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The sequel to Ben Affleck’s The Accountant is coming out in theaters on April 25. It costars Jon Bernthal as Ben’s character’s brother. On Saturday, The Accountant 2 premiered at SXSW Film & TV Festival. Ben was joined on the red carpet by his longtime bestie and acting/producing partner, Matt Damon.
Last November, Ben and Matt shared that they were growing out their beards together because they were in the process of filming their upcoming Netflix thriller, RIP, in which they’re playing bearded Miami cops. It looks like Ben’s kept a more trimmed down version of the beard. Matt, on the other hand, is not making any effort to tame that thang. He’s currently filming Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, starring as Odysseus himself. It definitely made for a noteworthy red carpet look.
Ben Affleck is back in action for The Accountant 2. On Saturday, March 8, the actor, 52, stepped out for the world premiere of his new film, which also stars Jon Bernthal and more, at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin, Texas.
Matt Damon, who co-produced the film via his production company with longtime pal Affleck Artists Equity, showed up to support the project. Damon, 53, posed for photos with Affleck while still wearing his full beard for filming Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey movie.
Affleck spoke to reporters including PEOPLE at the red carpet, sharing why he and Damon make a good team.
“It’s a beautiful thing. You know, I don’t have very many— none of us really have very many friends. You don’t need a million friends. You need a few good ones. And I’m really lucky to have had a friend in Matt,” said Affleck. “… I’m lucky to have friends like that in my life.”
The Accountant 2 centers around Affleck’s character Christian Wolff as he tries to solve a case after “an old acquaintance is murdered, leaving behind a cryptic message to ‘find the accountant,’ ” according to a synopsis.
“Realizing more extreme measures are necessary, Wolff recruits his estranged and highly lethal brother Brax to help. In partnership with U.S. Treasury Deputy Director Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), they uncover a deadly conspiracy, becoming targets of a ruthless network of killers who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried.”
Director Gavin O’Connor told PEOPLE at the SXSW premiere that Affleck “understands the character so well” and has done “so much research” for The Accountant 2.
“It’s a temptation for actors when they play, say, genius to chew it up and over-act. He never does that. It’s always simple, it’s always honest, it’s always truthful. It’s just beautiful acting.”
While the first installment of the film series, 2016’s The Accountant, also starred Anna Kendrick, Jeffrey Tambor, Jean Smart and John Lithgow, the actors are not back for this sequel. J.K. Simmons does return as Ray King, director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Bureau.”
Sooo, thoughts on Matt’s unruly Odysseus beard? Matt has never been my type, but I’ve always thought he was a reasonably attractive man. This beard has succeeded in making him look like a mad professor who finally took a shower. As for Ben’s fashion, I like the look, but are popped collars a thing again now? Can we maybe not? While also on the red carpet, Ben said that the hardest stunt to learn to do for the movie was learning how to line dance. As someone who has two left feet, I feel that. I’d have an easier time learning basically anything other than something that required rhythm, lol.
As for the rest of the red carpet press, I thought this was a really sweet thing to say: “I don’t have very many [friends]… You don’t need a million friends. You need a few good ones. And I’m really lucky to have had a friend in Matt.” In videos from the red carpet, Ben looks genuinely excited to see him. I always like seeing actual, real Hollywood friendships. In a biz where a lot of things are presented to us to maintain appearances, it’s always nice to see something genuine shine through.