[FILM INTERVIEW] THE ACCOUNTANT 2 – Ben Affleck & Jon Bernthal Interview

Before it is released in cinemas Dave Griffiths had the pleasure of attending an exclusive press conference with Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal from The Accountant 2 – here is how it went.

Ben, you haven’t done many sequels in your career so can you tell us why you wanted to bring Gavin back and do one of your very rare sequels?

BA: Yeah well you know we did the first one and it was successful and I was really happy with it but for some reason it felt like it had a longer life with the feedback that people would give me when they came up to me so to me it felt like it was still a film that was being watched. Then streaming took off and it gave people another opportunity to see it.

Aside from that thought it was just a character that I really enjoyed playing and Gavin (director Gavin O’Connor) and myself were really open to the idea of bringing Jon (Bernthal) back and expanding on that because we were like ‘this guy is fabulous’ and we felt like there was a lot more to do and the one thing I thing I would re-phrase from your question is that they really brought me back.

Bill and Gavin spent a lot of time in the in-between years developing and putting together, in a typical Gavin way, quite methodically, detailed and character driven way, of what it could be because both were really mindful of not wanting to repeat it or ‘hey people liked the first one so lets just figure stuff out’. But really just everything was appealing to me.

There is a lot more comedy in this one and Jon a lot of that centres around your character. When did they tell you that there was going to be a bit of an odd couple element to this film?

JB: I don’t think I was actually ever told that – I was more like ‘What?’ But Bill’s writing is just so unbelievably strong and Gavin and I are really, really close. When you work with Gavin he is always going to whittle it down and try to find the truth of the character and he’ll leave no stone unturned. That was a big thrill to me and I loved being back. And with Ben it just kind of happened that way. And yeah it was there and it was supported by Gavin to just let things linger and to let moments happen naturally – especially the moments in between the beats – and he is just funny and he has mastered this character in such a way that there are just so many little moments of truth going on that you love, but can also drive you crazy from the right point of view, and I just feel that I was let off the leash to have a real opinion on that.

BA: Adding to that as well. I think in a way Cynthia’s character is the entry point for the audience so we get to play character parts. In a way that is a relief because there are certain kinds of expectations when you are the lead in the a movie because the audience is projecting themselves onto you so in a way we are a dual aggravate to her. If you look at the general story of the film it is about her seeing someone getting killed and then she has to go through a lot of get to the resolution of her story and that is something that I find really artful and interesting.

You have this main character then you have these dual character parts that Jon and I play where we get the luxury of doing this two-hander odd couple thing.

You have both done a lot of action films between you but few are as bloody and confronting as The Accountant 2 – what did mean to you being able to do something different like this.

BA: To me what makes this interesting and what makes me feel like we could do something here that would connect with an audience, in that they would feel something for what is happening, is because Gavin’s approach is not about ‘well this is a shot where it will look cool because of an X,Y,Z element and you can work out why someone might be doing it that way’ he always does it from the point of ‘well what does this character want and why are they doing it – there is a grounded reason for them doing that.’ He then takes that and makes it visually compelling for the audience.

Jon, I think that is what makes some of your action sequences special because there are those conflict resolution and almost celebratory moments that you and Ben’s character have together but I am curious because there is a character arc there for your character that I don’t think people would expect, how did you approach that and how did you mix that with the very demanding action sequences that you had to do.

JB: You can’t lie in a fight, you know. You just can’t lie because what you want is just there so if you going for something you just have to know what you are going for and why you are going for it. More than any other director I have ever worked with Gavan has an appetite and an availability and a hunger to go back and get into what makes these guys tick. He’ll talk to you for as long as you want to talk to him about where these guys came from. And what is so beautiful about this being a second film, and for me with Brax, is that he is kind of really shrouded in mystery in the first film – you don’t actually know much about him but you have these amazing flashbacks where you see how these two boys were raised and what their relationship was with their Dad – and it really is the crux of what is bothering both of them, especially Brax, is that the roles that they have always filled for each other – getting each other’s backs, being there for each other, the lack of being there for each other – so all of that doesn’t just culminate in a gun fight it culminates in ‘hey I am there for you. I have your back and you are getting mine and we are joined forever.’  And that is a way, for lack of a better word, to show somebody how much you love them and violence an actually be that sometimes.

One of the things Ben that people might be surprised about is that you line dance?

BA: Look that wasn’t something that anybody was asking for. America wasn’t asking for that but they are going to get it. That was one of the fun things about this film – here is a guy that is trying to figure out how to have a relationship with a woman. He knows he has to put himself out there but he isn’t comfortable extending himself and he doesn’t know how to flirt exactly – he isn’t comfortable. It isn’t easy for anybody to try and figure out relationships particularly the really early part where you are trying to gauge every signal – do they like me or am I going to humiliate myself if I go over there. And what he does is actually a very lovely thing because he uses something that he can do, the ability to identify the pattern of line dancing because it is so structured and patterned to participate in this. And that makes him comfortable enough to stand next to this woman that he is attracted to and wants to connect with because it is kind of like parallel play with little kids because you don’t have to look at somebody and engage with them you get to do something and be next to them in a way that he is comfortable to do that.

And that did require a lot of me because let’s be honest I am probably not going to get a lot more parts from my line dancing work, the phone hasn’t rung yet, but it was a lot of fun. And what is charming about it is when somebody does something that they are really comfortable with to put themselves out there but they are really trying. At the end of the day that is all any of us can really do.

For Jon the action and the fighting scenes come naturally to him and I saw the whole cast train really hard to make the fight scenes in this feel look great and for me I came to this line dancing thing thinking ‘well I don’t really have the natural gifts but I am willing to try. But I will say that the rest of the cast did a lot better with the action than I did with the line dancing but luckily for me it wasn’t supposed to be good.

Well it looked a lot of fun. Thanks so much for your time, guys.

The Accountant 2 is in cinemas this Thursday.