‘It had longer life in terms of real-life feedback’: Ben Affleck on why he chose to work in ‘The Accountant 2’

WASHINGTON,DC: Ben Affleck opened up about his return to the ‘The Accountant’ franchise and said that the “real-life feedback” of the movie from the people inspired him to work on the second part of the movie.

In a global press conference for ‘The Accountant 2,’ Affleck addressed the common pattern of his movie choices, which includes not starring in sequels throughout his career.

“Well, first of all, you’re right, this is a movie where after the first one, and it was successful and I was really proud of it, but it had a longer life in terms of like the just real-life feedback that I get from people, what movies they would mention when they come up to me, and so I definitely was aware like, “Oh, wow, that movie seems to still be being watched.” I think it’s also a function of the fact that, like streaming really started to take off after this movie, so people had the opportunity to pick what movie they’re going to watch, that sort of thing,” said Ben Affleck.

The movie was directed by Gavin O’Connor and written by Bill Dubuque. Apart from Affleck, the movie also stars Jon Bernthal and Cynthia Addai-Robinson in prominent roles.

The actor also expressed his happiness with his character in the movie. At the global press meet for the movie, the actor shared the thought process of ‘The Accountant’ makers behind the sequel.

“I love this character. I really enjoyed playing it. Gavin and I both very much were drawn to the idea of bringing John back and expanding on that because we both really were like, “This guy’s fabulous,” and we love it, and we, I think, both felt like there was a lot more to do. And the only thing that I think that I would rephrase from your question is that they really brought me back. Bill and Gavin spent a lot of time in the intervening years developing and putting together in a quite typical of Gavin, meticulous, patient, detail-oriented, character-driven way, what it could be, because both were quite mindful of like not wanting to repeat it, not wanting to just, you know, ‘Hey, they like the first one. Let’s just figure something out and do another one.’ So everything about it was appealing to me,” said Ben Affleck.

Affleck and Matt Damon produced the movie via Artists Equity, along with 51 Entertainment’s Lynette Howell Taylor and Mark Williams.
The Executive producers of the movie include Artists Equity’s Dani Bernfeld, Kevin Halloran, Michael Joe and Alison Winter.

Scott Lastaiti and Jamie Patricof will also serve as executive producers, as per the outlet. Filming for ‘The Accountant 2‘ took place in the spring of 2024, during which Affleck’s marriage to actress Jennifer Lopez ended in divorce in August 2024.

aThe divorce was finalised in January 2025. (ANI)