Who Is Jake William Casiano? The Dedication In The Rip, Explained

In the Netflix original movie "The Rip," real-life friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck reunite as cops who raid a stash house with their team and stumble upon $20 million that they could easily split among themselves — or do the right thing and turn it over. Allegiances get questioned amid the pulse-pounding action, even if Looper's review of "The Rip" said that the thriller fell short of its potential. But the twists and turns won't be the only thing viewers might question by the film's end, as they may also wonder about the dedication to someone named Jake William Casiano that immediately precedes the credits.

"The Rip" director Joe Carnahan has said that the film is loosely based on real events: his friend, Chris Casiano, told him about a raid he had been on similar to the one depicted in the film. Sadly, the real-life comparisons don't end there. Like a character in the film, Chris Casiano had a son who died at 11 from leukemia. His name appears at the end of "The Rip" with the tribute: "In Loving Memory of Jake William Casiano." 

In an interview with Gold Derby, Carnahan revealed that he and Chris Casiano cried when they first watched "The Rip" together, and that there was a reason he wanted that tribute to come before anyone else's name: "It was really important to me that [Jake] be the first name you see, because you understood that there was a beating heart at the center."

Jake William Casiano doesn't merely get an on-screen tribute at the end of "The Rip." His death informs the entirety of Matt Damon's character, Lieutenant Dane Dumars. Dane is struggling with his son's death, a big reason why his partner, JD Byrne (Ben Affleck), doesn't trust him. JD believes that after the death of his son and the dissolution of his marriage, Dane might be more likely to steal part of the $20 million and get away from it all. 

Joe Carnahan also told Gold Derby that he was cautious about incorporating a friend's real-life tragedy into his crime thriller. Although "The Rip" is just one of many movies inspired by dark true stories, Carnahan explained, "It's tricky, because you gotta go to your friend and say, 'I don't want this to feel exploitive or cheap, and I don't want to take advantage of the memory of your boy ... Can we create a vessel with which to put this grief and sadness into, and maybe turn it into something where it's this living monument to Jake for his short time here on Earth?'" Chris Casiano was okay with the inclusion and served as a technical advisor on "The Rip." 

"The Rip" may never stack up among the best thrillers of all time, but knowing the backstory of Jake William Casiano helps elevate the film's emotional core. The idea that people can suffer so much and still stick up for their morals is a very worthwhile theme for any movie.