Kerry Washington Called Viola Davis to Vet Ben Affleck Before 'Animals'

Kerry Washington doesn’t walk into a new project blind, and she’s not shy about it. While promoting her new Netflix film“Animals,”where she and Ben Affleck play a married couple, Washington revealed she called Viola Davis before filming started. Her question was simple:“Give me the skinny. How was it?”Davis, who was directed by Affleck in“Air,”gave him a glowing endorsement. Washington says Davis told her“nice things,”and Affleck loved that she cared enough to check.

The co-stars also opened up about filming a sensual scene with an intimacy coordinator. Washington described the process with a line worth remembering:“You’ve built the dance floor, and now you can dance on it.”In other words, when boundaries are agreed on ahead of time, performers actually feel freer. Affleck added that he learned a lot from Washington throughout the shoot, which makes this one of those rare Hollywood stories with zero drama and a lot of mutual respect.

“Animals”is streaming now on Netflix, and the behind-the-scenes chemistry is clearly as good as it looks on screen. So we want to know: have you ever asked a friend for the real scoop on someone before working with them? Tell us your best reference-check story in the comments.