When Ben Affleck set out to direct the political thriller Animals, he faced a creative choice familiar to many filmmakers in Hollywood: he could have written the Mexican characters himself, handed the pages to his actors, and moved on. As the director, co-writer, and one of the film’s main stars, no one in the industry would have questioned it if he had asked Adriana Paz and Luis Gerardo Méndez to simply deliver dialogue generated from an outsider’s perspective. Instead, Affleck took a decidedly unconventional path. He handed them the pen, asked them to write their own lines, and—most importantly—listened to what they had to say.
This collaborative approach marks a stark departure from how Latino characters are routinely handled in mainstream cinema. Premiering globally on Netflix, Animals relies on a level of authenticity and lived experience that is rarely prioritized when major studios tackle stories involving marginalized communities. By empowering his actors to shape their own dialogue, Affleck acknowledged the limitations of his own perspective while actively making space for his cast to bring genuine truth to the screen.
What It Meant to Paz and Méndez to Be Asked
For actors of color navigating an industry that frequently relies on tired stereotypes, being invited to co-create a character from the ground up is an extraordinary rarity. Adriana Paz described the experience with a warmth that underscores just how uncommon this level of creative trust is on a professional film set. Rather than treating the writing process as an extra burden, Paz felt she was being handed a profound privilege.
According to Paz, Affleck frequently checked in to ensure the dialogue felt authentic to their lived experiences—asking whether their characters would genuinely use certain phrases or if critical pieces of perspective were missing. The process of sitting down with Luis Gerardo Méndez to work through their roles together reminded both actors why they chose the profession in the first place. It was about building something real and three-dimensional with another person, rather than simply executing someone else’s pre-packaged, generalized vision of who they are supposed to be.
Méndez, widely recognized internationally for his standout work in Club de Cuervos, understood immediately that the responsibility extended far beyond the confines of a typical Hollywood production. He recognized that he and Paz were carrying the representation of millions of people on their shoulders—not only within the United States, but globally. This included migrants, refugees, and individuals living in foreign countries where they often feel unwelcome or unseen. Méndez noted that while some acting projects are purely fun and others are more routine, Animals fell into a category that demanded every ounce of his dedication, talent, and lived understanding.
Why This Matters for How Latino Migrants Are Depicted on Screen
The characters brought to life by Paz and Méndez in Animals deliberately reject the one-dimensional tropes that have long dominated Hollywood storytelling. They are not framed as criminals, threats, or simple cautionary tales designed to advance a thriller’s plot. Instead, they are depicted with nuance, dignity, and humanity.
Paz portrays Cecilia, a housekeeper working inside the Los Angeles home where Affleck’s character is running a high-stakes political campaign. In many traditional narratives, a character in Cecilia’s position serves merely as background furniture—present yet entirely invisible to the powerful people surrounding her, despite tending to the very things they value most. In Animals, Cecilia occupies space with agency and emotional depth.
Méndez plays a man striving to support his family while navigating life without legal documentation, trying to do everything right within an unforgiving system that offers him zero legal protection and no recognition for the daily risks he takes. Both actors have emphasized that portraying migrants with dignity is a deliberate choice, especially at a time when public discourse and commercial entertainment frequently reduce entire populations to a single, threatening image.
Ben Affleck has taken that argument even further in press discussions surrounding the film. He has openly described the persistent political rhetoric branding migrants as criminals as an absurd and harmful lie with a long, documented history of being deployed whenever a society faces pressure and politicians need a convenient scapegoat. Affleck believes that fiction holds a unique, disruptive power because it forces an audience to fully recognize a real human being before they can be reduced to a generalized category. Once a viewer genuinely identifies with an individual’s humanity, it becomes significantly harder to fall back on a dehumanized caricature.
What the Film Is Actually About
At its narrative core, Animals centers on a harrowing premise: the kidnapping of the young son of Mark and Abigail Kimball, played by Affleck and Kerry Washington. The film uses this high-tension framework to explore complex moral decisions and murky gray areas. Every character is forced to navigate impossible choices when the institutional systems surrounding them offer no easy answers or comforting resolutions.
Produced in association with Artists Equity—the studio Affleck co-founded alongside longtime collaborator Matt Damon—the film boasts a star-studded ensemble cast that also features Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, and Ray Fisher, among others.
Reflecting on the emotional impact of the project, Paz summed up what she hopes audiences take away from the viewing experience. She described Animals as a film designed to make viewers deeply uncomfortable in ways that linger long after the final credits roll, while remaining entirely gripping from start to finish. Animals premieres on Netflix on October 9th.
