Inside the world premiere of The Accountant 2. 

What do Ben Affleck and Tom Cruise have in common? Commitment to the bit, and apparently, their love of challenging stunt work. Ben Affleck claims he spent “months and months” perfecting how to line dance for The Accountant 2, before joking “Tom Cruise has nothing on me, just in terms of line dancing” while addressing an enthusiastic crowd at the film’s world premiere at SXSW in Austin.

 

The long-awaited sequel to the 2016 action-comedy about a neurodivergent hitman and, of course, accountant named Christian Wolff (Affleck) lasers in on a new missing family case, but it's his side quests that pop, for better or for worse. Without revealing too much, at one point in the movie, Christian and his brash brother, Braxton (Jon Bernthal, also returning) wind up at a saloon-like bar during their road trip and, for reasons, Christian joins a woman on the dance floor for “Copperhead Road.” Dance steps are mathematical patterns after all, so picking up the steps with unexpected rizz after some initial awkwardness makes perfect sense in the scope of the plot, and The Accountant multiverse. The cutting back-and-forth between Ben Affleck’s surprisingly stiff, then smooth choreography and Braxton's look of awe from across the bar is punctuated by Braxton, full of gleeful disbelief, saying, “Get the f-ck out of here!” Instantly, an iconic rewatchable scene is born. It resulted in the type of raucous audience response previously felt by SXSW audiences during the Atomic Blonde “Father Figure” fight scene needle drop, or the extremely positive, jubilant response at the world premieres of US or Booksmart. This movie is FUN, and it knows it.

 

During the post-screening Q and A, The Accountant 2 filmmaker Gavin O’Connor (also returning), seemingly felt the glow in the room. Gavin spoke about spoilers, and joked the chastely awkward and eventually triumphantly flirtatious line dancing scene also featured a nude component, before that part of the scene was cut for time. Riffing with his director, Ben added, “It was a choice, and I liked it.” 

Once again, Christian Wolff makes math and brute force look easy, but now he's added line dancing to his very particular set of skills. The Accountant 2, or The Accountant Squared, as Gavin calls it, leans into the playful riffing and self-aware cheeky absurdity of the adversarial dynamics between its main characters, which makes its cross-border missing person storylines all the more appealing. 

 

And yes, Matt Damon was on-hand to support Ben’s big premiere.

This joke, and reference to DeuxMoi’s Joe Biden meme, nails it.

Matt is a producer on the film through his and Ben's company Artists Equity. Both he and Jon Bernthal flew in from Morocco/Greece to support the film while on a short production pause on Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, before heading right back. Many of us in the room were disappointed to not see Matt join Ben on-stage for the Q & A, but loved seeing him in the crowd, and with Ben on the red carpet. Matt also popped by the official after-party at Hotel Van Zandt, where he and wife Luciana posed with the man of the hour.

 

Ben and the team left the party around 12:40 a.m. local time on Saturday night, to fly back to their respective productions, (Animals for Ben), in LA. But before that, they warmly schmoozed and mingled with the cast, crew, and press, as line dancing was going down in the background at the party. Sadly, I did not see them leave the VIP area to show off their post-premiere moves, but the ambiance was real. Who would have thought that the seemingly least country-themed movie of the festival would lean so hard into the western dance steps throughout their premiere, and event branding? 

 

Fan anticipation for this sequel is pretty high, as the original became a sleeper hit at the box office, and on streaming in the nearly nine years since its release. Ben told Deadline all about how he is regularly approached about Christian Wolff, and about how fans have a soft spot for this original film. I do, too. It's a perfect midday cable watch/stream.

And at a festival full of stunts, pop-ups, and Blake Lively, Ben’s Tom Cruise comparison and viral moment sure helps the film stand out more than the bromantic video of him and Jon driving to Austin together, or the fan surprise of the film’s Airstream activation. The Accountant 2 rises above other SXSW films based on its own merits, of course, but a little awareness boost and social media moment beyond your plugged-in base never hurts when your release date is about five weeks out. 

Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Jon Bernthal attended the world premiere and afterparty for 'The Accountant 2' during SXSW in Austin, Texas, on March 8, 2025.
Photo credits: Michael McKinney/ Todd Williamson/ January Images/ Shutterstock

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