Cover story

T’S always compelling when people have secrets — when you think someone is one thing and then discover they’re something else entirely,” says film director Gavin O’Connor.

That is certainly the case with the titular character Christian Wolff, from his new film, The Accountant. On the surface, Wolff seems to be a regular certified public accountant. However, his clientele includes the world’s powerful crime lords, and his mild-mannered demeanour and appearance belie the fact that he may be more dangerous than any of them.

Says Ben Affleck, who plays the leading role: “The story speaks to the duality in all of us. It might be easy to pigeonhole a guy like Christian, but we find out he’s capable of much more than you imagine.”

The 44-year-old Californian actor goes on to reveal that there is another unexpected fact about Christian. “On one hand, he’s this effectively trained fighter and on the other, he’s a math savant.”

Those facets of his personality, seemingly at odds with him, were unlike anything I’ve done, and that made it both exciting and challenging.”

O’Connor agrees, saying: “The centre point of the film was this fascinating character that I loved and wanted to explore. How did he become this man? How did he get those skills? How did he become this lethal fighter? The story has intertwining puzzles, which gave it a high IQ factor and made it especially intriguing.” FROM MUNDANE TO EXTRAODINARY The spark for the story was initiated with producer Mark Williams, who explains: “I had heard the term ‘forensic accountant’ and thought it sounded like a detective of sort. But then I started pushing the envelope, raising the stakes with who he’s working for and that had the potential to kick the action into high gear.

“Once I had the general framework, I took it to Bill Dubuque, a writer I’ve worked with. He responded to the idea and started fleshing out the script.”

“The concept of an accountant, a profession that normally is quite mundane; one who is outside what most consider conventional and has extraordinary abilities, is something different. If you’re a mainstream company and think someone’s embezzling funds, you have a team of accountants who can determine where the money is going,” says Dubuque.

“But if you’re a drug cartel or a Mafia kingpin, you can’t do that. You’ve got to find someone who can figure out the patterns in your books, and say, ‘This is where the leak is.’ And then get out. As I thought more about what would make this person special, I hit on the notion that he is on the autism spectrum. But he uses it to his advantage.”

“We learnt the word ‘spectrum’ is fitting because there is really no single type of autism. Every person is an individual and at a different place on that spectrum. Christian has a remarkable aptitude for figures and his physical attributes are a product of his unique upbringing,” O’Connor adds.

Dubuque, who surrounded Christian with other characters that are just as multifaceted, says: “Almost no one is really who they seem to be.” NO FALSE NOTES

With the script in hand, the producers chose O’Connor to helm The Accountant after meeting him.

“We found that he had a deep understanding of these characters and a vision for how to shoot their interwoven storylines,” recalls Williams.

“We knew he was the perfect director for this. He has such a fine eye for details and kept track of all the puzzle pieces so they would all fit together in the end, which was important for this film.”

Affleck adds: “I’d seen Gavin’s work on Warrior and Miracle, and in both of those movies I saw tremendous integrity in the performances. I thought, ‘This is a director who doesn’t let a false note land in his films.’”

“I knew The Accountant needed that kind of unflinching eye to capture the complexity and the nuances and ground it in reality. At the end of the day, I was so glad he directed this movie because amidst the incredible action, he imbued it with authenticity, originality, humanity and heart. I loved working with him.”

Anna Kendrick, who stars alongside Affleck, says she appreciated the director’s “reverence for the emotional content.”

“It’s interesting because, in many ways, Gavin is a dude. He and Ben would get excited about all the action sequences, but then he also took such a joy in the really sweet, emotional scenes,” says the actress who plays Dana Cummings, whom Christian finds speaks his language as far as numbers go. A GAME CAST FOR AN UNCONVENTIONAL SCRIPT O’Connor says the divergent elements of the story and its characters were what attracted him to the project. “It’s refreshingly unconventional and defies definition because it’s a suspense thriller, a drama, an action film and a character study. I thought the script was one of the best that I’d read, so I really wanted to do it,” says the director.

The cleverly constructed screenplay also drew the film’s impressive acting ensemble. “It kept me guessing until the very last page. I thought it was very smart, rich in detail and in character depth, and inventive in its evolution,” says Affleck.

Says another leading star in the film, J.K. Simmons: “Bill Dubuque crafted a layered script with very deep characters, so it has a great combination of an intricate plot with a range of fascinating people.”

Joining Affleck, Kendrick and Simmons in the main cast were Jon Bernthal, Jean Smart, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow.

“Part of my job as a director is surrounding myself with people who are really good at what they do. People who are going to constantly lift up the material and make me better and make the film the best it can be. All of these actors are of that calibre,” says O’Connor.

As the film opens, we meet Christian as a child whose parents are seeking professional help to deal with his autism. Telling the couple their son is actually more gifted than handicapped, the neurologist offers to work with him.

But Christian’s dad has his own ideas on how to prepare his son for a world that can be harsh for anyone deemed “different”. “Christian’s father puts him through all kinds of rigorous training to toughen him up for a world he thinks could hurt