While promoting his new Netflix crime thriller The Rip, Matt Damon opened up about the challenges that the Hollywood industry faces in this new age of streaming.
In a Friday appearance alongside his costar and frequent collaborator Ben Affleck on the Joe Rogan Experience, Damon pointed out the contrast of watching films in the theater rather than at home, saying,
I went to see One Battle After Another on IMAX- there’s nothing like that feeling. You’re in with you know a bunch of strangers, but people in your community, and you’re having this experience together. I always say it’s more like going to church-you show up at an appointed time. It doesn’t wait for you. Watching it at home is a very different experience. You’re watching in a room, the lights are on, other shit’s going on…It’s just a very different level of attention that you’re willing, or that you’re able to give to it.
Damon then segwayed into how this shift to at-home streaming is affecting the creative process behind features, explaining,
Netflix, the standard way to make an action movie, that we learned, was that you usually have three set pieces. One in the first act, one in the second, one in the third, and the big one with all the explosions, and you spend most of your money on that one in the third act. That’s your kind of finale. Now, [Netflix is] like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes?’ We want people to stay tuned in. 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.
After sharing a bemused laugh with Rogan, Damon predicts that this new process is really going to “start to infringe on how we’re telling these stories.” Affleck then brought up how the Netflix Emmy-winning television series Adolescence “didn’t do any of that shit, and it was fucking great,” and while Damon agreed with that statement, he added, “It feels more like the exception. I hope it’s not.” Affleck explains that he doesn’t believe that streaming poses an “existential threat,” and reasons that “things” in this industry can “shift”, adding
As television came along, there was less theater-going, and that’s still going to happen. And people are still going to go to the movies because of what you said. It feels like a cool thing to do. ‘I’m going to go see The Odyssey. I guarantee you in a theater, no matter what.
While Affleck’s words could be true, Damon is right that streaming has changed how we create and consume media. ScreenRant stated in their own article surrounding the topic that writers “are no longer creating stories for fixed time slots or single theatrical releases,” rather “building narratives meant to be consumed continuously,” or to binge. And Damon’s concerning comments about how Netflix is producing its content with two of Hollywood’s best stars, it feels as though Adolescence is becoming the exception.
Fortunately, The Rip does not seem to have an issue connecting with its audience using narrative depth, as the film currently holds a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes’ Popcornmeter. The Rip is now available to stream on Netflix.
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