Ben Affleck has revealed that his new film for Netflix, Animals, almost never happened. The actor and director halted production just two weeks before filming was set to begin after learning that Highest 2 Lowest, the remake directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington, shared a plot twist practically identical to his own project.
Both films revolve around a kidnapping involving a wealthy father and the most feared phone call one can receive. When Affleck learned that Lee and Washington were developing such a similar story, his reaction was as direct as it was blunt: he decided to stop everything.
Animals is now available on Netflix, although the production went through a period of uncertainty that Affleck himself detailed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Why Ben Affleck halted the production of Animals
As Affleck explained to Entertainment Weekly, the news reached him when filming was practically ready to start. Someone mentioned to him that Spike Lee and Denzel Washington were working on a kidnapping movie with a premise very similar to his own.
“We were very close to shooting,” Affleck said, “and then someone said to me, ‘Hey, do you know there’s another movie that Spike and Denzel are doing that’s about a kidnapping?’”
His immediate reaction, he recounted, was much shorter: “Oh, shit.”
Affleck decided to stop production and communicated the decision to his partners at the production company Artists Equity, including Matt Damon, who was set to star in the film. “We were two weeks out from shooting, and I said, ‘We’re not doing it,’” Affleck explained. “It’s hard enough to make a good movie without having those kinds of headwinds.”
The actor himself joked by comparing the situation to the famous box office duel between Armageddon and Deep Impact, two disaster films that competed for the same audience in 1998.
What Animals and Highest 2 Lowest have in common
Highest 2 Lowest is Spike Lee’s version of High and Low, the classic by Akira Kurosawa. Both that film and Animals share not only the premise of a kidnapping but also a specific plot twist that, had both films been released without Affleck knowing, would have generated inevitable comparisons among critics and audiences.
Interestingly, Affleck admitted that he has never seen the original Kurosawa film, considered one of the most refined works of classic cinema, which focuses almost entirely on the negotiation inside a house between victims and kidnappers.
Highest 2 Lowest received positive critical reception and a notable theatrical run courtesy of Apple. Animals, on the other hand, had a much more limited theatrical release alongside its arrival on Netflix, and reviews for Affleck’s film have generally been mixed or negative.
Why Affleck decided to resume the project
After postponing Animals and with Matt Damon leaving to film The Odyssey, Affleck could not stop thinking about his thriller set in Los Angeles.
“I thought, ‘God, this has really stuck with me, and I really want to do it,’” the director explained. Affleck recalled that he had lived in Los Angeles longer than in his native Boston, and he felt it was time to dedicate a film to the city that had become his home.
What is Animals about?
In Animals, Affleck plays Mark, an independent candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, a role that allows the actor a certain interpretative excess as a politician of dubious reputation. Kerry Washington plays his partner in the plot.
The couple soon discovers that their son was not actually kidnapped: the boy returns home safely on Halloween night. The kidnappers had mistaken the victim and, in reality, had abducted Hector (played by Jacob Astrada), the son of Ramon (Luis Gerardo Méndez), the partner of the family’s housekeeper.
That error becomes a moral dilemma for Affleck’s character: will he pay the ransom anyway? How much does this candidate really care about the inhabitants of Los Angeles?
It is exactly the same twist that appears in both High and Low and Spike Lee’s remake, although, as noted in the Entertainment Weekly review, Lee’s version resolves it with greater cinematic care. The tension that characterized Affleck in films like Gone Baby Gone or The Town does not quite appear in Animals, despite the fast pace of the plot and the change of victim.
It is even pointed out that a visual effect toward the end of the film, possibly generated with artificial intelligence in a key moment of suspense, feels artificial and summarizes the film’s limitations, which is striking coming from a director with Affleck’s track record, who is also responsible for titles like Argo.
Frequently asked questions about Animals and Ben Affleck
Why was Ben Affleck about to cancel Animals?
Affleck halted production two weeks before filming after learning that Spike Lee and Denzel Washington’s Highest 2 Lowest shared an identical plot twist to his kidnapping movie.
What does Highest 2 Lowest have to do with Animals?
Both films are kidnapping dramas starring wealthy parents and share the same plot twist, in which the kidnappers mistakenly abduct the wrong child.
Who was originally going to star in Animals?
Matt Damon, Affleck’s partner at the production company Artists Equity, was going to star in the film before it was postponed and he ended up leaving to film The Odyssey.
What is Animals about?
The film follows a married couple, played by Ben Affleck and Kerry Washington, who discover that their son was not kidnapped, but that the kidnappers had mistakenly abducted Hector, the son of the family’s housekeeper’s partner.
Where can you watch Animals?
Animals is available on Netflix after a limited theatrical release.
