“I just didn’t have the heart to tell her”: Robin Williams’ Story of His Wife Farting in Bed Was Not Matt Damon’s Favorite Line From ‘Good Will Hunting’

Good Will Hunting, which initially started as a College project, became one of the biggest hits of Matt Damon’s career, earning him and his best friend Ben Affleck an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Although thematically, the Robin Williams-led film doesn’t have anything new to offer, as it wasn’t the first Hollywood rags-to-riches story, the heart that was poured into this project results in a fresh experience for fans.

Apart from Damon and Affleck’s incredible writing for the movie, Robin Williams was another factor behind the film’s enormous success, as he delivers some iconic lines in the movie. But unlike most fans, Williams’ joke about his wife’s flatulence isn’t Damon’s favorite from the movie.

Good Will Hunting (1997)

The improvised line from Robin Williams that left everyone giggling

Robin Williams‘ ability to improvise has resulted in many iconic scenes, and one of the biggest examples that showcase the actor’s talent was his performance in Good Will Hunting. And the part where the Jumanji star jokes about his wife’s farting is unanimously loved by fans. Williams said,

“One night it was so loud it woke the dog up. She woke up and was like, ‘Oh, was that you?’ I’d go, ‘Yeah’ – I just didn’t have the heart to tell her,”

Considering it was an adlibbed moment, not only fans and Damon, even the person behind the camera couldn’t hold their laughter. But there is another improvised line from Williams that takes the cake for Matt Damon.

Matt Damon and Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting

The line from Robin Williams that stuck with Matt Damon

The ending scene involves Damon’s Hunting turning down a lucrative job offer to drive to California and rekindle his bond with the woman he loves. Up on receiving Hunting’s letter of refusing the offer, Robin Williams says “Son of a b—-. He stole my line,” which was also an ad-libbed moment, resulting in the perfect end for Damon’s first big release. However, reaching to this point would take them around 60 takes, and fans couldn’t have asked for a better ending. Damon recalled,

“And what was scripted was that he just takes a moment and realizes I’m gone. But in true Robin fashion, we did like 60 takes. We just left the camera rolling… and he did something different every single time. I remember when he said, ‘Son of a bitch, he stole my line,’ I grabbed Gus’s shoulders, and I felt him tense up. We both knew. We were like, ‘holy shit, what a line; how did we not think of that?’”

Robin Williams

To this date, Good Will Hunting remains one of Matt Damon’s best movies to date, and it wouldn’t have reached that point without the late Robin Williams’ incredible performance as Sean Maguire.