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Curated playlist

Film producers from Massachusetts

  • Matt DamonMatt Damon once turned down 10 percent of the profits from Avatar, a film that went on to become the most successful of all time. Director James Cameron made the offer while Damon was still working on the Bourne films, and Damon did not…
  • Kevin FeigeUSC film school rejected Kevin Feige five times. He applied a sixth time and got in.
  • Edward NortonEdward Norton had barely become a name in American film when he made a blunt prediction about his own life. His career was taking off in the late 1990s. He announced, "If I ever have to stop taking the subway, I'm gonna have a heart…
  • Ben AffleckBen Affleck directed Argo, and for it he collected the Golden Globe, the Directors Guild Award and the BAFTA for Best Director without ever being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. No director had done that before him. The…
  • Geena DavisIn July 1999, Geena Davis was one of 300 women competing for a semifinal place with the United States Olympic archery team. By then she was an established film star, yet she stood in line with hundreds of rivals, aiming for the Sydney 2000…
  • Mark WahlbergMark Wahlberg was 13 years old when he became an original member of a boy band, and he quit after only a few months. The group carried on without him and became famous. Wahlberg took a very different road. He first became known as a rapper…
  • John KrasinskiJohn Krasinski hosted a livestreamed prom on the 17th of April 2020. It was meant for high schoolers whose real proms had been cancelled, and 210,000 viewers tuned in. Live performances came from Billie Eilish, Finneas, the Jonas Brothers…
  • Steve CarellSteve Carell once quit a job delivering mail in Littleton, Massachusetts, after only seven months. His boss had told him he was not very good at the work and needed to be faster. Later, Life recognized him as "America's Funniest Man." The…
  • Donnie WahlbergDonnie Wahlberg began his working life in the foreign-exchange office of a bank, hardly the usual first stop for a future pop star. Born in Boston, he went on to become a singer, a screen actor, a producer and a television host. His career…
  • George NolfiGeorge Nolfi quit a political science PhD after a three-studio bidding war over his script.

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