Affleck: Garner Declined 'Animals' Role Over 'Baggage' — SkimNews
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- Ben Affleck directs, co-writes, and stars in 'Animals,' premiering Oct. 9 on Netflix, and initially cast ex-wife Jennifer Garner to play his onscreen wife Abigail before scrapping that version of the film two weeks before shooting.
- Affleck killed the first version because A24's Spike Lee kidnapping thriller 'Highest 2 Lowest' was also coming out — 'It's hard enough to make a good movie. You don't need those kinds of headwinds,' he told Entertainment Weekly.
- Matt Damon, originally set to play lead Mark Kimball, dropped out months later when the project was revived because he was committed to Christopher Nolan's 'Odyssey.'
- Jennifer Garner talked Affleck out of casting her once he took the role himself, telling him, 'We don't wanna do that. You just get baggage,' per Affleck.
- Kerry Washington was ultimately cast as Abigail after Affleck got to know her during the 2023 Hollywood strikes; Affleck said he found her 'very polished, but also very warm.'
- The film, co-written by Affleck, Connor O. McIntyre, and Billy Ray, centers on L.A. mayoral candidate Mark Kimball, whose kidnapping of his son forces him and Abigail to come up with ransom money in a few hours.
Why it matters: The casting flip from Garner to Washington — and Garner's blunt 'you just get baggage' veto — shows the calculus behind a film that had to be insulated from tabloid subtext to succeed, while Affleck's scrapping of the first version to dodge 'Highest 2 Lowest' as a competing kidnapping thriller highlights just how exposed the project was to market timing.
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