What happens when you take one of Hollywood’s most ambitious director-actor-writer combos and set him loose across the real streets of Los Angeles? You get Animals, Netflix’s gripping political crime thriller that hits you from the very first frame. Every tense scene, every sweeping cityscape, and every gritty concrete tunnel you see on screen is real. This is not a studio backlot recreation. The entire film was shot across genuine Los Angeles locations, and that choice is part of what makes it feel so urgent. If you want to know exactly where Animals was filmed, you are in the right place.
Animals Filming Locations
Production on Ben Affleck’s Animals was conducted primarily in California, particularly in the sprawling city of Los Angeles. Principal photography got underway in March 2025 under a couple of working titles, “Be Gentlemen” and “Animals of Los Angeles,” and continued for a month or so before concluding in April of the same year. The cast and crew regathered in July 2025 to film additional scenes for the final cut of the movie.
| Primary Location | Los Angeles, California |
| Principal Photography Start | March 7, 2025 |
| Principal Photography End | April 16, 2025 |
| Reshoots | July 2025 |
| Total Shoot Duration | Approximately 40 days (plus reshoots) |
| Streaming Platform | Netflix |
| Release Date | October 9, 2026 |
| Director | Ben Affleck |
Rather than hiding the action inside studio sets, the 2026 Netflix film puts much of its story against real Los Angeles locations, from the busy Original Farmers Market to the enormous Los Angeles River basin. That gives the film a particularly grounded feel: Mark Kimball may be running a mayoral campaign, but once his son Denny is kidnapped, the polished political world quickly gives way to a much less glamorous side of the city.
Los Angeles, California
The home of Hollywood, Los Angeles, served as the primary production location for Animals. Since the suspenseful tale unfolds in LA itself, a layer of authenticity is automatically injected into the film’s visuals.
Los Angeles is not just a backdrop here. It functions almost like a character in its own right. The film uses the city’s wildly different neighborhoods to reflect the story’s emotional arc. The further the Kimballs fall from their comfortable lives, the further the film takes them into the rougher, less polished corners of the city.
The establishing and aerial shots of the City of Angels feature multiple landmarks and buildings, such as the Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles City Hall, Wilshire Grand Center, U.S. Bank Tower, Two California Plaza, and Wells Fargo Tower. LA serves as a major character in the narrative, highlighting the theme of perception versus reality through its larger-than-life cityscape.
The Original Farmers Market
In April 2025, Ben Affleck and the rest of the cast and crew, including Steven Yeun, were spotted taping several pivotal sequences in and around The Original Farmers Market at 6333 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles.
This is one of the most immediately recognizable spots in the film. The market has been a Los Angeles institution since 1934. It sits at the corner of Third Street and Fairfax Avenue, and its open-air stalls, restaurants, and crowds make it the perfect place to stage a mayoral campaign in motion.
Mark Kimball moves through the market while campaigning for mayor, handing out leaflets and speaking with members of the public. The scene places Kimball’s carefully managed political image directly among ordinary shoppers and food stalls. Instead of presenting Los Angeles politics through anonymous office interiors, the film puts its central politician in a genuinely busy environment.
| Feature | Information |
|---|---|
| Location | 6333 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles |
| Established | 1934 |
| Cross Street | 3rd & Fairfax |
| Role in Film | Campaign scenes featuring Mark Kimball |
| Visitor Access | Open to the public |
| Hours | Mon-Fri 9am-9pm, Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 10am-7pm |
Downtown Los Angeles and the Civic Center
Several downtown streets, civic spaces, and large exterior locations were used to establish the scale of Kimball’s political operation. Government architecture and broad urban streets help sell the idea that Mark is operating within a serious mayoral campaign, while corporate-looking surroundings provide the visual language for the campaign headquarters and political machinery surrounding him.
Downtown Los Angeles works perfectly for Animals because the city’s architecture reinforces the story’s central tension. One moment, Mark stands surrounded by buildings that signal power and civic importance. The next, that same environment starts to feel completely useless against the reality of what is happening to his family.
The Los Angeles River Basin
This is where the film’s tone shifts dramatically. The river basin represents a completely different Los Angeles from the one Mark Kimball campaigns in.
The city’s iconic storm drain system and the Los Angeles River also hosted the production of multiple exterior scenes. During the reshoots in July 2025, the filming unit returned to the drain system for additional shooting.
The vast concrete channels, bridges, and stark infrastructure were used for some of the film’s darker and more action-driven sequences. The location gives the production an exposed but strangely enclosed quality, with the enormous concrete surfaces creating a harsh environment for tracking the people connected to Denny’s disappearance.
| Location | Role in Film |
|---|---|
| LA River Concrete Channels | Action sequences and chase scenes |
| Underground Tunnels | Off-grid investigation scenes |
| Hollywood Hills | Kimball family home scenes |
| Mid-Wilshire / Hancock Park | Affluent residential backdrop |
| Boyle Heights / East LA | Search and transit routes |
| Downtown Civic Center | Political campaign scenes |
Hollywood Hills and the Kimball Family Home
To lens various scenes involving the Kimball household, the production team of Animals seemingly took over the affluent residential neighborhood of the Hollywood Hills.
The Kimball home needs to look like the residence of a man with serious money and serious political ambitions. The Hollywood Hills delivers that without any artificial effort. Wide streets, large properties, and mature landscaping establish the Kimballs as exactly the kind of family that expects its problems to be manageable. The kidnapping shatters that expectation immediately.
