Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) has a talent for solving complex problems. When an old acquaintance is murdered, leaving behind a cryptic message to “find the accountant,” Wolff is compelled to solve the case. Realizing more extreme measures are necessary, Wolff recruits his estranged and highly lethal brother, Brax (Jon Bernthal), to help. In partnership with U.S. Treasury Deputy Director Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), they uncover a deadly conspiracy, becoming targets of a ruthless network of killers who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried.
With this highly anticipated sequel hitting Australian cinemas on April 24, Nick L’Barrow was invited to The Accountant 2 global press conference to hear what director Gavin O’Connor, and stars Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, and Danielle Pineda had to say about making this explosive action flick!
On revisiting the world of The Accountant…
Ben Affleck: This is a movie where, after the first one was successful and I was really proud of it, I just knew it had a longer life in terms of the feedback that I get from people who mentioned that movie when they came up to me. So, I was definitely aware that the movie was still being watched.
I think it’s also a function of the fact that streaming really started to take off after the first movie came out. So, people had the opportunity to watch it more. Also, I just love this character. I really enjoyed playing it. Gavin [O’Connor, director] and I both very much were drawn to the idea of bringing Jon [Bernthal] back and expanding on that, because we both think that guy is fabulous. We both felt there was a lot more to do.
Bill [Dubuque, writer] and Gavin spent a lot of time over the years developing and putting together – in a quite typical of Gavin, meticulous, patient, detail orientated, character driven way – what this could be. They were both quite mindful of not wanting to repeat the first one. And that was really appealing to me.
Gavin O’Connor: There were a lot of conversations with Bill in regard to certain DNA that was important to preserve, and then after that it was a lot of left turns to try and refill the tank in a very different way. I didn’t want to recycle what we did in the first film, so it was just a matter of how do we start recreating the character in a way that is putting them on a different journey by integrating Brax.
We also wanted to bring Cynthia [Addai-Robinson]. We knew the key in the ignition was if we were to kill Ray [JK Simmons], then we could make it personal for both of these guys.
And most importantly, we just wanted to make a movie that was fun and entertaining, and put people in seats at the movie theatre. The lights come down and they all have this communal experience that was a great time at the movies. That’s what we were really going for.
On building the chemistry between Christian and Brax…
Jon Bernthal: Bill’s writing is unbelievably strong. Gavin and I are really close, and when you work with Gavin, he’s gonna whittle it down and try and get to the truth of the character. There’s no stone left unturned.
It was a real thrill for me to get back together with Ben. There’s so many moments where Gavin sort of lets things linger, and lets it exist naturally, playing moments in between the beats. And Ben is so funny, and it sounds corny, but he’s just mastered the character in such a way that you can just connect to it. There’s so many little moments of truth that are going on, but it can drive Brax a little crazy! And you’re in that point of view. I feel like we were really let of the leash a little bit here.
Gavin O’Connor: When we are saying we wanted the movie to be funny and entertaining, Jon and I had so many sit downs where we would just be dissecting the characters and finding the intentions of the scene. And once you put these guys together, they both have specific wants, and if they don’t get what they want… well, both of these guys are slightly bonkers, right?
You can just let them do their thing, and we got to do that in such a fertile environment for them in the scenes that were created. The characters weren’t “trying”. And I think it works because they weren’t trying to be funny. No one was trying to be funny. But being so ingrained in the characters, and they’re specificities, it’s just so entertaining.
On exploring new elements of characters…
Cynthia Addai-Robinson: I’ve always viewed Marybeth as sort of the entry point for the audience, because she’s sort of observing and seeing all these things unfold around her. And for myself as an actor, it’s sort of the same thing.
I think back to working on the first movie – I was nervous! I was kind of out of my depth in a way but trying to present as if I wasn’t. Which, you know, for Marybeth, it was a similar type of situation. And here we are, eight years later with the sequel, and Marybeth has grown and evolved. She’s in this elevated position in within the Treasury Department. And for myself as a person and an actor, I felt like I had also grown.
It was alright because I was returning to a situation that’s familiar. I feel a little bit more comfortable, a little bit more confident. And that was really nice for me to feel. The feeling that I can handle what’s getting thrown at me, which in this is the dynamic with Ben and Jon’s characters and being the audiences entry point for their shenanigans!
Ben Affleck: I mean the secret of the movie is Cynthia as the protagonist, really. She’s the entrée for the audience, which means we get to play around with the character parts. There is a kind of relief from not having to carry certain expectations, because just as Cynthia said, the audience is really projecting themselves onto her. They want to see the resolution of her story, and that’s something I find so artful and interesting.
On creating the intense and brutal action set pieces…
Ben Affleck: Look, to me, what makes it interesting is that Gavin’s approach is always about not just making the shot look cool visually, but he constructs it in such a way that it’s almost reverse engineered from a character driven place. What does each character want? Why are they doing this? There’s always a grounded reason for it. And his gift is to take that and make that visually compelling.
Gavin O’Connor: And we didn’t want to make it look “stunty”. Some of these action moves lately are great, but it feels like the action is in front of the characters and just for the audience. But we were always coming from the characters intention.
When we got to the third act, it was about how these guys are working together now they are united. We knew what the stakes were. And so, inside the action and the choreography, it was about the emotional line between the two brothers, and how they’re going to accomplish this together. It became this dance, like we were doing it all in beats. It’s not just action, but it’s emotional and disposable violence.
Daniella Pineda: There was something really compelling about watching an eagle hunt. Like, watching a predator do their things. But it was all about the layers of my character. There’s more to her than just a stone-cold killer, and those are the types of roles I’d love for more women to play, because they’re certainly here in the real world. But also, after my character would be the shit out of Cynthia’s, we were hugging between takes! I had a good action partner.
Cynthia Addai-Robinson: I’ll tell you; it was brutal! And what’s very satisfying is, you know, we’ve now been able to see how audiences react to that, and when they audibly gasp, then you know you’re doing something right. Because it means that the stakes and how invested people are in these characters is a vote of confidence with each blow and each hit.
Jon Bernthal: You know, you can’t like in a fight. What you want is right there, and so if you’re going for it, you’re going for it!
More than any other director I’ve worked with, Gavin has an appetite to go back and find what makes these guys tick. And he’ll talk to you for as long as you want about where these guys came from. And so much of it was about how these two guys just have each other’s backs, no matter what.
So, for that not just to culminate in a huge gunfight, but to culminate in, “I’m there for you. We’re joined forever”, it’s a way with a lack of words to show someone how much you love them. And violence can actually be that sometimes.
Thank you so much to Ben, Jon, Gavin, Cynthia, and Daniella for their time, and to Warner Bros. Pictures and Amazon MGM for organising the interview! The Accountant 2 is in Australian cinemas on April 24.
