The following year, Francis Ford Coppola cast Damon as the lead in his film adaptation of John Grisham’s best-selling novel The Rainmaker (1997), costarring Danny DeVito and Claire Danes. After the news that Damon snagged the high-profile role broke, he and Affleck were finally able to close the deal on the sale of their screenplay, Good Will Hunting. Originally conceived by Damon during a playwriting class at Harvard, the script had attracted offers from several interested studios, which Damon and Affleck had turned down, insisting that they be allowed to star. With advice from such luminaries as Rob Reiner and William Goldman, Damon and Affleck revised their script and subsequently sold the rights to Miramax.

With Damon in the lead, and Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Robin Williams in crucial supporting roles, Good Will Hunting became a sleeper hit in 1997, scoring nine Oscar nominations, including nods for Best Actor (Damon), Best Supporting Actor (Williams), Best Supporting Actress (Driver), Best Director (Gus Van Sant), and Best Picture. While Damon lost out to Jack Nicholson in the acting category, he and Affleck took home the award for Best Original Screenplay, an achievement that kicked both their careers into high gear.

In 1998, Damon played the title role in Steven Spielberg’s World War II epic Saving Private Ryan, one of the most acclaimed films of the year. As the stubborn young Ryan, Damon held his own opposite the movie’s star, Tom Hanks, who played the leader of a small group of men sent to find Ryan and send him home for the sake of his mother after all four of his brothers are killed. That same year, he starred as an earnest law student and reformed poker player in Rounders, also featuring Edward Norton and John Malkovich.

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