Matt Damon claims Netflix wants movies to repeat plots in scenes because 'people are on their phones'
Actor Matt Damon claimed that Netflix requests that its films reiterate the plot "three or four times" in scenes to accommodate viewers on their phones.
Damon and his longtime friend and fellow actor Ben Affleck joined the "Joe Rogan Experience" on Friday to promote their new film "The Rip," which premiered on Netflix that same day.
While discussing the film, Damon remarked on how viewers have a "very different level of attention" to Netflix movies they can watch at home compared to other films released in theaters. He added that Netflix has begun changing the filmmaking process to appease these distracted viewers.
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"The standard way to make an action movie that we learned was, you usually have three set pieces," Damon said. "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. And now they’re like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay. 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.’"
"It's really going to start to infringe on how we're telling the story," he added.
Affleck remarked that the Netflix crime drama series "Adolescence" didn't make these kinds of changes and went on to become a success on the streaming service, though Damon called it the "exception" rather than the rule.
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"My feeling is just that it demonstrates that you don't need to do any of that s--- to get people, you know what I mean?" Affleck said.
Affleck was also less concerned about the threat of streaming services to the filmmaking process and emphasized that streaming was not an "existential threat" to the movie theater experience.
"It's like supply and demand. People want to look at their phone. They can look at TikTok...they're going to do that. I think what you can do is make s--- the best you can. Make it really good, and you know people can still go to the movies," Affleck said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Netflix for comment.
During the podcast, both Damon and Affleck also called out cancel culture, claiming that it has been taken to an extreme level.
"I bet some of those people would have preferred to go to jail for 18 months or whatever and then come out and say, ‘No, but I paid my debt. Like, we're done. Like, can we be done?’" Damon said about those who have been canceled. "Like, the thing about getting kind of excoriated publicly like that, it just never ends."
Affleck said, "And to take any forgiveness out of it is a really f--ed up thing, because then it makes it impossible to actually go, ‘All right, yeah, I did that... That was wrong. I get it,’ You know, because it doesn't matter. Once you've said you've done it, you become like an outcast."