Why Kevin Smith walked away from Hollywood's iconic film

Kevin Smith, the filmmaker behind cult favorites like Clerks and Mallrats, revealed why he turned down the chance to direct Good Will Hunting. 

Kevin helped get the film made and gave Ben Affleck and Matt Damon their big break, but when it came to directing the movie that made them stars, no one wanted to take the job.

In an interview with PEOPLE, he talked about being asked to direct the Oscar-winning movie: "Oh my God, no. If I were to direct this, I would just turn around to Ben and Matt the whole time and say, ‘Is this what you saw when you wrote it?"

Kevin spoke to People while remembering the 25th anniversary of his 1999 movie Dogma. The film also starred Ben and Matt.

He met them in the mid-90s and helped move their Good Will Hunting script from Castle Rock to Miramax.

Castle Rock wanted to make the movie without Ben and Matt, but Kevin helped stop that plan.

Kevin shared: “The first question that I was asked by Ben and Matt and the Miramax folks was, ‘Do you wanna direct it?’ I think they all asked that with clenched a******* hoping that I would say no.”

However, he suggested the pair be allowed to direct it themselves instead.

“I was told that the lunatics would not be running that particular asylum, so the search for a director began at Miramax,” he continued.

Kevin said that around 20 of the biggest directors in Hollywood were interested in directing the film, including Michael Mann and Mel Gibson.