Ben Affleck Praises Jennifer Lopez and Explains Why Jennifer Garner Turned Down a Role Opposite Him

A Casting Change in Animals Brought His History With Garner Into Focus, While Fatherhood Shapes Where He Works

Ben Affleck planned to direct Matt Damon and Jennifer Garner as a married couple in the thriller Animals. Then Damon became unavailable, Affleck took over the lead, and Garner decided against playing his wife. Affleck understood her reasoning. Audiences already knew the two had been married, and that history could follow them into every scene.

Affleck discussed the casting change in an October 2026 interview with Variety, where he also praised Jennifer Lopez’s acting and questioned how much awards results tell us about a performance. When the conversation turned to his own life away from the camera, he described a routine that helps explain why he wants to keep making films in Los Angeles. His children are there, and he wants to be home when school lets out.

Why the Casting Changed When Matt Damon Left Animals

Affleck was already set to direct Animals when Damon’s commitment to The Odyssey made him unavailable. Stepping into the lead meant Affleck would also play a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose family is thrown into crisis by a call from someone claiming to have kidnapped his son.

Garner had been considered for the role of the candidate’s wife when Damon was attached. Once Affleck took over, the part would have paired two former spouses in a thriller that asks viewers to pay close attention to a marriage under pressure. Garner passed, and Affleck later described her decision as wise.

As a director, he wanted viewers to accept the couple as Mark and Abigail Kimball from the moment they appeared together. If a scene prompted people to look for parallels with his marriage to Garner, that could change how they interpreted even a small exchange between the characters. Kerry Washington ultimately played Abigail opposite Affleck.

Affleck said he would still like to work with Garner. His concern was specific to playing spouses in this film, where the characters’ relationship carries much of the story.

Affleck Says Awards Tell Only Part of the Story About Lopez’s Work

The conversation turned to Lopez when the interviewer asked whether she had received enough recognition for Kiss of the Spider Woman and Hustlers. Affleck had worked as a producer on Kiss of the Spider Woman and made his personal stake in the question clear before offering his opinion.

“I’m biased,” he said. He went on to express his admiration for Lopez’s abilities and talk about the role personal taste plays in awards voting. The performances he values most, he explained, do not always line up with the choices voters make.

Affleck also credited Lopez and Garner for the work they put into building relationships with audiences outside their acting roles. When asked about the expectation that performers develop a public presence across different platforms, he pointed to both women as people who had done it well. He joked that he would have little idea what to do if asked to build that kind of following himself.

How Affleck and Garner Make Time for Their Three Children

Affleck and Garner share three children. He described a routine in which they spend a week with him and then a week with their mother. When the children are with him, he can finish work, pick them up from school, and have dinner with them if, as he joked, they agree to spend the evening with him.

He also expressed gratitude for Garner and the relationship she has with their children. The way he talked about family time was specific to the routine they have built. Both parents have work commitments, and a film schedule can affect when each of them is available at home.

That practical consideration was part of the original casting discussion for Animals. Affleck said he had thought about how he and Garner might coordinate their schedules if she took the role while he directed. The idea appealed to him in part because it could give both parents more time with their children.

Why Filming in Los Angeles Matters to Him

Affleck connected his preference for working locally with a goal for Artists Equity, the production company he co-founded with Damon. He wants Los Angeles to remain a place where films are made, and he spoke highly of the crews he has worked with there. Animals, which is set in the city, was filmed in and around Los Angeles.

He also acknowledged that his position gives him choices many people in the industry lack. A production can require long stretches away, and he has some say in where he spends those months. With his children growing up in Los Angeles, he wants to use that flexibility to be nearby.

His description of an ordinary week made that choice concrete. A film can take months to make. On a day when the children are staying with him, being in town means he can leave work, meet them after school, and see who feels like staying for dinner.