Ben Affleck is running for mayor of Los Angeles in first Animals teaser

Affleck directs himself, along with Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson, and Steven Yeun, in the new movie for Netflix.

By Drew Gillis  |  August 12, 2026 | 12:49pm
Image courtesy of Netflix
Film News animals
Ben Affleck is running for mayor of Los Angeles in first Animals teaser

Sometimes, you’ve gotta hold your nose and pick a candidate that wasn’t your first choice. For example, Ben Affleck was not Ben Affleck’s first choice to play the mayoral candidate in his new movie Animals. That would be—you can probably guess—Matt Damon, but when Christopher Nolan came calling, Affleck stepped up to star in his own directorial effort. Back when Damon was slated to star, Affleck’s ex-wife Jennifer Garner was also reported to be starring alongside him; it’s not totally clear when in the production process she dropped out, but by early last year she’d been replaced by Kerry Washington. In any case, Affleck’s got his latest team ready, and nothing can stop Mark Kimball for mayor now. 

Well, actually, Mark experiences a pretty big hiccup to his campaign when his son is kidnapped and they are “drawn into a web of deception” where “they’re forced to make choices that could tear their world apart” while also trying to raise ransom funds, according to a plot synopsis. You don’t really get too much of that from the teaser that Netflix released this morning, which is more impressionistic and vibes-based. But it looks like the kind of thriller that Affleck hasn’t directed since the box office failure that was 2016’s Live By Night. 

Other members in the cast include Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz, and Ray Fisher. The film will open in select theaters (meaning, probably the Paris in New York and the Egyptian in Los Angeles but hopefully some others) and on Netflix on October 9. 

 
Join the discussion...
Keep scrolling for more great stories.