The Last Duel is a dense film set in 14th century France. Despite being removed from modern times, the film is tragically resonant. It focuses on the sexual assault of Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer) by Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) and the ensuing duel he fought against her scorned husband, Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon). On top of having a star-studded cast under the directorial vision of Ridley Scott, the film boasts another unique selling point -- a script collaborated on by iconic collaborators Damon and Affleck.
During a press conference for The Last Duel attended by CBR and other press outlets, Damon reflected on the writing process that led to The Last Duel. The Oscar-winning creator also shared how the long-time friends worked with fellow Academy Award Nominee Nicole Holofcener (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) to finalize the ambitious but personal story.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have been leading men for over twenty years, but it's important to remember how young they were when they won an Academy Award for the screenplay to Good Will Hunting in 1998. Since then, both creators have primarily been known for their on-screen roles, with Affleck's additionally known for his directing work. The Last Duel sees the iconic duo reunite to pen the film's script alongside Holofcener. Damon revealed he brought the project to Ridley Scott first, who was excited to jump into the film.
"So, I originally gave [Ridley Scott] the book, and he said right away wanted to do it and we were looking for a writer," Damon said. "I was having dinner with Ben and told him the idea. He was like, 'Well, why don’t we write it?' So, it just kind of happened really organically and it happened really quickly. We started writing and Ridley had another movie he was gonna do and he just goes, 'I’m not doin' that movie anymore. I wanna do this.' We begged Nicole to join and she did and that was it. We were kind of off to the races." Reflecting on the time between Good Will Hunting and their latest venture writing together, Damon said, "I think we were just afraid of writing, because [before] we were so inefficient."
"It was so time-consuming the first time we did it because we didn't know what we were doing," Damon added. "It took us literally years. We wrote thousands and thousands of pages that we, basically, scrunched into a 130-page screenplay. I think by just doing movies for 25 years, just kind of by osmosis, we figured out structure. So, it turned out to be really efficient, the process. And also begging an incredible writer like Nicole to come to help us was also a really good idea, too. That definitely streamlined the process."
The film's three-act structure is framed as chapters, building to the titular duel. The first act is told from the noble perspective of Damon's Jean de Carrouges. The film's second act showcases the rise of Driver's Jacques Le Gris. The Last Duel's final act features the story of Comer's Marguerite de Carrouges. Holofcener reflected on the process of writing the screenplay. "I would send pages to [Ben and Matt] and we'd sit down together and work," Holofcener said. "We'd work on each other's scenes. I basically wrote the third act, but they also had a hand in it because it had to be a part of the whole movie. When smart writers have ideas, one should take them. And so, between Jodie and them it was really collaborative. Really collaborative with all the actors too. So, sometimes, we wrote apart, some together."
Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, Jodie Comer, Adam Driver, and Ben Affleck, The Last Duel is set to arrive in theaters on Oct. 15.