After the impressive and immediate success of Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck put together “Project Greenlight,” a competition aimed at allowing other “little guys” to strike it big. The first feature film result, Stolen Summer, was put into limited release on this day in 2002. Written and directed by rookie moviemaker Pete Jones, the cast included Aidan Quinn, Bonnie Hunt and Kevin Pollack. But the real stars were the young boys–an Irish-Catholic lad who believes his newfound friend, a terminally-ill rabbi’s son, will not go to heaven until converting to Catholicism. The movie made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2002. Despite high hopes and an inflated budget, Stolen Summer performed poorly in box office sales and never saw a wide theatrical release.
Factoid: The “Project Greenlight” HBO television series documented the trials and tribulations that went on behind the scenes from conception through production of Stolen Summer. It returned for another two seasons with limited success, producing the coming of age tale, The Battle of Shaker Heights, and the stylized horror spectacle Feast.
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