Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck remain close after divorce, but playing a married couple on screen was apparently one layer of cooperation too many. Garner had agreed to appear in Affleck’s film Animals when Matt Damon was due to play her husband. Once Affleck took over the role, she withdrew.
The actors, both 54, married in 2005 and finalised their divorce in 2018. They continue to spend time together while co-parenting their three children, Violet, Seraphina and Samuel. That arrangement seems to work perfectly well without asking audiences to watch them portray a troubled marriage for entertainment.
Garner joined the project in 2024. The thriller centres on a mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped, with the Alias star originally cast as the candidate’s wife.
Why did Jennifer Garner leave Animals?
Affleck told Entertainment Weekly that he had suggested Garner for the role while Damon was still expected to lead the film.
“I thought, ‘God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role,’” he said. Hiring her also offered the “added benefit” of making family scheduling easier. “I thought, ‘Well, we can coordinate our schedules around it.’”
That practical plan lasted until Damon’s commitments to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey forced him to drop out. Affleck then stepped into the leading role, changing Garner’s character from Damon’s on-screen wife to Affleck’s.
Garner’s response was concise. According to Affleck, she told him: “We don’t wanna do that. You just get baggage.”
She left the film, and Kerry Washington ultimately took the role. Washington said she was drawn to the couple’s “pretty horrible dynamic,” which is compelling material for a thriller, if perhaps less appealing when the performers’ actual divorce would become part of every interview.
Could the former couple work together again?
Affleck said he still wants to collaborate with Garner, whom he called “fabulous.” He also described the pair as “really good friends,” while acknowledging that casting them as spouses would invite viewers to bring their knowledge of the former marriage into the story.
“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?” he said.
The two have already appeared together in three films, all released before they married. They shared the screen in Pearl Harbor in 2001, Daredevil in 2003 and Elektra in 2005.
Affleck has previously discussed the advantages and complications of working with people close to him, although those comments concerned Damon, his longtime friend and frequent collaborator. He said working with someone “you love, trust and respect” can be easier, provided the friendship does not override the demands of the job.
“Sometimes mixing work and personal relationships and stuff can be complicated,” he said. “Why it’s not is because we both love this job separate and independent of one another and we both understand that you can’t ask a friend to change the rules of the universe to conform to your friendship.”
Affleck and Damon regularly work together through their production company, Artists Equity, and famously shared a bank account early in their careers. Garner may still join that professional circle one day. She simply will not be pretending to be Affleck’s wife when she does.
