Ben Affleck Reveals Why Jennifer Garner Turned Down Role in His Movie

Ben Affleck isn’t going to be cagey about his past with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.

The Oscar winner got candid about his attempt to cast the Alias alum in his sixth directorial feature Animals, which centers around the kidnapping of a Los Angeles mayoral hopeful’s son.

Garner would’ve played the candidate’s wife, whose marriage is strained.

“I thought, ‘God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role,’” Affleck told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published Sept. 14, explaining there was also the “added benefit” that they could spend more time with their kids Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14. “I thought, ‘Well, we can coordinate our schedules around it.'”

However, the Argo director’s plan started to fall apart when production was pushed back to a later date, and his longtime friend Matt Damon could no longer play the husband due to his filming schedule for The Odyssey.

And when Affleck ultimately decided to step in and replace Damon in the role, he “talked to Jen, and she was like, ‘We don’t wanna do that. You just get baggage.'” So, she opted not to play an onscreen couple with her ex.