Director Gavin O’Connor’s philosophy is: “You make the movie before you make the movie. All the work has to happen before you shoot the first scene.” O’Connor’s new movie “The Accountant” hit theaters Friday staring some of Hollywood’s biggest names: Ben Affleck, J.K. Simmons and Anna Kendrick.
Even with this esteemed cast, O’Connor holds his ground and never loses his nerve.
“They are all regular people, and you just do your work,” O’Connor said at a roundtable interview with The Daily Free Press. “My job is to explain to them what the intention of the movie is, what I’m trying to say and the actors’ job is to service the vision of the movie.”
O’Conner has previously made critically acclaimed sports-focused films like “Miracle” (2004) and “Warrior” (2011), but this time his movie centers on the autistic accountant Christian Wolff (Affleck) who secretly does the books for some of the worst criminals in the world. With the U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Crime Enforcement Network, run by Ray King (Simmons), on his tail, Wolff takes on what he thinks is a legitimate client. However, the accountant clerk, Dana (Kendrick), discovers a discrepancy involving millions of dollars. Soon after, people start getting killed.
Even as an action film, “The Accountant” is surprising in the amount of humorous moments, most often associated with Affleck’s character, a balance that was very important for the O’Connor.
“I wanted to make the movie fun, so I casted Anna Kendrick for that reason,” O’Connor said. “And then with Ben, I was always encouraging him that if in the moments there were opportunities to find humor, to go for it. And if it didn’t work, who cares, but if it does work — you get gold.”
Affleck directed “Argo,” an Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning film released in 2012, but O’Connor said directing an Oscar-winning director “was never in any way an issue.”
“I think if Ben made it an issue or was applying like his directing brain to the movie, then I guess it would have been an issue,” O’Connor said.
Affleck’s character choices in the depiction of autism are unique, and, according to O’Connor, it took a lot of research to create this character and pay attention to his autism.
There has been debate surrounding the idea of films with lead characters with disabilities being played by actors without disabilities. This debate has criticized directors for choosing able-bodied actors to perform the roles of differently-abled individuals instead of choosing actors who actually identify as autistic, for example. Other debates include the portrayal of transgender characters by cisgendered actors.
Even though O’Connor said he had thought about this issue, he still chose to go with an able-bodied actor.
“I thought it would be better to have an actor do it rather than someone who really is on the spectrum,” O’Connor said. “I thought it would be harder for them because you have to deconstruct your own behaviors and then have to reconstruct it again, and I wasn’t sure how easy that person would be able to do that.”
Affleck’s character is very restricted socially and emotionally, and without giving anything away, his and Kendrick’s characters develop an unusual relationship, which, according to O’Connor, has great significance to the movie.
“A girl strikes a fire in Chris’ heart,” he said. “Usually what Chris would do if he got in dangerous situations, he’ll leave, no problem, but now there is a hit on a girl he has feelings for, so poor anybody who gets in the way of that — and we see what happens.”