Animals is an upcoming American crime thriller film directed by Ben Affleck and written by Affleck, Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray. It stars Affleck, Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson, Adriana Paz with Luis Gerardo Méndez, and Steven Yeun.
Premise When the son of Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball is kidnapped, he and his wife have a few hours to come up with the ransom payment. With most of their money spent on his political campaign, they have to get their hands dirty and expose a side of their lives they never intended to see the light of day.
Cast Ben Affleck as Mark Kimball, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate Gillian Anderson as Dayle Burton Kerry Washington as Abigail Kimball Steven Yeun as Sam Allison Luis Gerardo Méndez as Ramon Adriana Paz as Cecilia Trujillo Ray Fisher as Ron Sperling Christopher Woodley as Denny Kimball (Kimball's kidnapped son)
Production The film was announced in January 2024, with Ben Affleck directing, with original screenplay were co-written by Affleck, Billy Ray and Matt Damon starring. In February, Jennifer Garner was in talks to join the film. Filming was scheduled to begin in March 2024 in Los Angeles. On casting ex-wife Garner opposite Damon, Affleck said: "I thought, 'God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role.' It also has the added benefit of, like, both of us will see our kids more because we do a week and a week and back and forth. I thought, well, we can coordinate our schedules around it. She could bring something interesting that she hasn’t [done], that I kind of know she can do, that I don’t think she had a chance to do in one movie."Ben Affleck gets candid on killing, reviving, and recasting his new thriller, Animals: ‘It’s a really interesting story’ Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun were also quietly cast around this time, however Affleck ultimately decided to delay the production just before filming began after getting cold feet.
A year later, in February 2025, production reignited with Damon no longer part of the cast, due to his commitment to The Odyssey, with Affleck himself taking on the lead role, and Anderson officially joining the cast. Kerry Washington (replacing Garner), Yeun, Luis Gerardo Méndez, and Adriana Paz also joined the cast in February. On replacing Garner with Washington after stepping into the lead role himself, Affleck later elaborated: "I talked to Jen, and she was like, ‘We don’t wanna do that. You just get baggage,’... I still would wanna work with her in the future, but what you don’t wanna do is take the audience’s baggage and have it work against you, you know?" Ben Affleck Almost Cast Ex-Wife Jennifer Garner in ‘Animals’ Before Deciding ‘We Don’t Wanna Do That’: ‘You Just Get Baggage’ In March, Ray Fisher, Mark Kassen, and Christopher Woodley joined the cast.
Filming Principal photography began on March 7, 2025 in Los Angeles.
Release Animals is scheduled to be released on Netflix and in select theaters on October 9, 2026.
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