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Mid-Wilshire, Hancock Park, Boyle Heights, and East Los Angeles
The Mid-Wilshire area and Hancock Park were used to establish the Kimball family’s affluent surroundings. Their broad streets, established properties, and mature greenery provide the kind of polished residential setting expected for a politically ambitious family living in Los Angeles.
Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles provide another significant change of atmosphere. The production used these urban areas for sequences involving the search, transit routes, and locations associated with the extortion plot. Their streets and built environment help move the story away from the affluent world surrounding Kimball’s campaign and towards the more complicated urban landscape through which the characters must navigate.
The Underground Tunnels
The film also makes use of Los Angeles’ underground tunnel infrastructure, bringing the characters into darker and more confined spaces during their search. These subterranean concrete passages become part of the story’s off-the-books investigation as the parents move away from conventional channels and attempt to deal with the crisis themselves.
The underground environments are particularly effective because they visually shrink the world around Mark and Abigail. Their political connections, money and public profiles become increasingly useless as the search takes them into places where none of those advantages offer much comfort.
Why filming in Los Angeles was the right call?
The decision to film Animals entirely in Los Angeles is an interesting move for the production. Filming the entire movie in Los Angeles could provide a boost to the local film industry.
It also gave the story something that no studio recreation could manufacture. Los Angeles is the city of image management. It is a place built on the tension between how things look and how they actually are. That makes it the ideal setting for a thriller about a mayoral candidate whose polished public persona collapses the moment his personal life falls apart.
The Original Farmers Market brings the campaign into everyday Los Angeles, while Downtown gives Mark’s political ambitions some scale. Then the film drags him towards the river basin and tunnels, where all that polished political confidence starts looking considerably less useful. That contrast is far more interesting than simply filming everything in expensive offices.
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Cast of Animals (2026)
The film follows a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife who find themselves drawn into a web of deception when their son is kidnapped, and as they scramble to raise the ransom payment, they are forced to make choices that could tear their world apart.
| Character | Actor |
|---|---|
| Mark Kimball | Ben Affleck |
| Abigail Kimball | Kerry Washington |
| Dayle Burton | Gillian Anderson |
| Campaign Director | Steven Yeun |
| Cecilia Trujillo | Adriana Paz |
| Ron Sperling | Ray Fisher |
| Supporting Role | Luis Gerardo Mendez |
Ben Affleck directs and stars in the film. Originally, Matt Damon was set to take on the lead role, but a year later, in February 2025, production reignited with Damon no longer part of the cast, due to his commitment to The Odyssey, with Affleck himself taking on the lead role and Gillian Anderson officially joining the cast.
Behind the Scenes
Animals is a 2026 American crime thriller film directed by Ben Affleck and co-written by Affleck, Connor O. McIntyre, and Billy Ray.
Ben Affleck is pulling triple duty on this one, serving as director, writer, and star. The film marks Affleck’s fourth major Netflix original project.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Director | Ben Affleck |
| Writers | Ben Affleck, Connor O. McIntyre, Billy Ray |
| Producers | Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Brad Weston |
| Production Company | Artists Equity / Makeready / Fifth Season |
| Distributor | Netflix |
| Runtime | Approximately 1 hour 48 minutes |
| Rating | R (Mature Audiences) |
Where to watch Animals (2026)?
You can watch Animals on Netflix in supported countries, including the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, and other regions worldwide. The film premiered on October 9, 2026. It is also available for offline download on eligible Netflix plans.
The film was released on Netflix and in select theaters on October 9, 2026.
| Platform | Availability |
|---|---|
| Netflix | Global (primary streaming platform) |
| Select Theaters | Limited theatrical release from October 9, 2026 |
| Netflix Offline | Available for download on eligible plans |
FAQs
Where was Animals (2026) filmed?
Production was conducted primarily in California, particularly in the sprawling city of Los Angeles, using real streets, landmarks, and neighborhoods across the city.
Is Animals based on a true story?
No. Animals is an original story written by Ben Affleck, Connor O. McIntyre, and Billy Ray. The characters and events are entirely fictional, though the Los Angeles setting is real.
Can you visit the filming locations?
Yes. The Original Farmers Market is open to the public year-round. Downtown Los Angeles, Mid-Wilshire, Hancock Park, and Boyle Heights are all publicly accessible areas. The LA River and tunnel infrastructure may have restricted access depending on the specific area.
How long did filming take?
Principal photography started on March 7, 2025 and wrapped its main 40-day production on April 16, with additional photography taking place later that summer in July 2025.
Who produced Animals?
The film was produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Brad Weston, Dani Bernfeld, and Collin Creighton, and distributed by Netflix.
Final Thoughts
Animals earns its tension partly because of its commitment to real Los Angeles. Los Angeles is not simply a backdrop here. It is effectively part of the film’s structure. The bright public spaces represent Mark’s political ambitions, the residential districts represent the life he is desperate to protect, and the river and underground locations reflect how far the couple are willing to go once normal solutions stop working.
If you are planning a visit to Los Angeles, the Original Farmers Market alone is worth a stop. Walk the same streets where Affleck filmed his campaign scenes. Stand beside the concrete channels of the LA River and see how different they look in real life compared to the movie’s most intense sequences. The city has its own energy whether or not you are a fan of Animals, but if you are, visiting these locations adds a whole new dimension to the experience.
The film proves that the right city, filmed in the right way, does more storytelling work than any constructed set ever could. Have you started watching yet?
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