Calling funtion in Animation Blueprint from Character BP has no effect

I am trying to change the speed of the mocap animation from the Composure tutorial, from playing to not playing. If I change the value in the walking state (image 1), it works. If I try to call the function from a character blueprint (image 2), it doesn’t change anything. I’ve tried adding a “Set” node for the play rate as well. The function (image 3) is pretty basic, in and out. I’ve also tried setting the animation instance after the function as well.

Does anyone have any ideas what I am missing?