Ben Affleck’s cheeky jibe at Tom Cruise’s stunt work had audiences laughing over the weekend.
The 52-year-old actor was seen on stage at 2025 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas on Saturday to promote his next film The Accountant 2 when Cruise’s name came up.
‘For me, the challenge, of course, was the months and months I spent training to line dance. It was a stunt for me,’ he said, according to Variety.
Then came the big joke: ‘Tom Cruise has nothing on me.’ Cruise is known for doing his own stunts on movies like Top Gun: Maverick and all the Mission: Impossible films.
Affleck – who recently divorced his second wife Jennifer Lopez – also said he struggled with the action sequences in The Accountant 2.
The actor has reprised his role as Christian Wolff in the sequel to the 2016 blockbuster which will see him team up with his estranged but highly lethal brother (Jon Bernthal) to track down mysterious ᴀssᴀssins but admitted that the shooting the stunt scenes ‘did not come easy’ to him.
Ben Affleck’s cheeky jibe at Tom Cruise’s stunt work at 2025 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas on Saturday to promote The Accountant 2 had everyone laughing. ‘For me, the challenge, of course, was the months and months I spent training to line dance. It was a stunt for me,’ he said, according to Variety. Seen March 8 in Austin, Texas
Then came the big joke: ‘Tom Cruise has nothing on me.’ Tom seen in Paris on February 8
He told Access Hollywood: ‘It did not come easy for me, especially with a guy like Jon [Bernthal] who’s so spectacular at it.
‘Cynthia [Addai-Robinson] did an incredible job, Daniella [Pineda] is super bada** in the movie, so I was just trying to keep up.
‘Gavin [O’Connor, director] does a great thing with action sequences – which is really, they’re not just action for its own sake.
‘I don’t think it’s interesting just to see people shooting or a car flipping over or something blowing up just by itself.’
The Academy Award-winning star feels as if ‘anybody could go to enjoy’ the film and is ‘very proud’ of how it has turned out.
He said: ‘This is movie where you really care about the people that are involved, and it’s got an intelligence and a bit of humor and pathos to it. It’s just a whole complete package. I really feel like this is a movie that anybody could go to enjoy.
‘I’m really proud of it. It’s a really interesting set of characters.
‘There are great performances in it, and I feel very confident saying, go see this movie. You won’t be disappointed.’
Cruise is known for doing his own stunts on movies like Top Gun: Maverick and all the Mission: Impossible films. Seen in Paris in August 2024
Read More Jennifer Lopez enjoys ‘date night’ with Office Romance costar Brett Goldstein… after he called her ‘Sєxy’ 
He then asked fans to pay top dollar to check out the movie: ‘See it in theaters – I really think you’ll love it.’
Director Gavin O’Connor recently revealed how the movie almost didn’t happen because of ‘musical chairs’ behind the scenes.
He told ScreenRant: ‘I think there was a bit of a revolving door and musical chairs going on at Warner Brothers.
‘We made the deal to write the next movie in 2018, and it was just, I don’t know, whatever dysfunction goes on in studios these days.
‘I don’t know if there were complications with Warner Brothers and Artists Equity doing a co-studio kind of deal–I’m not really sure exactly what happened with all that–but we just could never get it going over there.
‘Once Ben had his studio, we were like, “If you’re not going to make it, don’t hijack it and not allow us to go pursue this film we’ve been trying to make now for eight years’.”‘
The Accountant 2 is in cinemas from April 25.
Affleck finalized his divorce from Jennifer Lopez recently; seen in February 2024
The Argo actor has been spending a lot of time with his first ex-wife, Jennifer Garner. Seen in 2013 at the Academy Awards
Ben and Jennifer co-starred in the 2003 film Daredevil and wed two years after
This comes after Lopez was seen having fun over the weekend.
She was already spending a night on the town with her Office Romance costar Brett Goldstein.
On Sunday the 55-year-old actress and the 44-year-old actor/writer were seen together backstage with the cast of the Broadway play Oh, Mary!
Jennifer wore a cream-colored blazer with her highlighted hair partially up as she smiled for the camera next to Meryl Streep and Martin Short.
Brett wore dark colors as he was off to the side.
It is not known if it was a proper ‘date night’ out on the town or if they are just friends at the moment, but it looked like it was just the two of them at the show without pals or an entourage.
Lopez and Goldstein are starting to film their new romantic comedy Office Romance this week in New Jersey years after he gushed about how Sєxy she was in the stripper film Hustlers.
Last week, DailyMail.com reported that Jennifer is excited to work with such a talented star as Brett.
Lopez was already spending a night on the town with her Office Romance costar Brett Goldstein
Brett wore dark colors as he was off to the side behind Martin and Meryl
This comes after Jennifer’s ex-husband Ben Affleck was seen back in the arms of his other ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
Goldstein has already expressed he has a crush on the This Is Me… Now singer, even saying he ‘loves’ her. That is why he chose her to star in the film, he says.
Ticket To Paradise director Ol Parker is heading up the feature as Lopez has been named a producer.
‘After a very tough start to 2025, Jennifer can’t wait to start a new project and it certainly helps that she will be working with a very handsome and smart star like Brett,’ a source told DailyMail.com last week.
‘He is one H๏τ ticket and a real class act with talent to back it up – he not only acts but he writes amazing scripts. He is like the younger, better, British version of Ben. She thinks he is very cute.’
‘It will be a reminder to Ben that she is still H๏τ property in Hollywood and how can that not make her feel great?’ the source noted. ‘She is 55 and is still a box office dynamo. This will just be another reminder of that.’
