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- [00:01]
Jesse David Fox
Support for this show comes from BetterHelp. Summer can feel like a sprint. Kids home, trips to plan, routines flipped upside down. It's easy to slip into survival mode just trying to get through it. Then suddenly it's over and you're wishing you enjoyed the days just a little bit more. Therapy can help you slow down and actually be present for the moments that matter. With BetterHelp, you can connect with a licensed therapist from anywhere on your schedule. Don't just survive this Summer, Thrive. Visit betterhelp.com VoxPods
- [00:33]
Sponsor Announcer
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- [01:19]
Jason Bateman
Please welcome Vulture senior writer and host of the Good One podcast, Jesse David Fox, an actor, director, produce, producer and podcaster, Jason Bateman.
- [01:29]
Jesse David Fox
Welcome to. My name is Jesse David Fox, senior writer of Vulture, author of comic book, host of Good One podcast, the podcast you currently are at. Thank you everybody for coming to Vulture Festival at Tribeca Festival. We're so excited to be back in New York. We're so excited to be part of Tribeca Festival. And I'm so excited to talk to my guest, actor, director, producer, podcaster, one of the genius.
- [01:53]
Jason Bateman
Hey dad.
- [01:55]
Jesse David Fox
Greatest straight men in the history of comedy, Jason Bateman. Thank you for joining me.
- [02:00]
Jason Bateman
Very nice to be here. Thank you guys. You're very nice. Thank you.
- [02:06]
Jesse David Fox
So the first question always is, what is the funniest, strangest, or most fascinating thing that happened to you this week?
- [02:15]
Jason Bateman
The funniest, strange. I mean, you know, I mean this, you know, I'm sitting up here on stage and you guys are sitting like usually in those seats. You're, you're, you've paid to watch something entertaining on screen that takes a long time to make and a bunch of people, you know, hammer away at making something. We're just talking. And I mean, it always shocks me that people are interested in what I have to say. And I don't mean to be falsely humble. It's just, you know, like the podcast that I do, it's Just us three, you know, idiots speaking. And I guess I do. I feel very, very fortunate that what I enjoy doing, people find entertaining. And part of the stuff I like to do is, you know, run my mouth and share my hot takes on stuff and all that crap. So I. So thank you for being interested in what it is. I have to say that's very odd.
- [03:20]
Jesse David Fox
And, yes.
- [03:21]
Jason Bateman
I forget the adjectives you use, but this would qualify.
- [03:24]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah, you were at game three, but not when you watch game four. Were you like, yeah, game.
- [03:31]
Jason Bateman
I was. Yeah, I was. I was working and I couldn't make it there. I wasn't invited either, but. But the. Yeah, Game three was Monday night.
- [03:42]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah.
- [03:43]
Jason Bateman
And yes. Got to that. That was nuts getting in there because that was Trump night too, right? Yeah, I know. That was very, very odd. Yeah, getting in was interesting. I had to. I had to pull my car over, like, 10 blocks before Madison Square Garden, and I'd. We kind of heard that there was going to be some roads blocked there because of his arrival. And so my daughter and I, we had our friend in the car, and she had agreed to kind of take the car off of us in case we needed to walk. And so we did. And so we're walking and then there's like. Then there's. Then there's a closer block, closer to the Madison Square Garden for pedestrians. Like, you can't even. You can't even walk anymore now unless you show proof of a ticket. And our tickets were, you know, we were, like, on this, you know, one of the list there to get in, so there wasn't an actual ticket. And I'm, you know, in the middle of explaining this to one of these nice police officers. And halfway through the explanation, he was like, oh, wait a second. Hey, you're that guy. And I was like, yeah, could you help me out, please? I can't. I don't have a ticket. He was like, come with me. And so this nice New York City cop gave at a walking police escort, which was, like, really, really nice of him. But then, yeah, I mean, then I got heckled. Like, here's Bateman cutting the line, you fucking dude. You know, so sorry about that.
- [05:05]
Jesse David Fox
When you're. When you're in those situations, especially like halftime, where you're like, oh, this is my chance to try to get Jay Z on the podcast.
- [05:12]
Jason Bateman
Yeah. I mean, there were a lot of fancy folks around us there. I almost did that to Dave Chappelle. I almost. I wanted to, like, say, hey, any interest in. But I didn't. I Behaved myself. And I watched the game.
- [05:28]
Jesse David Fox
So I was watching the game and thinking about your career. And bear with me, this might be a odd theory, but. So I was thinking about the idea that in the NBA, the theory is that point guards make the best coaches because they're sort of the coach on the court. And I was thinking about how you transitioned from being a sort of straight man in scenes to being a director, and it felt like a similar parallel. Do you see the.
