The Last Duel, the new Ridley Scott-directed medieval drama about France’s final sanctioned trial by combat, marks Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s first writing collaboration since Good Will Hunting nearly 25 years ago. Writing another screenplay together was a huge feat the best friends thought would never happen again.
“We hadn’t written together mostly because of timing. When we did Good Will Hunting, we really didn’t know what we were doing and it was so time consuming. It took us literally years, and we wrote thousands of pages,” Damon said at The Last Duel’s red carpet premiere in New York on Saturday evening. “We were so inefficient the first time that we were kind of afraid of writing another script, and not sure it would happen again due to time. But I think by just doing movies for 25 years now, we figured out structure, so it turned out to be a really efficient process. And we got the job done with the help from Nicole [Holofcener, their co-screenwriter], who is an incredible writer. She definitely helped streamline the process.”
Holofcener, best known for writing and directing the dramas Friends With Money (starring Jennifer Aniston) and Enough Said (with Julia Louis-Dreyfus), was recruited by Damon and Affleck to help them write about a woman’s sexual assault in a way they never could have done on their own. Adapted from the 2004 book by Eric Jagger, The Last Duel recounts the historical events leading up to a trial by combat between French knight Jean de Carrouges (Damon) and his friend-turned-rival, squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), after Carrouges’s wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer), accuses Le Gris of raping her. He denies the accusations, and she jeopardizes her life by publicly announcing she was raped. Should Le Gris lose, Marguerite will be accepted as having told the truth; should Carrouges lose, Marguerite will be burned at the stake for perjury.
The movie is told in a three-act narrative where the rape is seen from different points of view. Damon and Affleck wrote the male outlook, while Holofcener wrote new material for Marguerite’s perspective.
“We had a good time collaborating,” said Holofcener. “We got to know each other really well. Ben is the most linguistically advanced. He’s real smart. So is Matt, but Ben can really make a sentence and really can speak like nobody’s business. He’s really good with words and very articulate. He uses words I don’t know. He really made the script work.”
“Ben annoys me constantly,” Damon joked about Affleck’s writing skills. “Ben would have a better handle on some ideas than me, and we would revise and talk about it, and he would find ways to build and rework the scene and make it feel right. It’s annoying that he’s so good! I feel like Ben, Nicole and I, we all complemented each other well. It’s fun writing for me with partners because I’m always surprised what they are going to do. They come up with things I didn’t think of.”
The film, out October 15, is based on actual events and illustrates a misogynistic social construct. The screenplay does not equivocate its message about rape, consent and the horrific mistreatment of women. “Hopefully there’s a lot to discuss when people see it,” said Damon. “The idea was really to look at this kind of anti seedy culture from which we have evolved, and really reflect on what aspects of it are still with us today.”
“The movie is supposed to make you feel and think,” added Holofcener. “If some guy comes out of the movie and thinks, ‘You know, I was a little pushy with my girlfriend or wife,’ then great. If we are a mirror in some way, then great. Let us see ourselves. Let’s let men see who they can be and who they have been in the past.”
Viewers may find it difficult to watch Comer go through various versions of the rape scene, but for Comer, playing a sexual assault survivor who refused to stay silent was empowering. “It was very emotional to play this role, but it’s also what I live for. Marguerite represents the power in believing yourself and standing up for what you believe is right. This is what I took away from Marguerite,” said the Killing Eve Emmy winner. “I really felt empowered playing her, and in my life, I’ve had to find my voice and speak up. There’ll always be someone to question you. I think this is a lesson we can all learn.”
At the New York premiere, Jennifer Lopez joined Affleck on the red carpet and the two posed for photographs. Soon after, Lopez stepped off the carpet and fondly watched Affleck speak only to TV journalists about his role as Pierre d’Alençon, a heavy drinking, womanizing libertine Count with bleached blonde hair and goatee.
“It was Ridley’s idea for Ben’s blonde hair and my mullet,” said Damon, who donned a stringy wig and goatee to portray Jean de Carrouges. “Ridley is very visual, and he sent these looks to us. My character was remembered as a savage warrior, and Ridley loved the idea that he looked like he took a knife and sheered it against the side of his head and to keep the back long and throw his helmet on kind of go. I loved it. It was a very unique look. It felt like something I had never done in a movie before. It was fun and definitely a party in the back!”
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