Ben Affleck brought his new Netflix thriller home on Thursday night. The writer, director, and star of “Animals” walked the red carpet at the Westwood Village Theater in Los Angeles for the film’s LA premiere, one week before it opens in select theaters and on Netflix on October 9.
He was not alone. Co-stars Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, Luis Gerardo Mendez, and Adriana Paz posed alongside him, with Ray Fisher also in attendance. And in a nice full-circle moment, Matt Damon walked the carpet too, with wife Luciana Damon, as a producer of the film he was once supposed to star in.
That backstory has become part of the movie’s lore. Damon was originally attached to play the lead, but scheduling conflicts with Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” forced him out when “Animals” was delayed. Affleck has been joking about it ever since, teasing that Damon opted for a “lesser film” and quipping that he cast himself because “a better actor had to play the part.” The joke has aged well for everyone: “The Odyssey” opened July 17 to box office success, and Damon still shares in “Animals” from the producer’s chair.
The female lead went through its own reshuffle. Jennifer Garner was originally attached to play the candidate’s wife, but she passed, telling Affleck, “Great, but no, I’m not gonna play your wife in a movie.” Kerry Washington stepped in as Abigail, the wife of Affleck’s Mark Kimball, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped, plunging the couple into a web of deception as they scramble to raise the ransom.
The 108-minute political thriller is classic Affleck territory behind the camera, a pressure-cooker in the vein of “Argo” and “The Town.” He co-wrote the screenplay with Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray, and produces with Damon and Dani Bernfeld through Artists Equity, the actor-founded studio the pair launched in November 2022 with backing from Gerry Cardinale and RedBird Capital. Its slate already includes “Air,” “The Instigators,” “Small Things Like These,” “Unstoppable,” and “The Accountant 2,” and the company has since signed a first-look streaming deal with Netflix.
For actors, the premiere was a showcase of the model Affleck and Damon are building. This is what an actor-owned studio looks like at full power: the star writes, directs, and headlines his own vehicle, his best friend produces it, and when the lead role needs recasting, the director simply steps in himself. A red carpet this stacked, one week out from release, is Netflix planting a flag. “Animals” is not being treated as content. It is being positioned as an event.