Matt Damon says Netflix is pushing filmmakers to rethink how stories are told—less for darkened theatres, more for living rooms where attention is split between screens.
Speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience with Ben Affleck to promote their new Netflix film “The Rip”, Damon contrasted the discipline of cinema with the chaos of home viewing. In theatres, he said, audiences commit to a shared ritual. “I went to see “One Battle After Another” on IMAX — there’s nothing like that feeling,” Damon told Rogan. “You’re in with you know a bunch of strangers, but people in your community and you’re having this experience together… It doesn’t wait for you.”
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At home, the rules change. “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,” he said. “It’s just a very different level of attention that you’re willing, or that you’re able to give to it.”
That shift, Damon argued, is now shaping how Netflix wants films made. He described the traditional action-film model: three major set pieces—one in each act, with the biggest saved for the finale. But Netflix, he said, is pushing for spectacle up front.
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“Now, [Netflix is] like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes?’ We want people to stay tuned in,” Damon said. Then he added the line that drew the loudest reaction: “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 laughing, Damon turned serious. “It’s going to really start to infringe on how we’re telling these stories.”
Affleck partly agreed but pointed to exceptions. “But then you look at Adolescence and it didn’t do any of that shit and it was fucking great,” he said.
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Damon called such cases rare. “It feels more like the exception,” he said, adding, “I hope it’s not.”
Affleck argued that strong storytelling still cuts through distraction. “My feeling is just that it demonstrates that you don’t need to do any of that shit to get people [to watch],” he said.
He also pushed back on the idea that streaming is killing cinema. “Things shift,” Affleck said. When television arrived, theater attendance dropped, yet movies survived. People will still go out, he argued, because cinema is an event. “‘I’m going to go see ‘The Odyssey’.’ I guarantee you in a theatre, no matter what.”
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Their comments come as they promote “The Rip”, a Netflix film they star in and produce through their company Artists Equity. The project is also notable for how it was financed. Damon and Affleck persuaded Netflix to agree to performance-based bonuses for the crew if the film does well—breaking from the platform’s usual model of paying flat fees up front.
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That deal reflects a wider tension in streaming: massive reach, but limited transparency about success. While Netflix rarely releases detailed viewing data, creators increasingly want rewards tied to impact, not just contracts.
Damon’s concern, though, goes beyond money. He is worried about craft. Repeating plot points “three or four times” may help distracted viewers, but it risks flattening dialogue and weakening subtlety.
