Inside Miami cops’ bombshell lawsuit against Matt Damon and Ben Affleck — and why Hollywood is watching closely

Other than being on Netflix, what do the ripped-from-the-headlines productions “The Queen’s Gambit,” “Inventing Anna,” “Baby Reindeer” and now “The Rip” have in common? All of them have become targets of defamation lawsuits brought by real life figures who say they are depicted in the scripts.

And it’s not just Netflix. FX’s smash hit “Love Story,” which centers on the romance between JFK Jr. and Caroline Bessette, has become embroiled in its own simmering real life drama about the show’s portrayal of actress Daryl Hannah, who has publicly bashed the Ryan Murphy-produced drama.

But first, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and their production company were the latest to be sued over “The Rip,” which they starred in and produced. The film is a fictionalized account, inspired by a real-life drug bust in 2016, where $24 million in cash was recovered from a private residence in Miami Lakes. A central conceit in “The Rip” is that writer/director Joe Carnahan subjects viewers to a constant bait-and-switch, employing notions of shifting suspicion and allegiances throughout the story. But a pair of real-life Miami cops is challenging how far that artistic license can go.

“The Rip” is inspired by a real-life drug bust in 2016. ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

“Third parties have approached Plaintiffs asking which character they were and how many buckets they kept,” the suit states, referring to the film’s plot involving buckets of cash. Ignacio Alvarez, the attorney representing the two, added in an interview with a local Miami TV station that the lawsuit was filed because, “they portrayed police officers as dirty, they portrayed my clients as dirty.”

Attorneys representing Damon and Affleck’s Artists Equity responded that while the film, “borrows some of the striking details of the real-life police raid that inspired it,” the film makes it clear that it’s a work of fiction and not intended to portray any actual person. “Your letter does not claim that any particular character in ‘The Rip’ represents Sgt. Smith or Sgt. Santana,” the lawyers wrote. “Instead, your clients’ theory seems to be that any wrongdoing depicted in the film by any member of the fictional narcotics team is attributable to them.”

For years, Hollywood film execs have been in the grip of IP fever. As they increasingly look for existing IP — books, short stories, magazine articles, podcasts, or old newspaper articles — studios and streamers are increasingly blurring the line between fact and fiction and pushing the limits of freedom of speech.

The most notable example is “Baby Reindeer,” for which Netflix is facing a $170 million lawsuit from Fiona Harvey, the apparent real-life inspiration for the stalker character of Martha. (After social media sleuths were trying to uncover the real person the character was based on, Harvey publicly identified herself, though denied she was a stalker.) Harvey was suing over being depicted as, “a twice convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison.” Netflix’s attorneys have sought to dismiss the case, arguing that it should be viewed as a dramatization based on real-life events. A judge threw out some of the claims, but not the defamation, and the lawsuit is still pending.

Eric George, a California-based attorney who specializes in first amendment cases, tells Page Six Hollywood there are some simple rules of thumb that differentiate the mounting pile of cases that stem from various shows and films that are “based” on actual events.

“If you changed the person’s name and made clear that this story is dramatized, you are on much stronger legal footing,” George said. “It’s not necessarily a silver bullet, but that’s going to take you a long way there.”

The duo’s production company is also embroiled in the defamation suit. ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

When you don’t change the person’s name? It’s a bit more complicated. The late Olivia de Havilland tried and failed to sue FX over her portrayal in the second season of “Feud,” another Murphy-produced series.

And then there is the case of Rachel DeLoache Williams who sued Netflix for defamation over her portrayal in the Shonda Rhimes series “Inventing Anna,” about real-life con woman Anna Sorokin. Williams argued that she was made out to be the villain in an effort to make the fictional Sorokin (Julia Garner) more sympathetic. A few years earlier, Nona Gaprindashvili, a Georgian chess player, sued Netflix for $5 million claiming “The Queen’s Gambit” falsely said she had “never faced men.” In both of those instances, Netflix settled.

According to George, disclaimers matter.

“The Queen’s Gambit” featured a standard disclaimer, stating that “the characters and events depicted in this program are fictitious. No depiction of actual persons or events is intended,” while “Baby Reindeer” opens with the claim, “This is a true story,” but includes a post-credits disclaimer stating it is a dramatization that fictionalizes certain events for dramatic purpose. “Inventing Anna,” meanwhile, has this quirky disclaimer: “This whole story is completely true. Except for all the parts that are totally made up.

In George’s opinion, “The Rip” lawsuit is “ridiculous” — and he predicts it will be dismissed, based on the movie’s disclaimer that it was dramatized and the creators’ decision not to use real names of those involved.

But with Hollywood’s current love of journalistic source material, we can expect more of this.

In March, Daryl Hannah penned an op-ed in the New York Times that strongly criticized her portrayal in “Love Story.” In that hit, Hannah is depicted in a villainous role and, per the real-life Hannah, is shown doing things she didn’t do, including illegal activities. “The actions and behaviors attributed to me are untrue. I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine-fueled parties,” she wrote. “Many people believe what they see on TV and do not distinguish between dramatization and documented fact — and the impact is not abstract.”are being depicted and reputations being harmed.”