EXCLUSIVE: Jon Bernthal Opens Up About Brax’s Journey & ‘The Accountant 2’
Christian Wolff and brother, Brax return for another intense adventure in The Accountant 2. To promote the film’s release, BeautifulBallad got the chance to hear from one of the stars of the film, Jon Bernthal, about returning to the role of Brax and The Accountant 2.
On whether he was told about the dynamic of his character’s relationship with Ben Affleck’s character prior to filming: “You know, I don’t know that I was ever really told that. I was like, ‘What?’ But look, Bill’s [Dubuque] writing is so unbelievably strong, and Gavin [O’Connor] and I, we’re very close, and you work with Gavin, he’s always going to whittle it down and try to get to the truth of the character and there’s no stone left unturned. It was a real thrill for me to get back, and I think with Ben [Affleck], it just kind of happened that way. I mean, it’s there, but it was very much supported by Gavin to sort of let moments linger and let it exist naturally and play the moments in between the beats. He’s unbelievably funny and, it sounds corny, he’s just mastered this character in such a way that there’s just so many little moments of truth that are going on that you love but can also drive you crazy from the right point of view, and I feel like I was really let off the leash to have a real opinion about that.”
On feeling comfortable during action sequences under the hand of director, Gavin O’Connor: “You can’t lie in a fight, you know? You just can’t lie. What you want is right there, so if you’re going for it, you just got to know what you’re going for and why you’re going for it. I think more than any director I’ve ever worked with, Gavin has an appetite, and an availability, and a hunger to go back and to really get into what makes these guys tick. He’ll talk to you as long as you want to talk to him about where these guys came from.
On his character’s emotional arc in this film: “What’s so beautiful about this being a second film and I think for me with Brax, he’s really sort of shrouded in mystery in the first one. There was a point you really don’t know too much about him, but you have these amazing flashbacks to see how these two boys were raised and what their relationship was with their dad, and it really is the crux of what is really bothering both of them and what’s really bothering Brax, the roles that we’ve always filled for each other, getting each other’s back, having to be there for each other, the lack of being there for each other. So then for it to sort of culminate, it just doesn’t culminate just in a gunfight, it culminates in, ‘Hey, I’m there for you. I’m getting your back, you’re getting mine. We’re joined forever,’ and it’s a way, for lack of a better word, of showing how much you love somebody, and violence can actually be that sometimes.”
On Ben Affleck line dancing in the film: “I’m telling you, I was so happy that day. Watching him, I was like, ‘This scene will never work. There’s no way this is going to work. What does this scene have to do with anything?’ And it was, as soon as I saw him go out there, and I was singing that song, I mean, love that song, I love that. It was so good, and it was like ‘…a disaster. There’s no way this is making the movie. There’s no way.’ I was like, ‘Why are we even here?'”
The Accountant 2 drops in theaters today, April 25.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Photo Credit: Warrick Page/Amazon MGM Studios