Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are reuniting for kidnapping thriller Animals for Netflix, and here are the details.
Despite both being equally successful as actors, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have built up quite the portfolio of work behind the camera. T
hey won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1998 for their work on the wonderful Good Will Hunting, which was directed by Gus Van Sant. Robin Williams also won Best Supporting Actor that time.
It led to Kevin Smith’s brilliant parody in his 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, where we glimpse a violent clip from Smith’s made up sequel Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season.
The pair went on to co-write 2021’s The Last Duel with Nicole Holofcener, and most recently scripted acclaimed drama, Air, the story of how Sonny Vaccaro changed the fortune of shoemaker Nike by signing a young Michael Jordan.
Now, the two are reuniting once again on crime thriller Animals, which Affleck will direct from a screenplay by Connor McIntyre, with rewrites by Billy Ray. Damon will star. It sees the pair reunite with production company Artists Equity, with whom they worked on Air.
Netflix has picked the project up, and the film will premiere on its streaming service.
Though a full synopsis has not yet been released, we do know that the film will revolve around “a mayoral candidate and his wife whose son is kidnapped. Surrounded by plenty of enemies, political and otherwise, the husband and wife have no choice but to get their hands dirty in order to save their son”.
Affleck is as busy as ever in front of the camera too, with the long mooted sequel to The Accountant finally set to shoot later this year. Damon, meanwhile, after appearing in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which was just nominated for thirteen Oscars including Best Picture, will soon be seen in Ethan Coen’s new film Drive Away Dolls, which is due to be released in UK cinemas on the 15th March.
