ANNA KENDRICK IN “THE ACCOUNTANT”

Press release

Academy Award-nominee Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) stars in Warner Bros.' new action-thriller “The Accountant,” as Dana Cummings, an accounting clerk who's in the center of a multi-million-dollar anomaly.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Directed by Gavin O’Connor (Warrior), The Accountant tells the story of Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), a math savant with more affinity for numbers than people. Behind the cover of a small-town CPA office, he works as a freelance accountant for some of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations. With the Treasury Department’s Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King (J.K. Simmons), starting to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company where an accounting clerk (Kendrick) has discovered a discrepancy involving millions of dollars. But as Christian uncooks the books and gets closer to the truth, it is the body count that starts to rise.

Anna Kendrick describes her character, “Dana is the one who first noticed that something isn’t adding up in the company finances, so she’s a little disappointed when Chris comes in and takes the whole investigation out from under her. She’s not necessarily ambitious, but she wants to be included.”

“Dana has this bubbly personality, and that’s the last thing Christian wants when he’s trying to work,” producer Mark Williams suggests. “But he soon realizes she speaks his language as far as numbers go; she gets exhilarated the same way he does when the pieces start to come together. For that reason, he starts to bond with her and care about her.”

As Chris shows Dana what he’s found, “she gets reenergized by the idea that they’re working together to solve this puzzle,” Kendrick asserts. “She’s intrigued by him because he’s sort of a dorky accountant, but there’s something mysterious, too, which becomes even more obvious when things take a frightening turn. Basically, nerding it up with Chris is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to her,” she laughs.

Kendrick says she shares that sentiment from her own professional perspective. “Working with Ben, as well as Gavin, was hugely exciting for me, too. It was especially interesting acting opposite Ben in this role because Chris is so uncomfortable relating to people, but Ben found a way to make it so charming that Dana is drawn in by his vulnerability. He’s a big guy and physically stronger, but on an emotional level, he’s the one Dana feels needs to be protected.”

The admiration is mutual. “Anna brings a tremendous energy and honesty to her scenes,” Affleck remarks. “She’s someone I admired a lot beforehand, so I was thrilled to have the chance to work with her.”

O’Connor adds, “One thing I discovered about Anna is she can take the dialogue in a scene and—no matter how many times you’ve heard it—create an entirely new interpretation. Every take would be a variation on the theme of how she played it, and I loved that.”

Kendrick says she especially appreciated the director’s “reverence for the emotional content,” noting, “It’s an interesting thing because, in many ways, Gavin is such a dude. He and Ben would get so excited about all the action sequences, but then he also took such joy in the really sweet, emotional scenes.”

Opening across the Philippines on Nov. 02, “The Accountant” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

UNLOCKING CIA’S TOP SECRETS FROM THE MIND OF A “CRIMINAL”

Press release

Hollywood’s brightest young and veteran stars Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman star in “Criminal” -  the story of the right man in the wrong body.

                “Criminal” finds an ex-convict’s brain being implanted the memories of a top CIA agent in a last-ditch effort to stop a diabolical plot. At first, it appears the operation has failed. But Jerico (Costner), unsure of what has happened to him and in fear for his life, escapes and finds himself on the run. At large in London, Jerico begins to experience memories that are clearly not his own – memories that take him into an overwhelming world of family, love and responsibility that he’s never known.  As Jerico enters a secretive world of international spies, ingenious hackers and powerful tyrants, he roams a London he’s never known but mysteriously can navigate.

                Says director Ariel Vromen: "Our main character, Jerico, is a person who starts with no feelings and no real emotions and then he goes on an incredible journey. He acquires all these memories from CIA agent Bill Pope’s mind and he has to react to an entirely new view of life. Because of the massively high stakes, that core emotional story is surrounded by a plot that has great suspense and lots of action. That really appealed to me.”

                Leading the film’s star-studded cast is award winning Kevin Costner in one of his most challenging and unusual roles. As Jerico, Costner had to inhabit two minds at once – that of a hard-bitten, unfeeling criminal capable of anything and that of a patriotic spy and family man driven to be a good man – and find the ways they fuse in one man’s reeling mind.

                Costner says of his reaction to the script: “I'm always attracted to projects when they are multi-layered and this story is very much that. “Criminal” is definitely an action movie but I responded most strongly to the complexity of my character, to all the confusion and turmoil that is scrambled up inside Jerico as he comes to terms with what he is experiencing."

                He goes on: "When we meet Jerico, he is in prison and has spent most of his life there. An injury he suffered as a child rendered him a sociopath, so he has no understanding that the things he does are wrong. He just reacts, sometimes violently, sometimes humorously. He is so unpredictable that he is not even allowed near anyone in jail. But after his operation, Jerico starts going back and forth between who he was and who Bill Pope is. He’s very mixed-up and suddenly he’s comprehending things and having sensations that he’s never experienced before on every level. And that’s what I had to figure out how to portray.”

                Gadot was drawn to Jill’s own transformation in the course of the story. "With Bill, Jill had settled for a convenient life, staying with a husband who she had trouble communicating with because it was comfortable. When her husband dies, Jill has no choice other than to fight for the truth,” Gadot observes.         Her character has to span both fear and inexplicable attraction in her relationship with Jerico, a process Gadot says Costner helped tremendously. "Kevin brings his own charm to the hardcore character of Jerico. He is an incredible actor and by the end of the film, he goes through an amazing transformation."

                Gadot notes that part of the fun of her character is that she is in the dark about who Jerico is and what he wants, though the audience knows. "My character is suddenly confronted by a total stranger who knows every detail about her. She is mystified and the audience will be on the edge of their seats because there is so much going on at every level."

BRILLIANT HACKER WANTED IN ESPIONAGE ACTION THRILLER “CRIMINAL”

Press release

The thrilling espionage movie “Criminal” starring Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones tracks the story of the right man in the wrong body. In a last-ditch effort to stop a diabolical plot, a dead CIA operative’s memories, secrets, and skills are implanted into an unpredictable and dangerous death-row inmate in hopes that he will complete the operative’s mission.

Photo courtesy of OctoArts Films

                “Criminal” delves into the inner workings of the mind when CIA agent Bill Pope (Reynolds) tragically disappears in the middle of an urgent, top-secret mission. He’s been tracking the brilliant hacker known as "The Dutchman" (Michael Pitt), who, while navigating the lawless Dark Web, has uncovered the means to take charge of the entire weaponry of the U.S. military’s Central Command.

                

                “Criminal” opens April 13 in cinemas to be released by OctoArts Films International.