Ben Affleck pointed out a significant similarity between his ex-wife Jennifer Garner and his Animals costar Kerry Washington.
“You and Jen Garner, by the way — talk about twin spirits. You’re the two — the only people I know who regularly bake for the crew,” Affleck, 54, shared on a recent episode of Washington’s “Street You Grew Up On” podcast.
The actor joked that Garner, 54, and Washington’s kindness reflected badly on him, adding, “It’s like this is the category of people who make you feel like an ass no matter how hard you try. Because Kerry and Jen are always doing you one step better with everybody else.”
Affleck added that he’s struggled to bring the same energy on set.
“I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna get something, like a wrap gift for the [crew],’ and they’re like, ‘So did you get Kerry’s donuts today? Tomorrow she’s doing Halloween muffins,’” he recalled before referring to what Washington does as “amazing” and “a gift.”
Affleck and Washington, 49, play husband and wife in Netflix’s Animals, which he also wrote and directed. Washington’s role was originally supposed to go to Garner, with Matt Damon playing Affleck’s character.
“I thought, ‘God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role,’” Affleck told Entertainment Weekly in September. “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.’”
Affleck added: “She can bring something interesting that she hasn’t [done], that I kind of know she can do, that I don’t think she had a chance to do in one movie.”
Animals was briefly put on pause before Affleck returned to the project. Damon, 55, was ultimately unavailable due to his commitment to The Odyssey, so Affleck took over the lead role.
“I talked to Jen, and she was like, ‘We don’t wanna do that. You just get baggage,’” he said about the decision for them not to play spouses on screen.
Affleck didn’t rule out reuniting with Garner on a different project in the future, saying, “I would love to work with her, frankly. She’s fabulous, and we’re really good friends, and I’m profoundly grateful to her, and we have a great thing.”
He concluded: “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?”
Animals hits Netflix October 9.
