Why Matt Damon, Ben Affleck ‘The Rip' truly needs to be seen to be believed

Netflix’s latest crime caper The Rip is many things — a screen reunion between Matt Damond and Ben Affleck, a middle-of-the-awards-season outing for supporting actress frontrunner Teyana Taylor, and apparently a true story.

While the thrilling police case depicted in the film is not an entirely faithful retelling of an existing one, it is heavily inspired from a Miami-Dade police bust from 2016.

Led by the county’s police officer Chris Casano, the Netflix release was modelled after a real narcotics raid carried out by him, due to which director Joe Carnahan also brought him on board as technical advisor.

According to Time Magazine, Casano and his drugs unit team once “executed a search warrant” on a “quiet and unremarkable” home in Miami.

Upon raiding the place, the squad discovered 24 orange buckets packed with $100 bills, with all of the cash amounting to $24 million.

What became “the largest cash seizure in the history of the Miami-Dade Police Department” has now provided the basis for The Rip’s structural plotline.

“Inspired by Casiano’s experience, the film is as concerned with how a raid unfolds as it is with what follows: how money tests the soul, strains loyalty, and traces the thin line between duty and temptation when escape isn’t an option,” Time’s report explained.

While Carnahan, the film’s director, reflected on his story’s origins in an interview with Gold Derby: “I just thought there was such a cinematic [element to it]... there was so much about it that appealed to me. And I love cop movies and the cop genre. I thought, ‘OK, let’s give this one a ride.’”

Notably, the real life police officer inspired Damon’s character in the film, Lieutenant Dane Dumars.

Like Casiano, Dumars is also depicted as the mourning father of a son whom he lost to a terminal illness.

While the film itself is dedicated to Chris Casano’s son, Jake William Casiano, who passed away from leukemia at the age of 11 in 2021.

The Rip, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, was released on Netflix January 16.