Netflix's #1 Movie Is a Tense Political Thriller About a Prominent Family Thrown Into Chaos

When Kerry Washington stepped out in New York earlier this week, rocking a fierce bob, it nearly stole the spotlight from what she was actually on the ground to promote: Her new film, Animals, co-starring Ben Affleck. It debuted on Netflix and in select theaters October 9, and has already landed as the platform's number one movie.

Animals stars Washington and Affleck as Los Angeles political power couple Mark and Abby Kimball. Mark is a candidate for the mayoral election, and his campaign has been struggling with debt. On Halloween, just days away from the election, their son, Denny, is kidnapped for ransom. This throws the family into chaos as Sam (Steven Yeun), Mark's aide, brings in political fixer Dayle Burton (Gillian Anderson) to manage the crisis and bring Denny home. Her demand that everyone involved offer complete honesty begins to bring uncomfortable truths to light, as Mark and Abby reveal secrets that they thought they would have more time to control.

"This is a story about whether people have a real moral compass, or whether we just seek to do what’s in our best interests and then build a story that fits the moral compass we want others to believe we have,” Affleck tells Tudum. “It had this really tense thriller core where at every moment you want to see what happens next, and the challenge was whether you could hold the audience’s interest that intently.”

But beneath the fast-paced action and ticking clock is a story that dives under the surface. Washington recalls Affleck telling her that ultimately, Animals is about a marriage, which she thought was just a ploy to get her to sign on.

"I read the script and understood what he meant," she says. "I saw how important the marriage dynamics are to what unfolds for this family.”