Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are discussing how Netflix has changed the way it makes films. The two talked about the contrasts between viewing a movie in theatres and at home, as well as how cell phone-dependent audiences are affecting the filmmaking process, during a Friday interview on the Joe Rogan Experience to promote their new Netflix film, The Rip, in which they both feature and produce.
Remembering a trip he took with his family, Damon remarked, “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.”
According to Damon, watching at home is a whole different experience. “You’re watching in a room, the lights are on, other shit’s going on, the kids are running around, the dogs are running around, whatever it is. It’s just a very different level of attention that you’re willing, or that you’re able to give to it.”
Damon went on to describe how that change is currently influencing the filmmaking process.
“For instance, Netflix — 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 — 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.”
He added, “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.”
“But then you look at Adolescence and it didn’t do any of that shit and it was fucking great,” Affleck continued. Damon concurred but added, “I hope it’s not,” adding, “It feels more like the exception.”
“My feeling is just that it demonstrates that you don’t need to do any of that shit to get people [to watch],” Affleck remarked. Additionally, he stated that “things shift” and that streaming does not represent an “existential threat.” He said, “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.”
