Ben Affleck says Jennifer Garner declined to co-star with him in 'Animals'

Ben Affleck says Jennifer Garner declined to co-star with him in 'Animals' due to their history

Ben Affleck has revealed that his ex-wife Jennifer Garner declined an opportunity to co-star with him in his upcoming crime thriller Animals.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Affleck explained that Garner and his longtime collaborator Matt Damon were originally expected to lead the film. However, Damon left the project because of his commitments to filming The Odyssey.

Affleck subsequently decided to play mayoral candidate Mark Kimball himself, which led to a conversation with Garner about appearing opposite him.

“I talked to Jen, and she was like, 'We don't wanna do that. You just get baggage,'” Affleck recalled.

The actor-director said he would still like to work with Garner again, praising their professional relationship and friendship.

“I would love to work with her, frankly. She's fabulous, and we're really good friends, and I'm profoundly grateful to her, and we have a great thing,” the 54-year-old said.

Affleck added that he remains open to collaborating with Garner in the future, while acknowledging the potential impact of their history on how audiences might perceive them on screen.

“I still would wanna work with her in the future, but what you don't wanna do is take the audience's baggage and have it work against you, you know?” he continued.

Garner and Affleck previously appeared together in Pearl Harbor in 2001 and Daredevil in 2003. They married in 2005 and divorced in 2018. The former couple share three children: Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14.

Kerry Washington was ultimately cast as Affleck’s onscreen wife in Animals. The film also stars Gillian Anderson, Ray Fisher and Steven Yeun.

Animals marks another directing project for Affleck, who also takes on a leading role as Mark Kimball. The crime thriller is scheduled to become available in select US cinemas and on Netflix from October 9.