Kerry Washington was wary when Ben Affleck told her marriage was central to Animals, the crime thriller he’d written and would direct. He wanted her to play his wife, and she’d heard that kind of pitch before.
“When you’re playing ‘the wife’ and they want you to do it, they say, ‘Oh, the marriage is so important,’ because they want you to think your part is important,” Washington said. “So, in my mind, I was like, ‘We’ll see when I read this thing.’”
Washington, 49, had long admired Affleck, 54, and wanted the material to match her enthusiasm for working with him. Once she started reading, she said, “I actually couldn’t put it down.”
The script also revealed a more troubled relationship than she’d expected when he first approached her about playing his wife.
After she’d read it, Affleck made clear that he wanted her help developing that relationship. Washington recalled him saying, “I really need somebody who’s going to help me flesh this out more and dig into the material with me. We’re going to have a rehearsal process.”
That chance to work through the difficult marriage together added to the role’s appeal. “That also got me really excited because I love rehearsal so much,” Washington said.
