Summary

Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for Netflix’s The Rip.

In this interview, Affleck and Damon discuss their favorite films from iconic directors.

Affleck also reveals if the DunKings will return.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are reuniting again for the first time since Affleck’s 2023 sports drama Air, for Netflix’s The Rip. Inspired by true events, the dynamic duo headlines this crime thriller as Miami police officers, Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Damon) and Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne (Affleck), who find themselves in a high-intensity situation that could change their lives forever. In The Rip, directed by Joe Carnahan (Narc, Smokin’ Aces), Dumars and Byrne are partners leading a team of Miami cops sent to investigate and seize drug money from a stash house. When they receive a tip that leads to the discovery of a staggering $24 million hidden in the walls, suddenly, this crew of experts devolves into suspicion and mistrust with one another, especially when outside forces learn of this unexpected find. The Rip also stars Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Kyle Chandler, Scott Adkins, Sasha Calle, and Catalina Sandino Moreno. In this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Damon and Affleck, who have notoriously been friends for over 40 years, are both proud owners of an Academy Award for Good Will Hunting, and have been in numerous projects together, chat about their favorite films from Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, and Stanley Kubrick, discuss what makes a great interview, and tease the next DunKings collaboration.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Are Back in Action

They chat about video games, Howard Stern, and what makes a good interview.

COLLIDER: I just want to say the interview you guys did with Howard Stern was fantastic. BEN AFFLECK: Oh, thanks. He’s a really good, thoughtful interviewer. MATT DAMON: Yeah, he really is. Listen, I love Howard. He is an amazing interviewer. He gets to cheat when he gets, like, an hour and a half with people. I’d like to demonstrate that, as well. I can do it. Give me the 90 minutes. DAMON: I’m sure you can. AFFLECK: I’m sure it’s frustrating to have them truncated like that. I always feel like saying one line in a movie is a lot harder than being the lead, in some ways. You’ve got to do everything in that one line, and you don’t get the chance to get comfortable. Because you could sort of vamp through the first 15 minutes of an interview, get comfortable, and then get into it. You just don’t have that luxury in this format. I could go into a whole thing. So listen, I’m a big fan of both of you and a big fan of you guys working together, so I’ve decided you need to do more of it. Let’s make this happen, please. AFFLECK: Are those video games back behind you? Yeah. They’re miniature games that actually work. AFFLECK: I couldn’t tell if they were full-size and far away. No, they actually work. AFFLECK: Games of our youth. Yeah. I love arcade games. I wish I could have an arcade. I can’t, so this is the next best thing.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Share Some of Their Favorite Films

They discuss Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, and Stanley Kubrick movies.

Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove smiling widely in Dr. StrangeloveImage via Columbia Pictures

I’ve been asking this of everyone, so here we go. For each of you, do you have a favorite Christopher Nolan movie? And it doesn’t have to be the one that you’re in, Matt. AFFLECK: That’s really hard. It only gets tougher with the next one. DAMON: I love Inception. I love them all, is the truth. I love all of them. Interstellar, I watched again when it was rereleased. I don’t think I could see it the first time because I was in it, in a small role, but I was still in it and had read the script within a year of seeing it, and so I don’t think I really saw it. I watched it again, and I remember the experience of reading the script and sobbing. I think because it’s about a father missing the life of his daughter, and my kids were young, and that was such a terrifying thought to me that it really moved me. And I had that experience again, watching the film again a decade later. I was really moved by that one. AFFLECK: I’ve loved every film of his that I’ve seen, but I think Oppenheimer. I don’t know how you put another movie above that, even though they’re all so good. The other two filmmakers I’m gonna ask you guys are, do you have a favorite Steven Spielberg? DAMON: Oh my God, what are you doing today, man? I’m not messing around. The last one is a doozy. Do you have a favorite Kubrick? AFFLECK: At least Kubrick has fewer movies. Spielberg’s just done so much stuff. DAMON: Across so many different… AFFLECK: Jaws is such a great movie. DAMON: Jaws is a perfect movie. Raiders is a great movie. AFFLECK: Schindler’s List is a great movie. Close Encounters is a great movie. It’s just on and on and on. DAMON: Lincoln is fucking great.

AFFLECK: I guess, to me, the first one that I saw that landed and made such a fixed place in my consciousness was Jaws, so I’ll go with that. DAMON: Whenever I’m asked my top five films, it must include one of Steven’s, and I usually say Jaws.

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Don’t call it a comeback.

What about Kubrick? DAMON: 2001. AFFLECK: I was just gonna say that. Yeah, I think 2001. DAMON: Strangelove makes me laugh harder. AFFLECK: Strangelove is a great movie. But I think with 2001, in a lot of ways, every single science fiction space movie that came after 2001 is fundamentally, in some way, derivative of 2001. I could keep on going. I’m already out of time. I’m just going to end with, will I see the DunKings again? AFFLECK: I can tell you honestly, I don’t know. But never say never. The Rip is available to stream on Netflix.

Release Date

January 16, 2026

Runtime

133 minutes

Director

Joe Carnahan

Teyana Taylor

Detective Numa Baptiste

Sasha Calle

Desi Lopez Molina