Two of Hollywood’s bestest friends are ready to welcome a third bro into their lives, with Deadline reporting that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are set to star in Ridley Scott’s adaptation of the novel The Last Duel. Damon and Affleck co-wrote the script with Nicole Holofcener, making this their first script collaboration since Good Will Hunting (which is surprising, seeing as how they won the Oscar for that). Eric Jager wrote the book, which is set in medieval France and focuses on two knights (Affleck and Damon) who were friends until one returned from war and accused the other of raping his wife. After appealing their dispute all the way up to the king of France, the two are instructed to settle it with a decisive duel to the death—with the added wrinkle that if the accuser loses, his wife will be burned at the stake as “punishment for her false accusation.” Fun!
The project has been in the works at Fox for a long time, but now that Disney is in control, Deadline theorizes that the studio might be a little anxious about, you know, that entire synopsis (Damon and Affleck as French knights?). If Disney passes on this, though, Deadline says every other studio will race to jump on it, since it is Damon and Affleck’s first screenplay collaboration in many years.