Ben Affleck is no stranger to complex characters, but with his latest directorial effort, Animals, he's actively hoping audiences will walk away with differing opinions. The Oscar winner, who also co-wrote and stars in the Netflix thriller, wants viewers to wrestle with the choices made by the people on screen—especially the flawed politician he portrays. "You don't have to make movies predictable, dumb, obvious, or have nakedly explicit thematic resolutions in order to attract a broad audience," he told Collider ahead of the film's October 9 release.
The movie, which marks Affleck's sixth feature as director, dives headfirst into questions about money, power, and who gets protection in a crisis. Affleck plays Mark Kimball, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose son Denny (Christopher Woodley) is kidnapped. As Mark and his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) scramble to gather the ransom with help from a shadowy power broker named Dayle (Gillian Anderson), their desperate moves drag others into the chaos and threaten to expose their own secrets.
Beyond directing and producing alongside Matt Damon, Affleck co-wrote the script with Billy Ray and Connor O. McIntyre for his production company, Artists Equity. In conversations with Collider, Affleck, Washington, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz, and Luis Gerardo Méndez unpack the film's thorniest themes: trust, political ambition, and the uncomfortable truth that some lives are treated as more valuable than others.
Good Intentions, Messy Choices
At its core, Animals explores the gap between wanting to do good and actually making choices that align with those intentions. Mark enters the race as a reformer, a modern-day Jefferson Smith from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. But when his own family is threatened, his priorities shift—and that's where the film gets interesting for Washington.
"I think the film really speaks to how complicated politics can be and how you can sometimes really want to do the right thing, whatever that means to you, but that there are so many forces at play—economic forces, internal forces of psychology that can get in the way, your people-pleasing, your dishonesty," she says.
Washington sees that same struggle in Yeun's character, Sam, the campaign manager who's desperately trying to keep Mark's bid alive amid the turmoil. Though Sam's advice often sounds cold and calculating, Washington believes there's more beneath the surface. "He comes across to me initially as a more cynical character who's a bit more jaded, but what you realize is how much he really does want to make a difference, so he's trying to play the game in a way where change can really happen," she explains. "I guess Mark is kind of trying to do the same thing [laughs]. I just don't love that he lies to his wife about it."
Affleck jokingly interjects, "Listen, you gotta do what you gotta do." But he's serious about wanting audiences to engage with the moral ambiguity. "Two people might see it and vehemently disagree about certain characters or whether or not this marriage is healthy or whether or not that was a fair choice. I would love that to come out of this movie, and for people to have very strong opinions about all three of our characters," he says. "That is what I think makes movies stay with people and land and be provocative—not just be provocative for its own sake, but really to ground it, make it real, but also respect the audience."
He's careful not to sound condescending: "That sounds a little bit like, 'We'll see if the audience is smart enough to like my movie,' and I don't mean that. I just hope that complexity is actually welcomed by the audience."
For Yeun, that complexity is embodied in Sam's relentless push to cut through the political spin. "All your motivations are now buried under so much artifice that you're like, 'Can you just get to what it is that you want?' And that's what I always felt with Sam—I was like, 'Get to the thing, get to the thing, and then we can move it forward.' But then it got complicated."
Who Gets to Be a Hero?
The film also turns a sharp eye on class and privilege. Mark and Abigail employ Cecilia (Adriana Paz), who has worked for the Kimballs for years. When she asks them to help Ramon (Luis Gerardo Méndez) gain citizenship, she's reaching out to people she genuinely cares about—not just her bosses. Paz tells Collider that the bond between the two families is real. "They really loved each other. That's true," she says. "But at the same time, when you are in this kind of situation, it's like who or what is going to be your priority, you know?"
Méndez points out how money and status shape who controls the narrative. "It's also about who controls the narrative. And it's usually the person with more power, with more influence, with more money," he says. "Our characters, they take the biggest risks; they have the least protection. They have the most honorable way of acting, but they are just not allowed to be heroes in this country because of the power structure, because of the legal system, because of the system."
For those who enjoy thrillers that leave you questioning long after the credits roll, Animals is a must-watch. And if you're in the mood for more edge-of-your-seat storytelling, check out our list of terrific thriller series under 40 episodes or dive into another Netflix thriller that bites off more than it can chew. For more on Affleck and Damon's production company, see how they're championing new voices in indie film.
