Jennifer Garner Shares Her Holiday Plans and Her Kids’ Reaction to ‘Family Switch’ Movie (Exclusive)

Jennifer Garner is ready for the holiday season. ET’s Cassie DiLaura spoke to the 51-year-old actress, who revealed how she’ll be spending the holidays with her family, which includes the three kids she shares with her ex, Ben Affleck — Violet, 17, Seraphina, 14, and Samuel, 11.

“I kind of dive into the kitchen over the holidays. I love it,” Garner told ET. “I will bake every single morning. I’ll make something big. I’ll have my whole family together — my sisters, my niece, my nephews, my brothers-in-law, of course my parents, and my kids. I can’t wait for it.”

Garner is hoping to bring other families together with her new movie, Family Switch, in which her and Ed Helms‘ characters switch bodies with their teen kids, played by Emma Myers and Brady Noon. Her own kids, Garner joked, “will put up with really anything.”

“They’ve seen it and they loved the movie. They were just like, ‘Mom, this is just such a fun film.’ They really liked it,” she said of her three kids. “It did really warm my heart because they have to take themselves out of our relationship dynamic. They have to take me as their mom out of it. That’s a lot to get through to just enjoy a movie. I was so happy to hear how much they loved the film.”

As for how she prepared to get into the mind of a teenager for the film, Garner said, “Sometimes you just have to get out out of your own way and do the weirdest actor stuff you can even imagine.”

“This was one of those times where we played with energy back and forth. We played follow the leader, we played like puppies,” Garner revealed of herself and Myers. “… Really weird stuff to try to get us used to and comfortable with just going for it and making bold choices.”

All of their resulting choices, Garner hopes, will provide entertainment for the whole family.

“I really hope that families watch it all together on the couch. I hope that everybody finds something funny,” she said. “We were really intentional about having stuff for little kids, for middle kids, teenagers, grownups all the way. [I hope] that at the end of it they’re kind of surprised to find themselves tearing up. That’s just the formula that would make me happier than anything.”

Family Switch will begin streaming Nov. 30 on Netflix.

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