Ben Affleck is opening up about the on-screen reunion with ex-wife Jennifer Garner that almost happened - and why it didn't.
The actor-director's new Netflix thriller "Animals," premiering Oct. 9, was originally set to star his longtime friend Matt Damon opposite Garner as a married couple facing a kidnapping crisis. Affleck told Entertainment Weekly he'd personally wanted Garner for the role, saying, "I thought, God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role."
Plans shifted when Damon exited over a scheduling conflict with "The Odyssey," leaving Affleck to step into the lead role himself. That change would have put Affleck and Garner on screen as a married couple for the first time since their 2018 divorce - a pairing both ultimately decided against.
"I talked to Jen, and she was like, 'We don't wanna do that. You just get baggage,'" Affleck recalled. Kerry Washington was cast in Garner's place.
Despite the recast, Affleck said he'd still like to work with Garner down the road. The two, who share three children - Violet, Seraphina, and Samuel - have long been praised for their amicable co-parenting since their split.
That grace under pressure tracks with what Garner has said about her own faith. The "Alias" star has spoken openly about returning to church with her kids and described her private journaling as turning into prayer - "a letter to God," she once said - a habit she credits with keeping her grounded through very public seasons of change.
"Animals" arrives on Netflix October 9.
