Matt Damon nearly led ‘Manchester by the Sea‘ both in front of and behind the camera. But just as the emotional drama was about to begin its production, something happened that forced him to walk away from a project he had spent years developing.
The surprising decision didn’t just change the plans of the ‘Good Will Hunting’ actor. It paved the way for an Oscar-winning performance by Casey Affleck in a movie that Rolling Stone described as the “must-see film” of 2016 after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Talking to Reuters in 2016, Matter Damon revealed that ‘Manchester by the Sea’ did not begin with a finished screenplay. It started with an idea Matt Damon and John Krasinski developed together in 2011.
Related: Christopher Nolan Got An Unexpected Surprise At Matt Damon’s First ‘The Odyssey’ Fitting But The Actor Had A Funny Defense
The pair approached Kenneth Lonergan and asked him to craft a story centered on an emotionally damaged handyman living in a working-class Massachusetts town. However, their original plan looked nothing like the finished production.
Krasinski would play Lee Chandler, while Damon prepared to direct his first feature film. Lonergan agreed to write the screenplay, knowing he would eventually hand it over to Damon. But the duo didn’t know that Lonergan’s writing process would move slowly.
It took him nearly three years to complete a draft. By then, the script had grown into something much larger than anyone expected. Damon read it and changed his plans almost immediately. Turns out, he no longer wanted to direct.
He believed Lonergan understood the material better than anyone else and should direct his own screenplay. Damon decided he would play Lee instead, leaving the director’s chair to the man who had written the whole story.
Hollywood Scheduling Changed Matt Damon’s Plans
Independent films rarely move quickly, even after a script is finished. Unsurprisingly, financing, casting, and production all took time, and while those pieces slowly came together, Damon’s calendar filled up.
In Case You Missed It: Matt Damon Makes A Sweet Confession About Best Friend Ben Affleck More Than 40 Years After They First Met
He had committed to Ridley Scott’s ‘The Martian’ before returning to one of his biggest franchises with ‘Jason Bourne.’ Waiting for Damon would have delayed ‘Manchester by the Sea’ by over a year, and there was no guarantee the financing would still be in place when he became available.
So, Damon refused to ask the production to wait for him. He stepped away from the lead role and remained attached as a producer, giving Lonergan the freedom to cast someone else without putting the film on hold. The filmmaker already had another actor in mind.
Years earlier, he had directed both Damon and Casey Affleck in the 2002 London production of his play ‘This Is Our Youth.’ Speaking at the Sundance Festival, Lonergan joked, “Casey and I had stayed in touch—it’s much easier staying in touch with Casey than with Matt.”
Damon Knew Exactly Who Should Replace Him
Damon did not leave the project without offering one piece of advice. According to Lonergan, he believed there was only one actor capable of taking over the role. Lonergan recalled Damon saying, “Casey is the only actor I would give this part to.”
Affleck understood the quiet restraint the role demanded. Lee Chandler spends much of the film trying to suppress overwhelming grief instead of expressing it. The performance depended on silence, small gestures, and emotions that rarely surfaced through dialogue.
Lonergan later admitted he had changed as a director over the years, especially in how he worked with actors. Looking back on his career, he said he regretted not giving performers more freedom earlier on. “If you don’t want your actors to swim,” he said, “you might as well be a novelist.”
That approach gave Affleck room to shape Lee Chandler in his own way. His understated performance became the emotional anchor of the film and earned widespread praise from critics. The Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor followed soon after.
Meanwhile, Damon remained one of the film’s producers and watched the project succeed from behind the scenes. A scheduling conflict changed the casting, yet it also produced one of the defining performances of the decade.
You Might Also Like To Read: The Heartbreaking Family Drama That Overshadowed Tatum O’Neal’s 1974 Oscar Win
