Ben Affleck has The Accountant opening in a little under two weeks, so we can expect to see him out and about in LA often in the interim. These are photos of him at the press conference and with his son Samuel, four, which were taken last week. Affleck plays a math whiz who becomes a financial consultant for international crime syndicates. It costars Anna Kendrick and JK Simmons and looks like an excellent thriller. Affleck has shown that he can direct and now he’s flexing his acting muscles post Batman. In a new press conference for the film, Affleck talked about his kids and how, as a father, he can relate to the dilemma of the man who played his father in the film. His character is on the Autism syndrome and his interests get channeled into learning advanced math.

In the R-rated thriller, Affleck plays the accountant, Chris, a math genius with a mysterious set of special skills who also happens to be on the autism spectrum. Chris grows up with a very strict, very physical father who encourages his sons to fight their way out of conflict, but does so out of love for his “different” son. Affleck told reporters the fictional parenting style gave him pause.

“That’s what I thought was the most heartbreaking thing about the story and it was definitely moving to me as a parent,” Affleck said. “I face dilemmas that we all do everyday about what’s the right way to raise children, what’s the right thing to teach them? Every moment there comes a crossroad.”

The Batman v. Superman star said that he does his best to make the right parenting choices for his children without getting too caught up in the deeply emotional aspects of normal growing pains and childhood vulnerabilities.

“When you have kids, what’s that expression, ‘Your heart is outside your body,’ all of the [sic] sudden you feel so vulnerable and this fear of a child being vulnerable is very very powerful,” he said. “I can see why it made for a really interesting character in the father. Here’s a guy out of love and compassion and fear for his son, actually ends up kind of brutalizing him and abusing him and it’s a really interesting look at what’s the appropriate way to channel the intense emotions we have as parents, it’s not easy.”

[From People]

I remember Katherine Heigl saying that parenting was like having your heart outside your body. It’s a common enough saying. Affleck’s interviews are usually good because he thinks deeply about things and he gives thoughtful answers. Sometimes he’s throwing people under the bus for his own choices, but this is not one of those times. He is being somewhat revealing though, in that he admits that there are crossroads with kids and that he’s trying to figure out the right thing to do. I suspect he’s talking about his relationship with his children’s mother as much as his children.

Affleck has several other new interviews as part of his press junket. In an interview with E! he talks about helping his kids with their math homework, as it relates to his character in The Accountant. He said that “Jen’s very good at math” but that he’s worried his kids will surpass him once they reach seventh or eighth grade. He’s asked if he’s “surprised at the interest” in his successful coparenting with Jen and he answers “very little surprises me.” To ET, Affleck talks about taking his daughters to meet Taylor Swift, where they were dumbfounded. Fox 5 got him to discuss the critical reception to Batman vs. Superman, and he made it clear that it was a huge hit and that he personally liked it. He said the film was “judged not necessarily on execution so much as on its tone” and that “People seemed to want [it] to have a lighter tone.” It was very dark, but it was also too long and meandering.

photos credit: PRphotos and FameFlynet