Why Ben Affleck canceled plan to cast Jennifer Garner in his new movie - USA Today

Ben Affleck's latest movie was nearly a reunion with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.

The "Gone Girl" star, 54, revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he was planning for Garner to star in his latest directorial effort, the kidnapping thriller "Animals." But after they mutually agreed on a change of plans, he wound up recasting the role with Kerry Washington.

Garner would have played the wife of the lead character, who was originally set to be portrayed by Matt Damon.

"I thought, God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role," Affleck told EW. "It also has the added benefit of, like, both of us will see our kids more because we do a week and a week and back and forth. I thought, well, we can coordinate our schedules around it."

But things changed after Affleck pulled the plug on the movie just two weeks before production was to start because he learned Spike Lee was working on his own kidnapping thriller, the Denzel Washington starrer "Highest 2 Lowest," and he feared the two films were too similar.

Affleck decided he wouldn't make the movie, but a few months later, he had a change of heart and decided to revisit the project.

By the time the movie got back on track, though, Damon was no longer available to star because he was busy making "The Odyssey," so Affleck stepped in to play the lead role himself. That created an issue: Affleck and Garner would now be playing a married couple in a movie that deals with marital problems, an idea that neither of them was comfortable with.

"I talked to Jen, and she was like, 'We don't wanna do that. You just get baggage,'" Affleck told EW.

Affleck and Garner were married from 2005 to 2018, and they share three children: Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14.

Affleck noted he still hopes to work with Garner in the future on a project without the same kind of meta component that "Animals" would have had.

"I would love to work with her, frankly," he told the outlet. "She's fabulous, and we're really good friends, and I'm profoundly grateful to her, and we have a great thing. I still would wanna work with her in the future, but what you don’t wanna do is take the audience’s baggage and have it work against you, you know?"

Affleck has said that he and Garner have remained on good terms since their divorce.

Speaking on "The Howard Stern Show" in December 2021, he described Garner as "somebody I love and respect, but to whom I shouldn't be married any longer," adding that they "tried" to avoid divorce but didn't want "this to be the model that our kids see of marriage."

"We did it amicably," he said of their divorce. "We did our best. Did we have moments of tension? Did we have disagreements over the custody? Was stuff difficult for us? Did we get angry? Yes. But fundamentally, it was always underpinned with a respect. I knew she was a good mom."

"Animals" stars Affleck as a candidate for Los Angeles mayor whose son is kidnapped. The film, which also stars Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun, marks Affleck's first movie as a director since 2023's "Air." It releases on Netflix on Oct. 9.

Speaking with Netflix's "Tudum," Affleck said the movie is "really about marriage – what it means to attach yourself to someone, the bargains and exchanges."