Ben Affleck's 'Animals' Cast Wants Him to Run for Office

Ben Affleck plays a Brentwood businessman running for Los Angeles mayor in the new thriller "Animals" — and his cast thinks he should try the real thing.

"Maybe they hate me," Affleck cracked at the film's premiere on Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

The Oscar winner directed and co-wrote "Animals," and his own political résumé runs deep: he has supported the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. But a run for elected office is another matter.

Kerry Washington, who co-stars as Affleck's wife in the film, said the cast has pressed him on it. "We keep telling him that he should, but he doesn't want to," she said on the premiere red carpet. "You know, we're in a place in our politics right now where anything is possible, but I would hope that the people who are running for office want to be there and he has been very explicit in saying that he doesn't want to run for office."

Luis Gerardo Méndez, who plays an undocumented Mexican immigrant unexpectedly — and dangerously — thrust into the mayoral hopeful's life, gave a full endorsement. "I would definitely vote for him," Méndez said. "Go Ben Affleck! He's smart and sexy — that's all you need."

Affleck, however, isn't announcing a candidacy anytime soon. Instead, he used the premiere to deliver a sharp assessment of American politics.

"We don't ask the question of what are your qualifications to hold public office any longer," he said. "It's, 'You wanna join the circus? Who's the biggest carny?' I think that there is a whatever side of the aisle you're on, one of the interesting things that people can agree on is a collective disappointment with the way that American politics has trended."

The problem, in Affleck's view, is systemic. "There's nobody alive now who thinks, hey, we're really doing it right and things are going great and I love this political system," he said. "And that's a problem."

Being in office, he argued, is no longer about serving the people. "It's just about money, raising money, it's just about playing a sort of adolescent game of who can make fun of the other person better or be more reductive and stupid about something rather than actually trying to talk about the issues," he said.

What's missing, according to Affleck, is leadership. "I think the thing that's missing from politics, frankly, is you have to lead. You can't just scare people. You can't just hector them. You can't lecture them. You can't guilt them into it. You've got to inspire them. Otherwise they don't want to vote for you."

Then he closed the door on speculation with a practical note: "Selfishly, I just see what a difficult grind of a job it is and I'd rather make movies about it."

The film itself backs up that preference. "Animals" pairs Affleck's directorial hand with a political premise: a wealthy businessman's mayoral campaign collides with the life of Méndez's undocumented immigrant, whose involvement turns dangerous.

Audiences can judge the onscreen campaign for themselves. "Animals" will be released on Netflix and in select theaters on Oct. 9. Off screen, the question of an Affleck candidacy appears settled — the cast may keep asking, but for now he will keep his politics on the screen.