A film duo that certainly needs no introduction has returned to bolster Netflix's slate with "The Rip," the new action film directed by Joe Carnahan, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, inseparable colleagues on set and longtime friends. Few, perhaps, remember that they are largely responsible for the success of "Good Will Hunting": a film they conceived and wrote together when they were still aspiring to become established Hollywood stars and which—in addition to being directed by Gus Van Sant and featuring a memorable performance by Robin Williams—won them the Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1998.

Youthful naiveté and unbridled enthusiasm also gave rise, during the ceremony, to an awkward acceptance speech, which the actors still recall today, long afterward, with evident embarrassment. A guest on the final episode of The Howard Stern Show, Matt broached the subject first, declaring: "The funny thing, actually, is the reason it was a little disorganized is that we never had a conversation among ourselves about what we were going to say. Because, honestly, each of us knew deep down that if we had had that conversation and then we didn't win, fifty years from now we'd be in some bar in Boston saying, 'Can you believe we wrote an Oscar speech? What idiots.' So, when we got on stage, I remember pushing Ben toward the microphone. I said, 'I'm not doing that.'"

And Ben, joining in, continued: "I was thinking: what should I say? So, in a way, I think it would have been smart to think a little about what I would say in front of the whole world. The year before those Oscars, we were watching the ceremony from Somerville, Massachusetts, in a small apartment like everyone else, completely from the outside. So it still felt like we were those people watching the show and then, suddenly, seeing the screen open and walking inside, like in one of those strange dreams."

But beyond personal anecdotes, the promotional campaign for "The Rip" was also an opportunity to address the current state of the film industry. Appearing on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Matt Damon expressed a heartfelt opinion on the devastating impact cancel culture is having on celebrities. Describing it as a phenomenon that shows no end even years later, he argued: "I bet some of those people would have preferred to go to prison for eighteen months or something, and then come out and say, 'I paid my dues. We're done. Can we stop this?' Being so publicly pilloried never ends. And the next thing you know, it's just going to follow you to the grave."

With equal passion, the actor reflected on how streaming platforms have, over time, accustomed users to consuming content differently. Invited to the Joe Rogan Experience, again in the company of Ben Affleck, he said of the cinema experience : "I went to see Battlefield 4 in IMAX, and there's nothing quite like that feeling. You're there with what you know is a group of strangers, but they're people from your community, and you're living this experience together. I always say it's more like going to church: you show up at a specific time. It's not waiting around for you."

And on the differences with streaming services, specifically Netflix, he continued: "For example, Netflix... The standard way to make an action movie, as we discovered, was that they usually have to have three big, mandatory set pieces: the first big one, with all the explosions, and you spend most of your money on that in the third act. That's your finale. Can we have a big scene in the first five minutes? We want people to stay tuned. And wouldn't it be terrible if you repeated the plot three or four times in dialogue because people are on their phones while they're watching. It's really starting to disrupt the way we tell these stories."

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