While countless headlines about Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have come over the past year, the two are still on the top of their game professionally. The Good Will Hunting icon recently returned to theaters with the long-awaited sequel The Accountant 2, which required him to both kick ass and line dance as the protagonist. And his comments about bringing choreography to life has been A+.
CinemaBlend's The Accountant 2 review praised it was superior to the first movie, largely thanks to the brother storyline at the center of its plot. Christian and his brother Braxton bond at a line dancing bar halfway through the movie, and Affleck spoke to The New York Times about why it made sense in the film. In his words:
You saw my virgin voyage — I lost my line dancing virginity right there on camera. It was just such a great idea in the script. Christian wants to impress a girl and he notices that line dancing functions on a sequence — it has steps which are repeatable and fall into a pattern — whereas just dancing at a club is improvisatory and something he would not be well-suited to.
Points were made. Affleck's character is autistic in The Accountant franchise, and struggles in social situations. So while he might not be able to improvise his own dancing, he's able to use his keen mathematical mind to memorize a line dance. And just like that he's dancing and flirting with a cute girl in a bar.
Later in that same interview, Ben Affleck revealed he wasn't quite as quick to pick up the line dance as his character in The Accountant 2. In his words:
But it took an embarrassingly long amount of time for me to memorize. It doesn’t come very naturally to me and the way my body moves. Thankfully, I had two very patient women who helped me. And Gavin’s photography and editing were quite forgiving.
Instead of a sequel no one asked for, fans have been calling for The Accountant 2 since the original movie hit theaters back in 2016. Focusing on Christian and Braxton's strained relationship was a great way to give the follow-up film serious heart, alongside its action and twists. The New York Times' YouTube has the clip, accompanied by commentary from director Gavin O'Connor. Check it out below:
Critics have been praising The Accountant 2, while Ben Affleck and others have been busy on the press tour for the action sequel. Plenty of line dancing questions have come, and his responses have been endlessly charming. In a video from Today's Facebook he'd line danced before, responding with:
No I have not, that was a new experience for me. But it was like the one thing the director kept calling me. 'Are you practicing the line dancing? Are you practicing? Are you rehearsing?' I was like 'Yes, I am. This isn't showing a lot of faith in my line dancing.'
Those of us who saw The Accountant 2 know that he succeeded in the end. It was a super charming sequence, especially as Jon Bernthal's character watched his older brother succeed. As for Braxton, he got to have his own fun when participating in a bar fight shortly thereafter.
The Accountant 2 is in theaters now and the original is streaming for those with an Amazon Prime subscription. We'll just have to see if the burgeoning franchise becomes a full-fledged trilogy.
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