Simon Rex has claimed that he bombed so hard in his audition for Good Will Hunting that Matt Damon started “laughing” at him.
The American actor, 51, started his career as an MTV video jockey, which apparently got him noticed by director Gus Van Sant.
Unfortunately, the audition he was invited to turned out to be a disaster, as he had never acted before.
“I was reading the lines like a robot because I had never acted before,” Rex told People while attending a special screening of his new movie, Americana, in Hollywood. “And Matt Damon was laughing at me as I’m reading the lines like this.”
Van Sant apparently told him, ‘You’re not ready, but you should go to acting school.’ And now here we are.”
The Independent has contacted Damon’s representative for comment.
After gaining some more experience, Rex went on to star in hit projects such as the Scary Movie franchise, and the sitcom What I Like About You with Amanda Bynes.
In Americana, Rex plays a “Western antiquities dealer”, one of a number of eccentric characters clashing over the possession of a rare Native American artefact.
Scheduled for release on 15 August, the film stars Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, pop singer and actor Halsey, and Sweeney’s Euphoria castmate Eric Dane.
It received glowing reviews after premiering at SXSW Festival back in 2023, with The Hollywood Reporter praising it for “cleverly subverting expectations”.
“While Americana doesn’t particularly reinvent the Western, [director Tony] Tost’s portrayal of characters driven by unfettered greed or justifiable need gives voice to often-ignored segments of society as they strive for agency and respect — an admirable quality in any narrative genre,” the critic said.
Rex – who has also released music as the rapper Dirt Nasty and appeared in music videos by N.E.R.D, Kesha and Halsey – said he and his castmates had grown friendly during the shoot.
He told People that he was unlikely to revive his career as a rapper but still makes music as a hobby: “I just don’t want to be rapping anymore,” he said. “I’m 51 years old. This is what I should be doing.”
