Simon Rex opened up about how his Goodwill Hunting failed audition led to a successful career in Hollywood.
Rex, who began his career as a MTV jockey, later became an actor appearing in hit films.
During a conversation with the People magazine while attending a special screening of his new movie, Americana, in California, the 51-year-old, said, “It is funny because I started off as a VJ announcing videos in the ’90s, and that’s why I’m an actor.”
Rex noted that director Gus Van Sant “saw me on MTV and he goes, ‘I want that guy to read for my movie, Good Will Hunting.’”
He added, “So I auditioned for Good Will Hunting and I bombed the audition and he said, ‘You’re not ready, but you should go to acting school.’ And now here we are.”
On asking what went wrong during the audition, he shared that he was “reading the lines like a robot because I had never acted before. And Matt Damon was laughing at me as I’m reading the lines like this.”
After learning and getting more experience, Rex then landed on roles in projects like What I Like About You, the Scary Movie franchise, Red Rocket, Blink Twice and, most recently, Americana, which is set to release on August 15.
Meanwhile, the 1997’s Goodwill Hunting won two Oscars, starring Damon, Robin Williams and Ben Affleck.