Matt Damon Makes Alarming Claim About Working With Netflix On New Film The Rip
It’s been rumoured for a number of years that Netflix encourages creators of its original series and movies to include exposition as much as possible so that viewers watching along while scrolling social media can follow the plot, in a process that’s come to be known as “second screening”.
And during a recent interview, Matt Damon – who co-produced and co-stars in the popular new Netflix original The Rip alongside his frequent collaborator Ben Affleck – appeared to confirm this to be the case.
Speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience (really, Matt?!), the Oscar winner reflected on how the film industry has changed over the years, explaining: “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… You spend most of your money on that one in the third act. That’s your finale.”
Matt continued: “Now they’re 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?’.”
HuffPost UK has contacted Netflix for comment.
Later in the interview, Matt’s co-star Ben went on to praise the Netflix series Adolescence for making a critically and commercially success show on the platform without bending to these sorts of pressures.
“[Adolescence] demonstrates that you don’t need to do any of that shit,” Matt agreed.
The Rip premiered on Netflix last week and, at the time of writing, is the number one film on the platform’s most-watched right now chart.
As well as Matt and Ben, the action film features appearances from Oscar nominee Steven Yeun and recent Golden Globe winner Teyana Taylor.
Listen to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s interview on The Joe Rogan Experience (if you absolutely must) here.