20th Century Studios has released the first trailer and poster for The Last Duel, which hails from director Ridley Scott and stars Jodie Comer, Adam Driver, and Matt Damon in a tale of betrayal and vengeance set against the backdrop of 14th-century France. The film opens nationwide in theaters on October 15 and is based on the true story of France’s last sanctioned duel.
The historical epic follows the story of Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris, two friends who ultimately become bitter rivals after Carrouges’ wife, Marguerite, is attacked by Le Gris; when she accuses Le Gris in public, Carrouges steps forward to defend his wife’s honor against his friend via trial by combat, a fight that will only be resolved in death.
Damon stars as Jean de Carrouges, with Driver playing the role of Jacques Le Gris and Comer as Marguerite de Carrouges. The Last Duel also stars Ben Affleck as Count Pierre d’Alençon. The screenplay for the film hails from Nicole Holofcener & Affleck & Damon and is based on the book The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager. The film is produced by Scott, Kevin J. Walsh, Jennifer Fox, Holofcener, Damon, and Affleck with Kevin Halloran, Drew Vinton, and Madison Ainley serving as executive producers.
This film is an effort to retell the story of a heroic woman from history whom most people haven’t heard of. We admired her bravery and resolute determination and felt this was both a story that needed to be told and one whose drama would captivate audiences the way it moved us as creative individuals.
As we further explored the story, so many aspects of the formal, codified patriarchy of 14th century Western Europe remain present in vestigial ways (and in some cases almost unchanged) in today’s society,” said Holofcener, Affleck, and Damon in a provided statement. “We chose to use the device of telling the story from several character’s perspectives in order to examine the immutable fact that although often multiple people who experience the same event come away with differing accounts, there can only be one truth.
The Last Duel is currently slated for an October 15 theatrical release.