It’s been a couple of years since we’ve seen a directorial effort from Ben Affleck with “Air.” Still, the Boston actor-turned-filmmaker is returning to the crime genre with “Animals” for Netflix, as production is set to begin this April in Los Angeles.
The latest casting update hails from the streaming service, and they have announced that Kerry Washington (“Scandal”) and Steven Yeun (“Mickey 17”) have been tapped for roles alongside Affleck (replacing Matt Damon) and Gillian Anderson (“The Crown”). In the new film, we’ll see Washington play the wife of Affleck’s mayoral candidate character while Yeun will play the role of a campaign manager, and Anderson as a fixer.
As mentioned, Affleck isn’t a stranger to the crime/thriller genre after directing films such as “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Town,” and “We Live By Night.” The script for “Animals” was penned by Connor McIntyre with revisions by veteran screenwriter Billy Ray (“Captain Phillips,” “Richard Jewell”).
The logline provided by TUDUM reads:
“‘Animals’ is a crime thriller that concerns a mayoral candidate (Affleck) and his wife (Washington) whose son is kidnapped. Surrounded by plenty of enemies, political and otherwise, the husband and wife have no choice but to get their hands dirty in order to save their son.”
“Animals” is a team-up between Artists Equity, founded by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital. It has a producing lineup that consists of Affleck, Damon, and Dani Bernfeld, alongside Brad Weston and Collin Creighton of Makeready, who developed the project in partnership with Fifth Season.
Los Angeles is also said to play a massive role in the film, allowing the city to sit in for Affleck’s previous affinity for Boston-set stories. Netflix/producers hope to help boost California-made productions with the film. This will be back-to-back films at Netflix for Affleck, who recently finished filming Joe Carnahan’s thriller “RIP,” co-starring buddy Matt Damon.
