Matt Damon criticises Netflix viewing habits while promoting The Rip

Matt Damon, whose $100m cop thriller The Rip is currently the most-watched film on Netflix, used an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience to criticise how the streaming service affects how audiences watch and how films are made. Damon contrasted theatrical screenings with home viewing, saying an IMAX screening is 'more like going to church – you show up at an appointed time.

It doesn’t wait for you.' He told Rogan that making films for Netflix requires resigning yourself to distracted viewers — lights on, watching in chunks, children interrupting — and that the streamer asks filmmakers to 'dumb things down a little', put a big action set piece early and 'reiterate the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching.' The Guardian column presented three takes on Damon’s comments: that the streaming era often slows and repeats exposition (citing the last season of Stranger Things as an example), that Netflix’s vast viewing data may explain its guidance to filmmakers, and that exceptions are sometimes made for titles thought to have awards prospects, such as Frankenstein or Train Dreams.

The piece also noted Damon is due to star in Christopher Nolan’s theatrical-first film The Odyssey and suggested that position gives him room to criticise Netflix.

Key Topics

Culture, Matt Damon, Netflix, The Rip, Joe Rogan Experience, The Odyssey