The Instigators: Everything We Know So Far About Doug Liman And Matt Damon's Apple TV+ Movie
The pair responsible for one of the most influential action films of the 2000s is about to be born again ... or, perhaps I should say, bourne again?
Director Doug Liman and actor Matt Damon ushered in a new era for the action genre when they teamed up for 2002's "The Bourne Identity." The duo's hit thriller successfully re-imagined Robert Ludlum's original 1980 Cold War spy/assassin novel for a post-9/11 world, paving the way for equally hard-edged reinventions of characters like James Bond in the years that came after. Even superhero films like 2014's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (and most of the Russo Brothers' filmography, for that matter) owe a clear debt to Damon and Liman's globe-trotter.
Now, 20 years later, the actor and director are reuniting for "The Instigators," a crime thriller that sees them working with Apple TV+. No strangers to the world of streaming, Liman is coming off helming his pandemic rom-com heist movie "Locked Down" (which went directly to HBO Max), while Damon may or may not have recently made one of his trademark cameos in one of his frequent director's own HBO Max exclusives (mild spoiler warning for that link). "The Instigators," however, has Damon starring in one of Liman's films for the first time since "The Bourne Identity," which is reason enough by itself to sit up and take notice.
What is The Instigators about?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "The Instigators" has Matt Damon and Casey Affleck starring as "two thieves on the run with the help of one of their therapists after a robbery goes wrong." Damon and the other Oscar-winning multi-talent whose last name is Affleck are far from strangers, having previously co-starred together in films like "Good Will Hunting," Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean's" trilogy, and "Interstellar" (although they never actually share the screen in that last one). They're also two of the many, many well-known white guys starring in Christopher Nolan's upcoming biographical drama "Oppenheimer."
It's not entirely clear if "The Instigators" will be a straight-faced action movie like "The Bourne Identity" or more of a dark action-comedy in the vein of Doug Liman's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and "American Made." The basic setup seems to lend itself to either of those things; it could even hew closer to a terse thriller in the vein of "The Patient," an FX series that also centers on a therapist who's called upon to provide their services outside of their regular office hours under rather strenuous circumstances.
The Instigators cast and crew
Doug Liman is directing "The Instigators" from a script by Chuck MacLean, the creator of the Bostonian crime drama series "City on a Hill" (which seems to point to this one being more serious than comedic). Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are the only reported cast members at this stage, with the role of the aforementioned therapist yet to be filled.
Behind the camera, Damon will produce the film with Ben Affleck, Jeff Robinov, John Graham, and Kevin Walsh. Damon and Walsh previously produced Kenneth Lonergan's "Manchester by the Sea," the 2016 drama that won Casey Affleck his first Best Actor Oscar, despite the controversy surrounding the actor after he was sued for sexual harassment by two female crew members who worked on his fake 2010 documentary "I'm Still Here." Casey Affleck has kept a relatively low profile since addressing his culpability in that lawsuit in 2018, acting in David Lowery's film "The Old Man & the Gun" and directing himself in the 2019 post-apocalyptic drama "Light of My Life."