Miami police officers sue Matt Damon and Ben Affleck over portrayals in Netflix’s ‘The Rip’

LOS ANGELES (CBS, KYMA) - Two of Hollywood's biggest stars are being sued over an old Hollywood custom: Changing a real-life story.

Two police officers involved in a raid loosely inspired Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's new movie say the film unfairly damages their reputations.

Inspired by a true story, Netflix's "The Rip," starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, follows two Miami-Dade police officers as they discover more than $20 million of cartel cash during a drug raid, and reveals corruption within the department.

The real-life officers, Jonathan Santana and Jason Smith, who were involved in the raid, are now suing Damon and Affleck through their production company, Artists Equity, alleging the film damaged their reputations through the movie's negative portrayal of law enforcement.

Apart from the seizure, they say the other events in the film did not happen.

While Santana and Smith are never named in the film, they claim their portrayal in the movie implies "misconduct, poor judgment, and unethical behavior in connection with a real law enforcement operation," including an insinuation they pocketed money from seized funds.

"I think the defense ultimately has the stronger case here, in part because we tend to be very protective of the First Amendment of people being able to say 'I'm using true events, but I'm creating now a new piece of expression.' I think this is a very difficult case for the police officers to prove," said Jessica Levinson, CBS News' legal contributor.

CBS News has asked Damon, Affleck, and the officers' attorney for comment, but they haven't heard back.

To learn more about this, read the complaint below.