Two South Florida law enforcement officials declare Ben Affleck and Matt Damon ‘s current motion thriller “The Rip” used too many real-life particulars in its fictionalized narrative, inflicting hurt to the officers’ private {and professional} reputations, in accordance with a defamation lawsuit.
Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, sergeants within the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, filed the lawsuit in Miami federal court docket earlier this month towards Artists Equity, a movie manufacturing firm owned by Affleck and Damon. Court filings do not say how a lot the officers are suing for, however the civil grievance says they’re searching for compensatory damages, punitive damages and lawyer charges, in addition to a public retraction and correction.
“The Rip” options Affleck and Damon as South Florida law enforcement officials who discover hundreds of thousands of {dollars} inside a home. Parts of the film had been impressed by an actual 2016 case, the place police discovered over $21 million linked to a suspected marijuana trafficker in a Miami Lakes house.
An lawyer for Artists Equity declined to remark when reached Monday by The Associated Press. But in a March 19 response to the plaintiffs’ demand letter, Leita Walker, an lawyer for Artists Equity, wrote that the movie doesn’t purport to inform the true story of that incident or painting actual individuals, which had been said by a disclaimer within the movie’s credit.
Although Smith and Santana aren’t named within the movie, the lawsuit claims that Santana was serving because the lead detective assigned to the true case, and Smith was the sergeant who supervised the investigative crew. The movie’s inclusion of actual particulars concerning the case gives the look that the characters are based mostly on the plaintiffs, the swimsuit mentioned.
And this, the lawsuit claims, has given mates, relations and colleagues the impression that the plaintiffs dedicated the felony acts that seem within the movie, which embody (SPOILER ALERT) conspiring to steal seized drug cash, murdering a supervising officer, speaking with cartel members, committing arson in a residential neighborhood, endangering the lives of civilians, repeatedly violating core law-enforcement protocols and executing a federal agent reasonably than making an arrest.
Walker wrote in March that the plaintiffs have not even recognized which explicit character is meant to be based mostly on Smith or Santana, so even when “The Rip” was really a couple of real-life narcotics crew, there isn’t any strategy to join any of the characters to the plaintiffs.
“The Rip,” directed by Joe Carnahan, debuted in January on Netflix. It’s presently rated 78% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
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