Everyone’s noticing how the industry is shifting — including major A-Listers like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who recently opened up about the fact that Netflix wants to change how films are being made.
During a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast promoting their new Netflix film The Rip, Damon revealed that the streamer wants to make it so that action set pieces in films occur during the beginning section of the runtime because audiences give a “very different level of attention” to movies at home versus in theaters.
“The standard way to make an action movie that we learned was, you usually have three set pieces. One in the first act, one in the second, one in the third,” Damon explained on the podcast. “You spend most of your money on that one in the third act. That’s your finale. And now they’re like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay. And it wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching.’”
However, Affleck noted that there are still successful projects that don’t adhere to those new rules, projects like the acclaimed miniseries Adolescence, which consists of episodes shot in one continuous take.
“But then you look at Adolescence, and it didn’t do any of that shit,” Affleck said during the appearance. “And it’s f—king great. And it’s dark too. It’s tragic and intense. [It’s about] this guy who finds out his kid is accused of murder. There are long shots of the back of their heads. They get in the car, nobody says anything.”
Damon called this kind of project the “exception” to Netflix’s new way of thinking, while Affleck affirmed that the success of the show “demonstrates you don’t have to do” what Netflix wants in order to draw audiences in and keep them there. Many films prove this theory right every day, and ultimately, it comes down to having a well-crafted, unforgettable story at the center of your project — that’s the only thing that will truly make audiences see the merit in the work, the only foolproof method.
Damon and Affleck’s new film, The Rip, was written and directed by Joe Carnahan and stars Teyana Taylor, Steven Yeun, and Kyle Chandler alongside the Good Will Hunting stars. The movie is now available to stream on Netflix.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
