The other day the venerable Cole Abaius reported on a rumor that Matt Damon was no longer going to be making his directorial debut on an upcoming project about a sales executive who has his life changed when he travels to a small town. The reason Damon was backing off the project was said to be “script issues,” but this sounded absurd because Damon is a co-writer on the film and he still intends on starring in it. So how could he possibly have issues with the script that would preclude him from directing?
Deadline Scranton has some more information about the conflict. It turns out the real reason Damon is stepping back from directing the film is because his busy schedule just isn’t going to allow him to get the job done right. So what is one to do when you’re this far along on a project that you can no longer direct? If you’re Matt Damon you just call up your old buddy Gus Van Sant. If you recall, Van Sant was the director of Good Will Hunting, the first film that Damon co-wrote and the one he got an Oscar for.
Apparently Van Sant was the first director Damon and his co-writer John Krasinski took the script to, and he has already agreed to come on board; so that problem is taken care of. But Damon is going to have to wait for another day if he wants to add the title of director to his resume. Somewhere Ben Affleck must be laughing maniacally.