In the 2016 films category, The counter It was a surprise. It told an original story for adults, breaking with the adaptations of others copyrights For the whole family that monopolized the first positions of the collections. And although he resembled that persistent race of thrillers Of action of men-with-a-mission, it resorted to an absurd and funnyly ridiculous touch: Ben Affleck He played a neurodivergent accountant and advisor to the criminal underworld.
The public responded. The counter exceeded the expectations for cinemas raising $ 155.5 million worldwide (according to the specialized box office office) and was the most rented film in 2017 (according to the Comscore measurement company), in front of Moana, Wonder Woman y Rogue One: A Star Wars story.
Nine years and a change of film study later, The sequel, The accountant 2he arrived at the cinema with the return of Affleck And much of the original cast (Jon Bernthal, JK Simmons, Cynthia Addai-Robinson), together with director Gavin O’Connor and screenwriter Bill Dubuque. In two conversations – one at the South By Southwest festival in March, before the premiere of the film there, and another virtual earlier this month – Affleck, O’Connor and Dubuque referred to the recovery of the rights of history, to the definition of success and a possible idea for a third film.
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Trailer of the movie “The accountant 2”
–Bill, you wrote the script of the first movie of The counter independently, without participating any actor or director. Where did the main character, Christian Wolff?
–Bill Dubuque: I know different people who are within the autistic spectrum and I thought something like that could be interesting; I have always been interested how the brain works. I thought we could take this character, which has its share of aptitudes and its quota of vulnerable factors, and not make it a victim but to put it in a situation that was entertaining and in which it made you feel something towards him.
–The initial film was the most rented of 2017. What did they think when I had that kind of additional life?
–Ben Affleck: Since it was released it has been one of the movies that most likely mention when they contact me. But that is in front of all those films with a classification suitable for over 13 years – and attractive to the four main public sectors, or more massive – is directly anomalous. I think it is the merit of intelligence and the surprising thing about history, really. He made people say “you would have to do with it, even if you don’t so much watching action movies.” This is how a movie in some way explodes.
–Dubuque: I think people like to see certain actors in certain roles. They want to see Steve Mcquen do certain things. They want to see Harrison Ford in certain types of projects. I think that with Ben you can combine action with humanity. A little self -desalification, a little humor.
–Ben, how do you mediate the success at this point in your career?
–Affleck: it’s really very simple. I saw a first cut (of The accountant 2) And I liked the movie a lot. I almost cried. I thought: “It’s wonderful. You got it.” The movies are something subjective, of course. There are things that move each other anymore. But even if there were people who left the cinema tonight, I don’t care. It is wonderful. And that is not going to be altered by what others say. The question is: “Did I move? Am I proud to have been part of this?” And in all aspects that matter to me personally, the movie is already a success.
“It is very sure!” Especially working in Hollywood. Have you always been like that?
–Affleck: No. and getting to Hollywood represents a very significant topic for me. I usually used to have that feeling as “if I achieve this, or if I achieve that I will feel good, I will feel that it is worth.” But the truth is that after having been lucky enough to access some of those indicators of success, it turns out that these things do not make you feel better. They are not the important thing. If you do not feel genuinely well with what you do, it makes no sense.
And another issue is that at those moments in which it gave more importance to the opinion of others – getting to a certain level in collections, for example, or the recognition of a prize, or a certain score on the criticism page Rotten Tomatoeswhatever the measurement -, I was renouncing my own authority and my narrative sensitivity. Indeed, not everyone will like everything and there is a habit of making fun of things: that is the agreement we agree on in exchange for exposing ours. But to preserve sanity and integrity artistically you must have your own parameters. Getting to that point has made me feel much quieter and taste.
–The first film was released nine years ago through Warner Bros. to the sequel is distributed by Amazon MGM Studios. How was the process to get there?
–Affleck: There were a couple of different things. Warner Bros. was exploring versions for television, which is a more profitable way to capitalize since television is continued. They had done it with the Bradley (Cooper) movie without limits. “Hey, this was a success. We can exploit it longer.”
–Gavin O’Connor: There was also a game of chairs for regime changes. And then the Covid arrived, the confinements and there was a strike. A lot of things. But then Ben opened his own production study, Artists Equity, which was a light in the dark.
–Affleck: We were able to set foot inside and build a collaboration between these groups (Warner Bros., Artists Equity and Amazon MGM Studios) that worked and that was going to give rise to Gavin to make the movie he wanted. But it is Warner’s merit that we have been able to find a new partner.
–They argued the same creative team behind the scene, something less and less common in sequelae.
–O’Connor: It did not even occur to us to incorporate another screenwriter. All this arose from Bill’s brain laboratory and we wanted to preserve continuity.
–Affleck: I don’t know if I had excited me or comfortable sense doing it differently.
–Dubuque: I think I am the only Hollywood screenwriter with patience to review the script with gavin line by line, word for word, a hundred times.
–Affleck: That may be true. Although Jon Bernthal and I also deserve the laurels. With us he did the same.
–Dubuque: Gavin has to make sure Bernthal does not change each dialogue line.
– The role you gave Jon acquires much greater importance in this movie. It is practically a film of two characters.
– O’Connor: We wanted Ben to have someone to lean on: in the first movie he was really alone. And we thought there could be a lot of drama and a lot of comedy between the two.
–Dubuque: It was a tempting fruit at hand. Bernthal is great in the first and the dynamics could be perceived among them. We knew there was something rich to get the juice.
– There are also many more jokes. The first movie had funny moments but I would not say that it was a comedy.
–O’Connor: Bill writes very funny dialogues.
–Dubuque: Gavin and I analyzed the scenes and permanently thought of different ways of entertaining ourselves. “How is this? Maybe a twist to that.” For me, that is much more rewarding than writing action. When I am writing the script of a movie, I reach the action parts and I feel that they are better to call those who deal with the choreography of the struggles and solve them. And that is what they do. With excellent results.
–Ben, there is an important scene in the movie where you start to make a dancing line in a bad death bar. How much experience did you have in that dance genre country?
–Affleck: What you saw is my virginal trip: I lost my virginity in relation to Line Dancing right there, in front of the camera. In the script it was a great idea. Christian wants to impress a girl and realizes that online dance works as a sequence (he has repeatable steps and follows a precise scheme) while dancing in a disco is improvised and something he would not adapt to. But it memorize it took me a shameful amount of time. I don’t get very natural, or the way my body moves. Luckily I had the help of two very patient women. And both photography and Gavin’s edition were quite indulgent.
– Are there plans for a third? What can you tell me?
–Affleck: It’s a question that I want to ask Bill and Gavin. I await another great script.
–O’Connor: Bill and I were having some preliminary talks. Personally I would like to escape another movie puzzles, which we have been doing twice. Something we talk about is the idea of bringing Anna Kendrick back (which she plays to Christian’s romantic attraction in the first film). Maybe Christian can finally receive the love he deserves.
–Affleck: We hope to like her yet.
–O’Connor: In fact, Ben, we have been sending messages with Anna. He says that if we want, for his part, one hundred percent agree.
–Affleck: Ah, great. So now it only depends on you to ruin everything.
Translation: Román García Azcárate
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