Ben Affleck Campaigned For Mayor In LA As ‘Animals’ Character: “Do Not Vote For Me!”

As Angelenos fill out their ballots, Ben Affleck is making it clear that he should not be anyone’s write-in vote, despite playing a politician on screen.

The 2x Oscar winner, who co-writes, directs and stars in Netflix’s Animals, revealed that he campaigned for mayor in Los Angeles as his character Mark Kimball in order to prep for the film, which premieres Friday on the streamer.

“What it taught me was, this is not all that much fun, and it would be hard just raising money all the time,” he said on Good Morning America. “We did a thing that was really interesting; I just went out with Steven Yeun, who plays my campaign manager—this is the nature of celebrity and politics and the world, and how it’s all gotten so weird—I was like, ‘Let’s just go out in LA, and I’m just gonna say I’m running for mayor. And we’re gonna take shirts and hats and stuff, and our little social media, and we’re just gonna go talk to people.'”

Affleck recalled that he and Yeun asked citizens what they “care about in LA,” which yielded some enlightening responses. “People would launch into their whole thing. And I was like, ‘If I’m not careful, I’m gonna win this race!’ Do not vote for me for mayor!” he clarified.

Despite his commitment to playing the mayoral candidate in the thriller, Affleck does not appear to harbor any political aspirations in real life.

“Honestly, I think the collective bar for politics, because of the way that the political world has evolved, has gotten so low,” said Affleck. “People are just looking for, ‘somebody shoot me straight.’ I really think there is a sense in this country, no matter what political belief you subscribe to, that broadly speaking, we’re not doing a very good job. We have a system that’s kind of failing us.”

Co-written by Affleck, Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray, Animals stars Affleck as Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball, whose son is kidnapped, giving him and wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) a few hours to get their hands dirty and come up with the ransom money.