The challenge was that every year that went by, I had to justify why Chris and Brax haven’t seen each other in so long. We were constantly massaging that. It makes it easier when one character’s on the spectrum and the other one lives an itinerant lifestyle, so we started to work all that out. What never changed and what was important to me in building the script was that I wanted the key in the ignition to be that Ray gets killed, and let that sort of tentacle into a much bigger story.
I also wanted to build a movie around human trafficking. Since 2018, that’s been really important to me, and I just wanted to be able to shine a light on that. But that also came with its own complications because it becomes very tricky to be dealing with this kind of heavy subject matter and also trying to make a fun, entertaining movie, so we were walking a tightrope there. And then I guess lastly, the puzzle aspect of the movie was really tricky to do because if it’s too easy, you don’t need Chris to come in and figure it out. And if it’s too complicated, the audience is going to check out of the fucking movie.
It seems like Chris and Brax are much more of a team in this movie.
The movie very much is about Chris and Brax, and how they have to fix it with each other. That was always the intention in the second movie. And then the third movie is going to be what I call Rain Man on steroids. It’s just the two brothers. We don’t know exactly what happens yet [in it], Bill and I have ideas, but the third movie is going to start with the two brothers together and we’re off to the races. We’ve always been building the franchise in that direction.
You’ve worked with Ben now on three movies in a row (Accountant 1 and 2 and The Way Back). What makes you two simpatico creatively?
I can remember Ben saying to me, before we made the first one, “I like your taste. I feel like we have similar taste.” And I think what he meant by that, which I agree, is that he and I have, just artistically and as storytellers, just a similar aesthetic. We trust each other artistically. For me as a storyteller, it actually starts with the performances. So I think that Ben understands and appreciates that and trusts that we’re not only going to find and explore the character, but create something that just feels honest and truthful and grounded. So there’s just a lot of work going into the characters and performance.
