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Matt Damon Remembers Robin Williams 20 Years After ‘Good Will Hunting’

Always in his heart. Matt Damon recalled working with his late Good Will Hunting costar Robin Williams in honor of the film’s 20th anniversary while chatting with Ryan Seacrest on the 2017 Golden Globes red carpet. See what he had to say in the video above!

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The 46-year-old actor — who produced the film Manchester by the Sea, nominated this year for Best Motion Picture, Drama — told Seacrest, 42, that he is forever grateful to have worked with Williams on the 1997 movie, which earned Damon and pal Ben Affleck the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay in 1998.

Matt Damon Robin Williams Ben Affleck Good Will Hunting
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck pose with Robin Williams (center) with their Oscars for ‘Good Will Hunting’ at the 70th Annual Academy Awards on March 23, 1998, in Los Angeles.

“Oh, man, [I have] a lot of Robin Williams memories, good memories of him. And Ben said recently, it’s weird, we always felt like we were going to, we had this incredible debt to pay him back,” Damon said. “And we thought there would be time to do that and just the abruptness of somebody leaving like that, that realization comes that you’re never going to be able to pay back this incredible thing done for you.” 

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He continued, “That movie got made because Robin said he wanted to do it. That changed the trajectory of our careers completely, forever.” 

Matt Damon Luciana Barroso Golden Globes
Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso arrive at the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 8, 2017.

As previously reported, Williams committed suicide in August 2014 at the age of 63. In November, the comedian’s widow, Susan Schneider Williams, opened up about the Mrs. Doubtfire star’s struggle with Lewy body dementia. She believes the condition led her husband to take his own life.

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“[Parkinson’s disease] is actually an accurate diagnosis; however, that was the clinical side. The pathology was that he had diffuse Lewy body disease, which is what took him,” she told CBS This Morning’s Charlie Rose. “I can tell you in his autopsy, the coroner’s report was clear that he had Lewy body throughout all of his brain and brain stem — nearly every region.”

Watch Damon speak about Williams in the video above. 

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