Ben Affleck's Animals cast wants him to run for political office

Animals co-star Kerry Washington was effusive in her support for Politician-Era Affleck. “We keep telling him that he should, but he doesn’t want to,” she told Variety‘s Marc Malkin, spritzing some water on her endorsement. “You know, we’re in a place in our politics right now where anything is possible, but I would hope that the people who are running for office want to be there—and he has been very explicit in saying that he doesn’t want to run for office.” This cautious yet genial prodding soon melted into a full-throated endorsement from actor Luis Gerardo Méndez, who acted alongside his director in the film. “I would definitely vote for him! Go, Ben Affleck! He’s smart and sexy. That’s all you need.” 

Indeed, if sexiness were the only qualification a prospective politician needed to change the trajectory of our lives, much would be different, to be sure. As for Affleck, who’s at least self-aware enough not to blunder into some headline-grabbing gaffe that inadvertently thrusts him into Fox News’ crosshairs, he’s not as enthusiastic about hopping into political life any time soon. “We don’t ask the question of ‘what are your qualifications to hold public office’ any longer,” he said. “It’s, ‘You wanna join the circus? Who’s the biggest carny?’ I think that there is a ‘whatever side of the aisle you’re on’ […] one of the interesting things that people can agree on is a collective disappointment with the way that American politics has trended. There’s nobody alive now who thinks, hey, we’re really doing it right, and things are going great, and I love this political system. And that’s a problem.”

Affleck, whose artificial-intelligence startup InterPositive was acquired by Netflix early this year for a reported $587 million, continued. “It’s just about money, raising money, it’s just about playing a sort of adolescent game of who can make fun of the other person better or be more reductive and stupid about something rather than actually trying to talk about the issues. I think the thing that’s missing from politics, frankly, is you have to lead. You can’t just scare people. You can’t just hector them. You can’t lecture them. You can’t guilt them into it. You’ve got to inspire them. Otherwise they don’t want to vote for you.

“Selfishly, I just see what a difficult grind of a job it is, and I’d rather make movies about it.”