Affleck Takes Lead In Animals As Garner Exits

Ben Affleck has taken over the lead role in his Netflix thriller Animals after Matt Damon became unavailable, while Jennifer Garner exited the project and was replaced by Kerry Washington, the director and star said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The casting shakeup caps a turbulent stretch for the film. Animals was originally set to star Garner and Damon as a married couple caught up in a kidnapping plot. Affleck said he shelved the production two weeks before filming was to begin after learning that Spike Lee was developing a similar thriller, Highest 2 Lowest. "It's hard enough to make a good movie. You don't need those kinds of headwinds," Affleck said. When the project resumed months later, Damon was committed to Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, and Affleck stepped into the male lead. That decision complicated his plan to cast Garner as his onscreen wife, Abigail. "I talked to Jen, and she was like, We don't wanna do that. You just get baggage," Affleck recounted, adding that he did not want the couple's real-life history to distract audiences.