Matt Damon and Casey Affleck play complete strangers thrown into their first heist in the new action comedy “ The Instigators.” The robbery of a corrupt politician goes very wrong, and their characters are left on the run in Boston (with Damon’s character’s therapist, played by Hong Chau, in tow).
The film is written by Affleck and Chuck MacLean and directed by Doug Liman. It is a throwback to the kind of movies that people say don’t get made anymore, like “Midnight Run,” with a stacked cast of great character actors (Alfred Molina, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ron Perlman, Toby Jones, Ving Rhames and so on).
And it’s also completely modern: It’s made by a streaming company, AppleTV+ (playing in select theaters now and streaming Friday) with Damon and Ben Affleck’s artist-led production company Artists Equity.
Damon, Affleck and Chau spoke to The Associated Press about the film, shared histories and old jokes. A fair amount of “gentle ribbing,” as Chau called it, ensued.