Ben Affleck Will Star in and Direct New Thriller Animals
Academy Award winner Ben Affleck will once again take up double duty as leading man and director for Animals, replacing Matt Damon in this kidnapping thriller coming to Netflix.
Matt Damon was originally slated to star in this kidnapping thriller but has since had to withdraw due to a scheduling conflict with Christopher Nolan’s epic adaptation of The Odyssey. Filming for that blockbuster will reportedly begin later this month. In contrast, Animals is looking to start production sometime this April.
However, Damon’s departure from the starring role is not the end of his involvement with Animals. Artists Equity, a production company founded by Affleck and Damon in November 2022, will be one of the teams behind the thriller.
But while Animals lose one star, they’ve gained a starlet.
Insiders told Deadline that infamous X-Files star Gillian Anderson has joined the cast alongside Affleck. Anderson’s previous Netflix roles include sex therapist Jean Milburn on the hit series Sex Education and the late UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on season 4 of The Crown.
Although the description is brief, Letterboxd provides a summary of the film, providing more insight into it.
“When the son of an LA mayoral candidate is kidnapped, he and his wife have a few hours to come up with the ransom payment. With most of their money spent on his political campaign, they have to get their hands dirty and expose a side of their lives they never intended to see the light of day.”
It appears what we’re looking at is a film similar to Liam Neeson’s Taken. Parents who take matters of the law into their own hands, going against everything they’ve devoted their lives to. Expect a thriller full of marital strife and some political skeletons coming out of the closet.
Want to get a better idea of what to expect from this thriller? This will be Affleck’s eighth-time directing, the most recent one being 2023 sports drama Air about the origin of Air Jordans where he also starred as Nike co-founder, Phil Knight.
While we wait for more details, you can catch the trailer below.
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