Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are reuniting on the screen. The long-time friends and frequent collaborators are set to star in Netflix’s upcoming thriller movie RIP, from writer and director Joe Carnahan, the streamer announced on Tuesday, July 2.
Produced by Artists Equity, the artist-led studio that Damon and Affleck founded in 2022, per Netflix’s Tudum, details of RIP are currently being kept under wraps. At this time, Affleck and Damon’s roles in the movie are unknown, but Deadline reported that after first reading the script and being “blown away,” Damon “quickly got it into the hands of Affleck. Once both Oscar winners were on board, the package hit the market.” Plot details haven’t yet been released, and further Further casting announcements also haven’t yet been made. There currently isn’t a premiere date for RIP, which is being described by the streamer as “a new thriller.”
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The project will mark Affleck and Damon’s latest collaboration. The two stars have been friends since their pre-Hollywood days, first meeting as neighbors in Cambridge, Massachusetts while Affleck was 8 and Damon was 10, and quickly becoming friends. Reflecting on their friendship and those early years together in a November 2019 interview on Conan, Damon recalled how Affleck came to his rescue in a schoolyard fight, sharing, “”I remember that was like a big moment. He will put himself in a really bad spot for me. This is a good friend.”
Affleck and Damon not only grew up together, but began their Hollywood careers together. In an interview with Parade, Affleck recalled their early acting days, telling the outlet, “Before Matt, I was by myself. Acting was a solo activity where I’d just go off and do something, act in a little TV show or something, and no one understood it… All of a sudden I had this friend, Matt, and he gets it and wants to do it and thinks it’s interesting and wants to talk about it. Soon both of us are doing it.” He said that when he was 14 and Damon was 16, they started traveling to New York City to audition together.
As they soon found success in their respective acting careers, Affleck and Damon not only maintained their friendship, but also began collaborating together. They first paired up for 1997’s Good Will Hunting, which earned them both Oscars for best original screenplay. They also starred in the film, later co-starring in the 1999 film Dogma. They most recently shared the screen in Ridley Scott’s 2021 historical drama The Last Duel alongside Jodie Comer and Adam Driver and collaborated together on 2023’s sports drama Air, which was released under Artists Equity, the company they launched together in 2022.
News of their starring roles in Netflix’s RIP comes after it was reported that the pair were set to co-star in another thriller at Netflix, Animals. That film was reportedly put on pause earlier this year due to scheduling conflicts with Affleck’s The Accountant 2.
