Additional Coverage:
- Matt Damon says Netflix wants to make action movies differently to account for shorter attention spans (businessinsider.com)
Netflix’s New Directives Spark Debate Among Hollywood Heavyweights Matt Damon and Ben Affleck
Hollywood heavyweights Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are sounding the alarm on a new trend emerging from streaming giant Netflix, which appears to be adjusting its approach to action filmmaking to cater to modern, often distracted, audiences. The actors recently shared their insights on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, shedding light on the evolving landscape of movie consumption and production in the age of streaming.
According to Damon, Netflix is increasingly pushing for action films to feature major sequences within the first five minutes and even suggesting that actors reiterate plot points in dialogue. This move, Damon explained, is an attempt to keep viewers engaged, particularly those who might be simultaneously using their phones.
“The standard way I learned to make an action film was to have the finale – the big one with all the explosions that a production spends most of its money on – occur in the third act,” Damon stated. “Now, they’re like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes?
We want people to stay tuned in. And you know 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.’
And so then it’s going to really start to infringe on how we’re telling a story.”
While Damon didn’t confirm if these specific instructions were given for their latest Netflix-exclusive heist film, “The Rip,” which they co-starred in and co-produced, the implications for storytelling are clear. A request for comment from Netflix over the weekend went unanswered.
Affleck, however, offered a slightly different perspective, noting that these suggestions aren’t uniformly applied to all Netflix productions. He cited the crime miniseries “Adolescence,” which features episodes shot in a single continuous take, as an example of a show defying these trends. Damon agreed that “Adolescence” appeared to be an exception.
“My feeling is just that it demonstrates that you don’t need to do any of that stuff,” Affleck asserted. He concluded, “It’s like supply and demand.
People want to look at their phones, they look at TikTok, they’re going to do that. I think what you can do is make shit the best you can.
Make it really good.”
The conversation highlights a growing tension in the film industry between traditional storytelling methods and the demands of a rapidly changing media consumption landscape, driven by the pervasive influence of streaming and short-form video platforms.