Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are teaming up for their first project since the Oscar wins of Good Will Hunting. The duo will team with Nicole Holofcener to write a new script titled The Last Duel. Ridley Scott is directing, while Damon and Affleck will also play the lead roles.
Based on Eric Jager‘s novel, the film is a dark revenge story which follows two friends; when one goes to war, the other rapes his wife.
When the soldier learns of this upon his return home, and no one believes his wife, the only option he feels he’s left with is to appeal to the king of France and challenge his former friend to a duel to the death. It’s all based on a true story about the last legally sanctioned duel in France.
It’s unclear who is playing which role, but obviously one of Damon or Affleck will be playing a despicable character. If it’s Damon, it may arguably be the first time he’s played a truly horrible person. Either way, it’s a very dark but interesting premise, and not something you’d usually expect from a director like Scott.
The inclusion of Holofcener on the writing team is a big plus. She’s the director of great films such as Enough Said and Please Give and will not only give an important female perspective to a film like this, but should also imbue the script with her patented style for flowing, naturalistic dialogue.
Damon and Affleck will also produce via their Pearl Street banner. Jager’s book was reportedly in development at Fox for many years, which means Disney technically owns the script. This certainly doesn’t sound anything like a Disney film, so they may just let Damon and Affleck shop the project around. They did a similar thing with Clint Eastwood‘s latest project.
Damon previously worked with Scott on The Martian. He next stars alongside Christian Bale in James Mangold‘s Ford v. Ferrari. Affleck is coming off Netflix’s Triple Frontier, and next stars alongside Anne Hathaway in Dee Rees‘ drama, The Last Thing He Wanted. He also just wrapped an alcoholism drama for Fox, helmed by his Accountant director Gavin O’Connor.
#Peace.Love.TheLastDuel
