Ben Affleck Directs Netflix Thriller ‘Animals,’ Streaming October 9

Ben Affleck leads an ensemble cast including Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, Gillian Anderson and Luis Gerardo Méndez in the new kidnapping thriller.

Ben Affleck takes on multiple roles in Animals, a new Netflix thriller that puts a family at the center of a high-stakes kidnapping.

Affleck directs the film and stars alongside Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, Gillian Anderson, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Adriana Paz and Ray Fisher.

Animals follows a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife after their son is kidnapped. As the couple works to raise the ransom, they are pulled deeper into a web of deception that forces them to confront difficult choices and secrets within their own world.

The film brings together a notable ensemble cast while placing Affleck both behind and in front of the camera.

Affleck directed the film from a screenplay by Connor O. McIntyre, Billy Ray and Affleck.

The production team includes Brad Weston, Collin Creighton, Affleck, Matt Damon and Dani Bernfeld, with Luciana Damon also serving as a producer.

Executive producers include Michael Beugg; Kevin Halloran and Michael Joe for Artists Equity; and Graham Taylor, Chris Rice, Christopher Slager and Dan Guando for Fifth Season.

For Affleck, Animals adds another directing project to his filmography while giving him a leading role in a story built around family, pressure, deception and difficult decisions.

The cast also features Christopher Woodley, Matt Gerald and Jacob Estrada.

With its kidnapping-centered premise and political-family setting, Animals explores how quickly a carefully constructed life can unravel when a family is forced into an impossible situation.

Animals streams October 9, exclusively on Netflix.