Ben Affleck on How ‘Animals’ Explores How Far Parents Will Go for Their Kids (Exclusive)

Ben Affleck, Kerry Washington and Steven Yeun talked to “Extra’s” Derek Hough about their new crime thriller “Animals."

In the movie, Ben plays L.A. mayoral candidate Mark Kimball, whose son is kidnapped for ransom. Kimball and his wife (Washington) are desperate to get their son back, but their whole world could be torn apart in the process.

Ben told Derek, “The premise of the movie starts off with… We’ll do anything for our children, right? Like, you know, who would you kill for?… The movie then progresses and asks more interesting and complicated questions about, like, well, how far does that extend?… What does it mean to really be family?”

Affleck added, “And really, what I love about the movie is that it becomes a complicated story that doesn’t have easy answers. And a lot of it is actually around, like, marriage and politics... politics, particularly, in terms of, you know, your moral code and how, where you'll sacrifice.”

Kerry talked about working with Ben, who also directed the film.

She said, “I think being directed by Ben, honestly, was the thing that got me most excited initially... I really leapt at the opportunity to work with a filmmaker... that I really like.”

Washington added, “I will also say that that he is so good in this film as an actor and we had so much fun working together as an ensemble, so it was also just really fun to watch him direct and act.”

Ben praised Kerry, calling her “such a formidable and impressive woman,” with Steven, saying, “I needed people that would not only be great actors but would help me write and build it… Steven had already come up with all this brilliant stuff and that was part of what made me go I need to be getting actors who are bringing things to it like Steven.”

In the movie, Affleck’s character says in a moment of crisis you find out who you are, so Derek had to ask if any of the stars had experienced a moment like that. 

Steven recalled, “I remember I was in… a hail storm tornado Nebraska car wipeout… and I was driving with my friend and we were coming from L.A. and landing in Michigan, and we had made it to Nebraska and then her tires got bald and then we started spinning in the middle of the highway with all these cars going by and it was hailing.”

He went on, “You simulate that in your head and… remember movies and you’re, like, busy screaming in those movies but, you know, sometimes when you’re just in it you're like, ‘All right, focus, get the wheel down,' and then you're done and then then you’re chilling and then people cry afterward.”

Ben teased, “She found out that you were just a straight baller.”

Yeun laughed, saying, “Straight bad-ass.”

Affleck also talked about the evolution of the film, which originally had his best friend Matt Damon and his ex-wife Jennifer Garner attached.

Ben recalled, “We got a script sent to us, we really liked it,” but they found out Denzel Washington and Spike Lee were working on a ransom film at Apple called “Highest 2 Lowest,” and decided not to move forward with “Animals.”

Elements of “Animals” stayed with Ben and he ended up revisiting the project and building a team of collaborators to create a “very different” film.

He said, "And it was a whole different, more interesting version of the movie than the one that I originally wanted to make.”

"Animals" hits Netflix October 9.