Adam Driver also stars in Ridley Scott's historical epic set in 14th century France.
Call it Good Wig Hunting: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are back together on the big screen for the first time since 1999 in The Last Duel. Based on the true story of France's last officially sanctioned duel, the drama stars Damon as the revered knight Jean de Carrouges and Adam Driver as his close friend and squire, Jacques Le Gris. When Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer) accuses Le Gris of rape, the matter is settled with a duel to the death.
Affleck, meanwhile, sports a blond soul patch to play Count Pierre d'Alençon and says things like, "A most unspeakable charge has been brought against you." The Last Duel is directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Affleck, Damon and Nicole Holofcener.
"This film is an effort to retell the story of a heroic woman from history whom most people haven't heard of," the writers said in a statement. "We admired her bravery and resolute determination and felt this was both a story that needed to be told and one whose drama would captivate audiences the way it moved us as writers. As we further explored the story, we found so many aspects of the formal, codified patriarchy of 14th century Western Europe to still be present in vestigial ways (and in some cases almost unchanged) in today’s society. We chose to use the device of telling the story from several character's perspectives in order to examine the immutable fact that although often multiple people who experience the same event come away with differing accounts, there can only be one truth."
Affleck previously told ET has was nervous about going fully Medieval. "It's 1386, so it is, like, armor and swords and stuff like that," he said. "But it was a real pleasure working with Matt and Nicole Holofcener, who wrote the script with us. [Matt and I] kept saying, 'Why have we not done this more often?'"
The Last Duel is in theaters on Oct. 15, 2021.
RELATED CONTENT:
