Ben Affleck is heading back into thriller territory, and this one puts politics, family and desperation on the same collision course.
Netflix has released the first teaser for Animals, the new political crime thriller directed, co-written by and starring Affleck. The film arrives in select theaters and on Netflix October 9.
Affleck plays Milo Bradford, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose life detonates when his young son is kidnapped. With campaign spending having drained the family’s resources, Bradford and his wife are pushed toward increasingly dangerous choices as they attempt to raise the ransom.
Kerry Washington stars opposite Affleck, with Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Ray Fisher, Luis Gerardo Méndez and Adriana Paz rounding out the ensemble.
The project also carries some serious weight behind the camera. Affleck co-wrote the screenplay with Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray, while Matt Damon, Brad Weston, Collin Creighton, Dani Bernfeld and Luciana Damon join Affleck as producers.
Damon was originally expected to play the lead before scheduling conflicts with The Odyssey forced him to step away from the role. He stayed aboard as a producer, while Affleck ultimately moved in front of his own camera.
Shot throughout Los Angeles under Affleck’s Artists Equity banner, Animals looks positioned to lean into the filmmaker’s wheelhouse of pressure, moral compromise and people making increasingly dangerous decisions when the walls start closing in.
For Affleck, it is another return to the tense, adult crime storytelling that has defined some of his strongest work behind the camera.
This time, the stakes start at home.