Matt Damon remembers pal Robin Williams: 'He was a very deep, deep river'

Ten years ago on Sunday, the laughter stopped.

In a beautiful waterfront home in Paradise Cay, California, Robin Williams took his own life, unwilling to contend with the increasingly debilitating impact of Lewy body dementia. He was 63.

It was impossible to experience Williams − a kinetic dervish who was to comedy what Taylor Swift is to music: uncategorizable − and not have that experience leave a lasting impact. Just ask Matt Damon.

"Robin, wow," Damon says softly when asked about the comedy legend while promoting "The Instigators," his new Apple TV+ heist movie co-starring Casey Affleck and Hong Chau. "He was a very deep, deep river."

Damon met Williams in 1997 while filming "Good Will Hunting." As therapist Sean Maguire, Williams was tasked with breaking down the psychological walls erected by Damon's math savant Will Hunting. Williams' fearless performance won him the 1998 best supporting actor Oscar.

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"So I just realized, here are two movies that are pro-therapy: 'Good Will Hunting' and 'The Instigators,' " says Damon, referring to Chau's therapist character who works against great odds to reach both Damon and Affleck's troubled characters. "Undergirding both movies are positive messages about therapy, which Robin handled so beautifully."

The 'Good Will Hunting' Bench could soon have a statue of Robin Williams

In "Hunting," a memorable scene finds Williams challenging Damon's brash character to dig deeper. The two are sitting on a park bench in the Boston Public Garden. Williams' voice is a whisper but his message lands like a hammer.

"You don't know about real loss," says Williams, talking about his wife who died from cancer. "Because that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much."

The bench turned into an impromptu shrine after Williams' death. Damon says an artist recently reached out to him and pal Ben Affleck, who co-wrote and co-starred in "Hunting." The artist wants to make a bronze statue of Williams and place it on that same bench.

"That call just buckled us," says Damon. "It's such a great idea, to have a statue of him in the middle of this park, where at any time of day or night, if you're feeling alone, you go and you sit with Robin. That's something I know he would have absolutely loved. So if this idea can make its way up the Boston political hierarchy, it will happen."

Robin Williams, the pope and a chance lunch encounter

Damon listens intently as he's told a story about how a year before Williams' death, this reporter had an accidental lunch with the comedian.

Just one patron was seated at the restaurant's sole outdoor table. I asked if it was OK to sit and only after he softly answered, "Sure" did I realize it was Williams. A casual conversation started, mostly about his beloved racing bicycles. Then a detour into an assignment I'd covered: the 2013 papal conclave in Rome that elected Pope Francis.

Suddenly, it happened. The almost hermit-like presence at our table erupted into ... Robin Williams.

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"Pope Francis is from Argentina, can you imagine, though, if the pope was from Brazil, wow, think about that one," Williams says, eyes instantly alight. "I mean, he'd likely have all the nuns up there doing a samba dance with him!"

Damon laughs at the tale. It is the Williams he remembers as well.

"It is surprising how serious and quiet and very shy he was, compared to that expectation he created − the expectation being that he was there to make you laugh," says Damon. "I know I had that expectation of him, the second he first walked into the room. And now, I just can't imagine living under that constant pressure."

Damon looks down for a moment.

"What a completely unique brain he had, the connections he would make," he says. "He's quiet, reserved, and suddenly, yeah, he's doing a bit about the pope and his Brazilian dancers. What can you say?"

If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 any time, day or night, or chat online.

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