Ben Affleck debuted his new Netflix political thriller, “Animals,” to a packed house at the Directors Village Theatre on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
Ahead of the screening, Netflix hosted a pre-reception celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, featuring a curated selection of LA’s Latino-owned food and beverage vendors on the carpet.
Inside the theater, famous faces included Michael Gandolfini, Jason Bateman and power couple Matt and Luciana Damon (who also produced via Artists Equity), and Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria welcomed the crowd.
“‘Animals’ is a love letter to Angelenos,” she said. “They shot literally all over Los Angeles, something we were committed to along with our partners at Artists Equity. The Los Angeles production employed nearly 900 crew members and supported over 600 local businesses.”
Affleck, who directed and stars in the film, showed some serious love to Netflix (to whom he sold his AI company InterPositive earlier this year): “I know that the director typically comes up and does the obligatory thank you to the studio. Half the time, they’re seething with rage. But I get to tell you that’s really not the case here,” he told the audience.
“Netflix has made me aware there’s a different and better way. They’ve been willing to adopt performance-based compensation. They have been supportive of shooting in Los Angeles. These are things that just are not being done, frankly,” the star added.
Affleck then introduced the ensemble cast, including Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz, Luis Gerardo Méndez and Ray Fisher.
“Animals” follows Affleck as an LA mayoral candidate forced to get his hands dirty after his son is kidnapped and he’s forced to come up with the ransom payment in a matter of hours.
It would be a true crime to reveal any more than that, but suffice to say that the last 20 minutes of this twisty flick had the packed theater positively hooting and hollering.
After the film, the cast and creatives gathered at Brentwood hotspot Baltaire for a chic afterparty, where Washington was spotted deep in conversation with Bajaria and Netflix boss Ted Sarandos.
Affleck held court as a line of admirers showered him with praise.
“Animals” hits Netflix on Oct. 9.
