Upamanyu Biswas
Helmed by Doug Liman, ‘The Instigators’ follows Rory, an ex-Marine whose divorce and mounting child support payments have financially left him in dire straits. On election night, he teams up with an ex-con named Cobby to pull off a heist against the city’s corrupt mayor, Micelli. Unfortunately, things go a bit haywire, and the unlikely duo finds itself being hunted down by law enforcement, thugs, and a hitman who wants to make them pay for their involvement in the heist. Further complications arise when Dr. Donna Rivera, Rory’s therapist, also gets dragged into the mix.
The Apple TV+ film opens the door to a comedy caper in which an ill-planned heist unleashes a tornado of trouble for the central characters. Throughout the story, Rory and Cobby form an unlikely partnership while trying to deal with their personal issues in the face of a murderous bunch trying to hunt them down. Meanwhile, Donna, playing the role of a hostage, travels with them, helping them avoid unnecessary mistakes in their journey. Therefore, unearthing the roots of ‘The Instigators’ provides a clearer picture of its inspirations and whether the film is based on a true story.
The Instigators Delves Into a Heist Narrative Sprinkled With Levity
‘The Instigators’ is a fictional story drafted by Chuck MacLean and Casey Affleck under the direction of Doug Liman. Both Affleck and MacLean were drawn to the idea of creating a sharp comedy film that features eccentric characters wrapped in the dealings of the criminal underworld. After conceiving the main parts of the narrative, the latter handed the script to Affleck, suggesting he take over as MacLean was not interested in working on it anymore. Affleck refined and added the final touches, later also playing the role of the ex-convict, Cobby Murphy.
In an interview, Affleck said, “I wasn’t expecting that anyone was just going to send me their great comedy and ask me to come do it. So I thought I’d better come up with one of my own. [Chuck] had a really good idea and some great characters in it. He didn’t really want to work on it anymore, and so he said, why don’t you take it and see what you can do. I did that, but that was just sort of the beginning of it.” Furthermore, the co-writer and his childhood friend, Matt Damon, who plays Rory, were inspired by the action-comedy film ‘Midnight Run‘ directed by Martin Brest as a marker for what they wanted to achieve in ‘The Instigators.’
Talking about the influence of the 1988 film, Damon said, “That movie is a touchstone for Casey and me, and has been since it came out. We saw it multiple times in the theater. We saw it, I don’t know how many hundreds of times since. We talk about it all the time, we quote it all the time.” In ‘Midnight Run,’ bounty hunter Jack Walsh has to partner up with Jonathan Mardukas, also known as The Duke, an accountant who gets on his nerves while driving through the country for a job. The Doug Liman directorial features a similar arc to its narration, lending a sense of evolution to its storytelling, albeit confined within its contextual boundaries.
The Driving Force of The Instigators is an Inept Group of Criminals
While heist movies are generally stacked with a group of trained and talented individuals coming together to work on a job, like in the ‘Ocean’s’ film series — another heist franchise starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, ‘The Instigators’ takes a different approach. The central characters are generally inept at what they do and find themselves in a progressively worsening situation because of their inability to handle things with competence. The dynamic adds to the relatability of Rory and Cobby’s predicament while also adding a few humorous moments in their hit-and-run story.
Doug Liman told the Hollywood Insider, “I always sort of viewed [The Instigators] as you know the bad news bearers of a heist movie. [The Instigators] will be in a unique lane because it’s a heist movie where it’s not even like the B team; it’s like the E team or the F team doing the heist.” Matt Damon also echoed the sentiment, saying, “If you couldn’t get the A team and the B team and the C team weren’t available, you get ‘The Instigators.'” Interestingly, it’s not just the main crew who find themselves to be useless in their role but also the enemies chasing them, who are neck-deep in corruption.
Co-writer Chuck MacLean took inspiration from real-life figures to illustrate the corrupt officials existing within the fictional landscape of Boston presented in ‘The Instigators.’ “Chuck went to Brown, and when he was there, Buddy Cianci was the mayor, and very famously got reelected from prison,“ Damon said. “So it was kind of a nod to that old-world kind of East Coast politics.“ Buddy Cianci was the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, from 1975 to 1984 and was reelected from 1991 to 2002. He resigned both times after he was convicted of felonies relating to racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, witness tampering, and all manner of corruption scandals rooted within his administration. He passed away on January 28, 2016, at the age of 74.
Thus, while drafting the narrative, Affleck and MacLean alighted upon several facets of reality that informed the film’s development process. Additionally, as the former and Damon are lifelong Bostonians, they felt a sense of connection with bringing to life a story that was so close to home in many ways. While the film presents an exaggerated version of events that add to the levity and banter between the characters, it finds its footing through several solid inspirations that help it spread its wings in its fictional landscape without escaping into complete make-believe fantasy.
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