Ben Affleck has ruled out swapping Hollywood for the campaign trail after his Animals co-stars urged him to run for political office - saying he would rather make movies about politics than become part of what he described as the "circus" himself.

The 54-year-old Oscar winner plays Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball in the new Netflix political thriller, which he also directed and co-wrote.

Ben made the comments at the film's Los Angeles premiere, ahead of its release in selected cinemas and on Netflix on 9 October.

In the movie, Mark and his wife Abigail, played by Kerry Washington, are plunged into a crisis after their son is kidnapped and they are forced to scramble to raise the ransom.

Asked about his castmates wanting him to seek office for real, Ben joked: "Maybe they hate me."

Kerry, best known for playing political fixer Olivia Pope in the hit ABC drama Scandal, confirmed the cast had been encouraging Ben to consider it.

She said: "We keep telling him that he should, but he doesn't want to.

"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 Ramon, an undocumented Mexican immigrant whose life becomes dangerously entangled with the mayoral candidate, was equally enthusiastic about the prospect.

Luis said: "I would definitely vote for him. Go Ben Affleck! He's smart and sexy - that's all you need."

Ben, however, made clear he has no plans to become a candidate, despite his long history of involvement in political causes and previously supporting Democratic presidential candidates including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

He said: "We don't ask the question of what are your qualifications to hold public office any longer. 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."

Ben added: "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. And that's a problem."

The actor and filmmaker said he believed political life had increasingly become dominated by fundraising and attacks on opponents rather than public service.

He said: "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.

"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."

Ben then closed down the prospect of a real-life political career, saying: "Selfishly, I just see what a difficult grind of a job it is and I'd rather make movies about it."

Animals marks Ben's latest turn behind the camera after his directing career produced films including The Town and Argo, with the latter winning the Academy Award for best picture.

His acting career stretches from the Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote with longtime friend Matt Damon, to Gone Girl and his appearances as Batman in the DC film franchise. Netflix describes Animals as a thriller about a political couple whose apparently perfect life begins to unravel following their son's kidnapping.