Mayoral race becomes parents’ worst nightmare in the trailer for Ben Affleck’s Animals
Netflix’s Animals plunges its lead into the hardest parental battle as a mayoral storm erupts — and the star fronting it is a very familiar face.
The trailer leans almost entirely on images. We see Ben Affleck as Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Mark Kimball, his campaign veneer cracking after his young son is abducted. Dialogue is scarce; at one point Affleck appears to shout into a phone, but the audio is muted as the cut barrels forward through stakeouts, cash drops and clipped, fearful glances.
Per the film ’s logline, Mark and his wife are dragged into a web of lies as they scramble to raise ransom money. The race forces brutal choices and threatens to surface long-buried secrets that could blow up everything they’ve built — personally and politically.
Affleck directs and stars in Animals for Netflix , and co-wrote the script with Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray. It ’s a return to the tight, high-stakes territory he carved out with Gone Baby Gone, The Town and his Oscar winner Argo.
- Kerry Washington — Abigail, Mark’s wife
- Gillian Anderson
- Adriana Paz
- Ray Fisher
- Christopher Woodley
- Matt Gerald
- Jacob Estrada
- Luis Gerardo Méndez
- Steven Yeun
Casting shake-up
In a September 14 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Affleck said the project looked very different at first: Matt Damon was set to star as Mark, with Jennifer Garner as Abigail. Two weeks before filming, Affleck said he pressed pause after learning Spike Lee and Denzel Washington were developing a kidnapping-themed film titled Highest 2 Lowest.
When production restarted, Damon exited due to a scheduling conflict with The Odyssey, and Affleck stepped into the lead himself. He told EW that he and Garner agreed she should step away to avoid the extra scrutiny of appearing opposite her ex-husband, saying she felt it would bring unnecessary personal baggage to the movie.
The first trailer is out now.
Netflix has released the debut footage across its channels.