Ben, how do you gauge success at this point in your career?
AFFLECK For me, it’s pretty simple, actually. I saw an early cut [of “The Accountant 2”] and I just really liked the movie. I almost cried. I was like, “This is amazing. You’ve done it.” Movies are subjective, of course. Some things that touch some people don’t touch others. But even if people walk out of the movie tonight, I don’t care. I love it. That’s not going to change depending on what somebody else says. The question is, “Did this move me? Am I proud to have been a part of this?” And in every category that’s personally meaningful to me, this movie’s already a success.
That sounds very secure! Especially working in Hollywood. Have you always felt that way?
AFFLECK No. And it’s been a very meaningful place for me to arrive at. I used to have this sense of, “If I get to this, or if I get to that, then I’ll feel good — then I’ll feel a sense of worth.” But the truth is, having been lucky enough to have experienced some of those hallmarks of success, it turns out those things actually don’t make you feel better. It doesn’t do it. If you don’t genuinely feel good about what you’re doing, it’s meaningless.
And the other thing is, at those times when I have made it more important what other people think — arriving at a certain box office level, say, or award recognition, or a Rotten Tomatoes number, whatever the metric may be — I was surrendering my own authority and storytelling sensibility. Yes, not everyone is going to like everything, and there is a popular sport of making fun of stuff — that’s the bargain we make for getting it out there. But to maintain your own sanity and integrity artistically, you have to have your own standards. As I’ve gotten to that place, it’s made me feel a lot more comfortable and a lot more at ease.
The first movie came out nine years ago from Warner Bros. The sequel is being put out by Amazon MGM Studios. What was the journey to get to there?
AFFLECK There were a few different things. Warner Bros. was exploring television versions, which is a more valuable way to capitalize because television is ongoing. They did that with Bradley’s [Cooper] movie “Limitless.” “Hey, this was successful. We can mine this for a longer time.”
