will’s existing arc, the writers also included a thriller arc about the government targetting Will for his exceptionally high IQ. However, their initial production house, Castle Rock, convinced them to drop the thriller aspect.

Despite losing the complicated plots that would have otherwise undermined Will’s story, Rickman still felt that the movie carried too many different purposes. Whether it does or not, the Truly, Madly, Deeply actor definitely had a different radar when it came to analyzing movies.