Matt Damon and Ben Affleck suggested recently that Netflix had given them unusual creative notes for their upcoming film The Rip. Now, top executives at the company are saying that simply isn’t true.
Netflix executives say streamer doesn’t ask filmmakers to ‘repeat’ the plot
Dan Lin, Netflix’s film chief, addressed the controversy head-on during a recent press event. When asked about the claims, he made the company’s position clear. “There is no such principle,” Lin stated (via Variety).
The comments from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck came during their appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience in January. While promoting The Rip, Damon said Netflix had suggested they “reiterated the plot three or four times” to account for viewers watching on phones while doing other things.
The idea quickly gained traction online and even made its way to the Oscars stage. Host Conan O’Brien and actor Sterling K. Brown performed a sketch riffing on the concept, imagining how classic films like Casablanca would sound with constant plot reminders.
Lin said he and his Netflix team actually enjoyed the bit. “We actually all laughed when we watched that bit at the Oscars, but there’s no such principle,” he explained. “I mean, if you watch our movies or TV shows, we don’t repeat our plots. I don’t know where that comment came from.” Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, took a stronger stance. She called the suggestion that the company would give such notes “offensive to creators and filmmakers.”
“I think it’s so offensive to creators and filmmakers to think that first of all we would give them a bad note like that and they would just take it,” Bajaria said. “So I think, you know, haters gotta hate and people have got to make things up” (via The Hollywood Reporter).
Jinny Howe, the streamer’s vice president of drama series, offered insight into how Netflix actually approaches storytelling. She revealed that Bajaria serves as what she jokingly called the “exposition police,” aka actively pushing back against over-explaining.
The back-and-forth puts The Rip in an unexpected spotlight before its release.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on ComingSoon.net.
