He’s currently busy wearing the Batsuit for Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, after which he's due to slip on his director’s coat for Live By Night. But a busy schedule isn’t stopping Ben Affleck from contemplating another type of suit, that of a bean counter, for The Accountant, developing over at Warner Bros.
Originally scripted by Bill Dubuque (who contributed to Robert Downey Jr.’s upcoming drama The Judge and is presumably writing a whole series of films titled for different professions), The Accountant sounds like it could be two hours of the actor punching numbers into a calculator. In fact, however, it follows a mild-mannered office type who uses his boring day job as a cover for his other role as a lethal assassin. On paper, it sounds a little like based-on-real-life businessman/killer tale The Iceman, though Warners will no doubt be hoping it manages to make more of an impact at the box office.
The project has floated in limbo for years, starting at WB with Mel Gibson interested, before moving on to Sony, which tried to set it up for Will Smith. It’s now returned home and Warner Bros. is hoping Warrior’s Gavin O’Connor might take on directing the film, but there’s no solid offer in place yet.
If it all falls into place, the plan is for Affleck to fit the film in between his superhero duties and his stint directing the Dennis Lehane adaptation. Before any of that, however, he’ll be back on our screens this week in David Fincher’s** Gone Girl**.