Word: coppolas
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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That may have been Damon's last lick of anonymity before he headed into the red-hot center of American celebrity, going from being a guy to being the Guy. Damon has begun a run of major Hollywood star turns, starting with Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker, following with the December release of Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting (from a script Damon co-wrote) and continuing next June with Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan...
...Actors like Matt are in as good a position as they've ever been," observes Coppola, who chose Damon over fellow finalist Edward Norton for the lead in the new John Grisham star vehicle. "They've become the trademarks of the movies, not the directors. There's barely a movie that can be made without Cage or Ford or Pitt. Now they determine what movies get made." As for Damon's qualifications for joining the short list, Coppola says, "Matt has got the gift--and he's a writer in his own right. That gives him something special." That plus...
...Rainmaker, cleverly adapted by Francis Ford Coppola from a John Grisham novel, is honest, commercial fun, and Good Will Hunting, which is written by Damon and his co-star (and old buddy) Ben Affleck, is finally dishonest, but in ways that will delude the impressionable into thinking it's saying something important...
Meantime, however, a couple of cheers for Coppola, who satisfies at least one ruling critical principle: any movie that offers successful employment to Mickey Rourke and Teresa Wright cannot be all bad. He's the only shyster in town who's willing to take a chance on young Rudy; she's his landlady who is nowhere near as ditsy as she looks. And like the rest of a constantly bestartling supporting cast, led by Jon Voight and Danny DeVito as deliciously disparate masters of legal sleaze, they're terrific. Another good rule is not to take Grisham novels as seriously...
...PLAYERS] Matt Damon, Claire Danes; director Francis Coppola...