Whether in front of the camera, behind it, or — occasionally — both, Ben Affleck is a man who knows his way around a taut, tense thriller. From The Town to Argo and from Gone Girl to The Accountant, an Affleck under pressure is generally an Affleck well worth tuning in for. And now, having already starred in one banger Netflix thriller this year (The Rip — go check it out!), the two-time Oscar winner is back directing and starring in what looks to be another: Animals. Check out the trailer below;
Hoo boy! Well that was intense, wasn’t it? “In a crisis, we discover who we are, and what’s important to us,” says Ben Affleck’s mayoral candidate Mark Kimball at the start of this new trailer for Animals — and a crisis is exactly what awaits him here. Once eyed as a Matt Damon and Jennifer Garner starrer that was put on the back burner by the release of Spike Lee’s similarly themed Highest 2 Lowest, Affleck’s latest finds his character, Mark, facing the unthinkable alongside wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) when their son is kidnapped, leaving the couple scrambling to raise the ransom money while being forced to confront their own deepest held secrets. As Gillian Anderson’s shadowy fixer Dayle bluntly spells out to Mark, “Your son’s life is at stake, so whatever secrets you’ve kept from one another need to come out now.” Political figures? Hiding things? Perish the thought!
The official synopsis for Animals, whose cast also includes the likes of Steven Yeun, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Adriana Paz, and Ray Fisher, reads: “When their son is kidnapped, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife find themselves drawn into a web of deception. As they scramble to raise the ransom payment, they’re forced to make choices – and reveal secrets – that could tear their world apart.”
Will Affleck and Washington save their kid? What secrets are the spouses hiding from one another? And what exactly is the dealio with Dayle? We’ll find out when Animals charges onto Netflix — and into selected cinemas — on October 9.
