Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have appeared in the same movie multiple times, most recently 2019’s Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, but Good Will Hunting was the only screenplay they wrote together, Oscar-winning or otherwise, until The Last Duel.
Based on author Eric Jager’s novel The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France and directed by Ridley Scott, the historical drama stars Damon as Jean de Carrouges, a knight whose wife Marguerite (Killing Eve great Jodie Comer) has accused squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) of rape. Affleck has a supporting role as Count Pierre d’Alençon. The Last Duel is Scott’s most Gladiator-looking film since, well, Gladiator. That worked out pretty well for him, and the combined efforts of Affleck and Damon writing the screenplay with Academy Award nominee Nicole Holofcener (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) could lead to more Oscar glory.
Here’s more on the book that the movie is based on:
Based on extensive research in Normandy and Paris, The Last Duel brings to life a colorful, turbulent age and three unforgettable characters caught in a fatal triangle of crime, scandal, and revenge. The Last Duel is at once a moving human drama, a captivating true crime story, and an engrossing work of historical intrigue with themes that echo powerfully centuries later.
The Last Duel opens on October 15.