Garner Told Affleck 'No' to Playing His Wife in 'Animals'

Jennifer Garner declined Ben Affleck's offer to star opposite him in 'Animals,' citing the 'baggage' of their real history, so Kerry Washington took the role.

Ben Affleck says he originally wanted ex-wife Jennifer Garner to play the female lead in his new Netflix thriller 'Animals' — and for a time she was set to do it. In an Entertainment Weekly interview reported by Variety, Affleck said he thought 'Jen Garner would be amazing for this role,' partly because filming in alternating weeks would let the co-parents see their three kids more. But once Matt Damon dropped out of the male lead, Affleck cast himself, and the pairing changed everything. 'I talked to Jen, and she was like,

Both exes agreed that audiences could not separate the actors from their real marriage. According to Variety, Affleck said, 'What you don't wanna do is take the audience's baggage and have it work against you,' while still insisting, 'She's fabulous, and we're really good friends, and I'm profoundly grateful to her.' On 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!,' Page Six reports, he recalled Garner's blunt refusal — 'Great, but no, I'm not gonna play your wife in a movie' — and quipped, '[It's] probably for the best. That lesson has been learned.'

Per Variety, 'Animals' was originally a Matt Damon vehicle, but a scheduling clash and another film in the same genre with a similar release window pushed Affleck to shelve the project two weeks before production. By the time it revived, Damon had committed to 'The Odyssey' — which Affleck mocked as 'another lesser film, obviously.' Page Six adds Affleck's detail that a rival movie shared the same plot mechanic, making him fear a repeat of 'the two asteroid movies thing.' Kerry Washington ultimately took the role of Abigail, the wife of Affleck's kidnapped-son mayoral candidate.

CinemaBlend, citing an In Touch Weekly source it frames as unverified, reports that Affleck is still 'very eager to find the right role' for Garner, whose profile is rising with 'The Five-Star Weekend.' The same unnamed source alleges Jennifer Lopez takes issue with a possible collaboration, arguing Affleck once promised her an Oscar he never delivered — a claim CinemaBlend itself warns readers to take with a grain of salt since Lopez's camp has not addressed it. CinemaBlend notes Affleck has worked with both exes before, from 'Daredevil' to producing Lopez's 'Kiss of the Spider Woman.'

Affleck tells Entertainment Weekly, via Variety, that he still wants to work with Garner someday — just in a role where the audience's knowledge of their marriage works for the film rather than against it. For now, fans can judge the movie he made instead: 'Animals,' co-written with Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray, premieres Oct. 9 on Netflix with Affleck and Washington as the couple scrambling to raise ransom money.