Ben Affleck nearly cast Jennifer Garner in his new thriller Animals, but the original plan did not involve the former spouses playing a married couple.
Affleck told Entertainment Weekly that Garner was intended to play Abigail, the therapist wife of Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball, when Matt Damon was still attached to the lead role. “God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role,” Affleck recalled thinking.
Production was halted two weeks before filming, and when Affleck revived the project months later, Damon was no longer available because he was making Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Affleck decided to play Mark himself, turning Garner’s role into that of his onscreen wife.
Garner immediately saw the problem. “We don’t wanna do that. You just get baggage,” Affleck recalled her telling him. Kerry Washington ultimately joined the film as Abigail.
Garner Did Not Want Their History Competing With the Movie
Affleck said the decision had nothing to do with Garner refusing to work with him. He described his ex-wife as “fabulous,” said they remain good friends and added that he would still like to make another film with her.
The concern was the specific relationship in Animals. Mark and Abigail are already struggling in their marriage when their son is kidnapped, and Affleck agreed that casting two famous former spouses could bring their real relationship into scenes that needed audiences to focus on the fictional couple.
Garner had originally appealed to Affleck for both creative and practical reasons. He believed the role could show a side of her acting that audiences had not seen often, while their shared parenting schedule meant they could coordinate production around time with their children.
Garner similarly praised Affleck as an “incredible co-parent” in a July Entertainment Weekly interview, saying his support has made it easier for her to take on more work as their children have grown older.
The two previously appeared together in Pearl Harbor and 2003’s Daredevil, where Affleck played Matt Murdock and Garner played Elektra Natchios.
Affleck Stopped ‘Animals’ Two Weeks Before Filming
The first version of Animals was nearly ready to shoot in early 2024, with Damon as Mark, Garner intended for Abigail, and Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun also attached to the cast.
Two weeks before production, Affleck learned that Spike Lee and Denzel Washington were making Highest 2 Lowest, another thriller built around a kidnapping. Affleck worried that audiences would see the two projects as competing versions of a similar idea, even though Animals had been developed independently.
He discussed the situation with Damon and the film’s producers before shutting the production down. Affleck initially considered delaying the movie, but the similarities continued to bother him, particularly after he learned that Lee’s film was itself based on Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low.
A few months later, Affleck found himself returning to the script. He remained interested in its Los Angeles setting and in the story’s focus on marriage, public image and the difference between how people present themselves and how they behave under pressure.
By the time he decided to move forward again, Damon was committed to The Odyssey. Affleck took over the lead role, which led directly to his conversation with Garner and another change in the cast.
Kerry Washington Brought a New Dynamic to Abigail
Affleck contacted Kerry Washington about playing Abigail after he and Garner decided against appearing as husband and wife. Washington said she was drawn to the combination of a crime thriller and a marriage that was already in serious trouble before the kidnapping begins.
She described Mark and Abigail as having a “pretty horrible dynamic” and was interested in how the crisis could either pull the couple together or expose problems they could no longer avoid.
Washington’s casting also changed parts of the screenplay. She and Affleck discussed how the story should acknowledge that Mark and Abigail are an interracial couple rather than treat that part of their marriage as irrelevant. Affleck said they developed additional history around the characters and how other people perceive them.
The finished film follows Mark and Abigail as they try to raise a ransom after their son, Denny, is kidnapped. Netflix lists Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz and Luis Gerardo Méndez among the supporting cast, with Affleck directing and co-writing the thriller.
Animals opens in select theaters and begins streaming on Netflix on October 9.