One of the year’s most hotly anticipated films, Ben Affleck’s “Animals” arrives on Netflix this fall. And we’ve got the first trailer. Watch it below.
In “Animals,” based on a buzzy Black List script by Connor O. McIntyre and rewritten by Billy Ray and Affleck, the director/actor plays a mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped. He and his wife (Kerry Washington) then “find themselves drawn into a web of deception. As they scramble to raise the ransom payment, they’re forced to make choices that could tear their world apart,” according to the official synopsis.
The trailer is super tense, recalling to mind things like Akira Kurosawa’s “High and Low” (and to a lesser degree Spike Lee’s recent remake “Highest 2 Lowest”), highlighting the absolutely star-studded cast, which includes Gillian Anderson, Adriana Paz, Ray Fisher, Christopher Woodley, Matt Gerald, Jacob Estrada, Luis Gerardo Méndez and Steven Yeun.
“Animals” marks the second collaboration between Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity and Netflix, after “The Rip,” which was released earlier this year. (Artists Equity is a company whose business model gives bonuses to every person who worked on the movie, not just the above-the-line talent or flashy producers. With Netflix, the bonuses are delivered after a certain number of views are accrued.) Brad Weston, Collin Creighton, Dani Bernfeld and Luciana Damon also produce. Legendary cinematographer Robert Elswit shot “Animals.”
Originally, Affleck was just meant to co-write and direct, with Damon starring in the mayoral candidate role. But when Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” pulled up to shore, Damon could not resist the siren song of re-teaming with him, so Affleck stepped in as replacement. At one point, Jennifer Garner, Affleck’s real-life ex-wife, was also meant to star in the Washington role.
“Animals” arrives in select theaters and on Netflix on Oct. 9.
