While many fans are busy talking about Ben Affleck in relation to Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League, there’s another fanbase that’s still talking about a popular Affleck product years later. That project would be none other than The Accountant, a 2016 movie that has had people excited for a potential The Accountant 2 sequel for a while now. Now, other Accountant actor Jon Bernthal thinks he knows why the property still resonates so much with the fans.
In fact he has a “long-ass answer to a really short question,” noting that the secret sauce for The Accountant was that people who were involved with it really cared about the project and really worked to make it something different. Per Jon Bernthal:
But you know what the thing about it is: the people who made it really, really cared. It was a really, really cool script with a great filmmaker. Ben (Affleck) is incredible in the film. But I think, also, it’s dealing with like issues of brotherhood, fathers and sons, autism, sort of special needs learning and this sort of like the uncharted territory of autism. How new and fresh that is, and the capabilities of some of these folks that are so intriguing. So, it really does hit upon them, and it’s an awesome action move too. So, I guess that’s a long-ass answer to a short-ass questions.
Touching on the special needs aspect of The Accountant, which stars Ben Affleck as an autistic man wielding his special skill set to uncook the books of criminals -- he also is basically a superhero with martial arts skills and more -- Bernthal notes how the first movie ties brotherhood and family into a crime drama. I'd also like to note it includes a charming performance by Anna Kendrick to boot.
In short, people loved it and it went on to make over $155 million worldwide. More importantly, however, Jon Bernthal told Uproxx that people ask about the movie and the potential for The Accountant 2 all the time. He also said,
A lot of people do still talk to me about The Accountant, and it is a movie that really has a huge impact and people ask me all the time if we’re going to make another one.
The last time we checked in with The Accountant 2 was about eight months ago, when Ben Affleck actually spoke out about wanting to make another, noting at the time:
Yeah, I hope so. I would love to. We’ve talked about kicking some ideas around, this last movie we just did. We talked to the studio and they seemed interested, and they kind of brought it up so, we’re looking to do that.
This came after previous reports that a sequel was already in development. Meanwhile Ben Affleck has made a new movie with The Accountant director Gavin O’Connor, called The Way Back (and not to be confused with The Way, Way Back) about basketball and alcohol problems. You can check out the trailer below.
Still, it’s nice to hear that The Accountant is something that really resonates with the fanbase, and that Jon Bernthal still has that movie on his mind, even as he moves on to projects like Ford v Ferrari, out in theaters now. I’m personally still hoping for The Accountant 2 as I found it to be one of the most heartfelt action movies in recent memory and would like to see where its unique story goes next, in case you wanted my own “long-ass” opinions on the matter.
