The Accountant 2 is out in theaters today, April 25. Ben Affleck has been telling endearing stories in his promotional interviews about his children, Violet, 19, Fin, 16, and Samuel, 13. Ben appeared on his good friend Jimmy Kimmel’s show this week. Jimmy kicked off the interview with a story about how Ben invited Jimmy’s former nemesis, Jay Leno, to a Christmas dinner Ben was holding. Ben’s defense was that he had no idea that the two talk show hosts hated each other because he doesn’t follow gossip.
Jimmy teased Ben about how his other (fake) nemesis, Matt Damon, wasn’t at the Accountant 2 premiere (he was at the SXSW one, though). Ben was like, “But you know who was? My kids!” And, as it turns out, his kids are his biggest critics. While they liked their dad’s newest movie (Sam was very impressed/jealous that Ben knew JK Simmons), they have not always been favorable in the past. In fact, when he tried to have them watch 1998’s Armageddon, they roasted the sh-t out of it.
“My kids, they’re like very tough and they don’t censor their criticism,” he tells host Jimmy Kimmel. “They’ll sit right next to me watching a movie and just, while it’s happening, ‘This is terrible. I mean, this is terrible! Why did you do this?’ Like, you can wait till it ended, you know what I mean, before.”
As for his newest film, Affleck says he was genuinely surprised when his kids — Samuel, 13, Seraphina, 16, and Violet, 19, whom he shares with ex Jennifer Garner — told him they enjoyed the movie.
“They liked it! At first, it was one of those things where they looked at me like you thought I was looking at you, which was like, ‘What’s the catch?’ ” he remembers. “I was like, ‘What, you really liked it?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, it was good.’ And they were shocked. You know what I mean? As if I got lucky. This magical accident happened, and something I did was okay.”
Although they’re fans of The Accountant 2, Affleck’s kids particularly disliked one film their dad made them watch during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During COVID, all the kids were around the house, and I was like, ‘Hey, let’s watch a movie.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, maybe the kids will like Armageddon,’ ” Affleck shares. “Almost immediately, it was like, ‘What is this? This is so stupid. Are you kidding me?’”
“My son was like, ‘This doesn’t make sense.’ I said, ‘This is not a logic-based film. That is not one of the criteria we used making this, ” jokes the dad of three of the apocalypse movie.
”This is not a logic-based film. That is not one of the criteria we used making this.” LMAO, that’s too funny. Assuming that Ben meant the 2020 days of Covid lockdowns, then Samuel would have been eight at the time. I’m surprised that he got nitpicky about the premise! They have to go into space to save the world! Is it a generational thing? Because I freaking love big blockbusters that are not logic based. I sat through all of Jake Gyllenhaal’s Ambulance and enjoyed every non-realistic minute of it, lol. Hell, I rewatched one of my favs, Speed, on a long flight last weekend and gleefully laughed when the bus made that ridiculous, impossible jump over the gap in the highway. I bet he was just trolling his dad.
Ben also talked about being a latchkey kid when he was “five, six, seven years old.” Despite being at home because he was unemployed, his father was an alcoholic who left Ben to fend for himself, so he literally wore a key around his neck. To entertain himself, he’d get on the subway as a little kid and go see movies. Seeing Back to the Future on one such occasion caused him to “stalk” Christopher Lloyd for like 10 blocks when he saw him on the street a few years later. He also talked about his early days trying to break into acting with Matt Damon and told a hilarious story about their time as extras on movies like Field of Dreams. It’s a fun interview and he had a good rapport with Jimmy.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Faye’s Vision/Cover Images, PGP/Backgrid, Getty