- [05:51]
Jason Bateman
I do, yeah. I do, yeah. Because the straight man is kind of. It's us, you know, the audience member. You're sort of like the person you cut to to show a reaction to the craziness you just saw. Right. The straight man's sort of like, you know, the audience's proxy. And so you are kind of meant to keep an eye on all four corners of the story and what's going on. And that's kind of what a director has to do. A director's job is to sort of shape the experience, the whole experience for the audience and not really specifically do one particular thing. You know, it's the one person on the set that doesn't have a job. So you're sort of meant to manage the whole thing, to be the coach, to be the. And so that's why I like playing that part. I really gravitate to playing that part in front of the camera because I like it behind.
- [06:43]
Jesse David Fox
There's preparing for this being clear. You do not like showy acting, like very capital A acting, where you're like, that person is acting really good. Can you talk about what that is? What is a good actor to you? What is a bad actor to you? Not even good or bad. But what do you personally like tonal?
- [06:59]
Jason Bateman
I mean, everybody. And pardon me for being turned away from so much. There's about, I don't know, a handful of actors that I would pay a ticket to watch their performance. But usually I think we buy a ticket to watch a story, to watch a whole thing. I don't want to watch someone, oh, look how good they're doing. The limp and the accent and the ir, you know, like, that kind of bumps you out of something if you're watching a performance. I want to be kind of inside the screen, and so I want to not be distracted by someone's acting. And so I like that style. So I try to do that myself as well. And on top of all that, and really kind of this is probably the bigger part of it, but it gets sort of a little bit heady. So I Apologize. But I like to try to be as not full of shit as possible in my life. Because, you know, out there in La La Land, there's a lot of phoniness is sort of. It's famous for. And as you know, it's everywhere. I don't to pick on la, but I'm sure we all know people that are kind of. You can kind of see through their nonsense, and it's exhausting to convince them that you don't see it. And so a handful of years or longer than that, I just sort of was like. I got so cynical about that that I just was like, I just. I don't want to be phony. I want to just be me. And so that runs at odds with my fricking profession, which is to really be convincingly not who I am. And so I don't know. So I really. I try to gravitate to stuff where I can just be kind of versions of me that service the story.
- [08:46]
Jesse David Fox
You said one of my favorite things ever about what a straight man does, especially in a comedy, which is, there's nothing funny about Martians on Mars. Can you talk about what that means?
- [08:55]
Jason Bateman
Well, if. If it's a crazy person in a crazy situation, it's all kind of a dial tone. They sort of. It's kind of a hat on a hat. And like. But if you have, you know, if a fish is walking around on the sidewalk, that's pretty interesting because the fish is not supposed to be there. How does that happen? So if you have a normal person trying to navigate an extraordinary situation, that's interesting, you know, that.
- [09:31]
Jesse David Fox
Can you think of, let's say, on Arrested Development? One of the hardest times you had to keep a straight face when someone is being.
- [09:38]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, any scene with Geoffrey Tambor was a real difficult thing for me. I developed a strategy once, like, digging my nail into my leg no longer worked. I just started to just not look at his eyes. I just would start to just let my eyes drift down, like, into sort of this area or kind of over here or something. And he would just be like, what the fuck? He said, my eyes are up here. It's like working with Helen Keller. Like, come on. I said, well, stop being so funny, because I felt bad about ruining the takes. Cause he would do something hilarious and I'd start laughing. And then we'd have to do it again. And then he wasn't as funny. And then he'd get mad at me because I screwed up the time. He was funny.
- [10:18]
Jesse David Fox
The thing that I was thinking of Was. I imagine it's almost Herculean to see David Cross painted in blue and saying, I blew myself. And then you have to.
- [10:29]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, then what was that? Was like one of my favorite lines. Was that the scene where I say, yeah, where he says, yeah, I blew myself earlier today. And I just look and I go, have you ever recorded yourself? Have you ever just heard what you say? I recommend you carry around a little recorder with yourself. And, you know, you often will do
- [10:50]
Jesse David Fox
even, like, straight men acting in dramas. For you, is there a difference between dramatic acting and comedic acting?
- [10:58]
Jason Bateman
It's funny. Somebody just asked me that out front. It's similar to that, but it is to me, again, the kind that I like to do, at least currently. Although these last two jobs, I've kind of. Yeah, I like kind of, you know, being a little bit of a freak, but I like being the person who was reacting to the comedy person. I like being, you know, I like. I like the guy you'd cut to that reacts to the person who just farted. And I also like to be the person you cut to. To once the person reveals a knife. You know, so I'm. I kind of. I live next to the median, and the big comedy person's over here and the big drummer person's over there.
- [11:43]
Jesse David Fox
One of my favorite times you did a big swing and I. And I. It's. It stands out in your career is in dodgeball. You're in one scene and you're, like, really going for it, and it's like, it's preparing, watching her work. It is so lovely to see you. Just like. I imagine you had a day where, like, you can do anything.
- [11:58]
Jason Bateman
Yeah.
- [11:59]
Jesse David Fox
Do you remember shooting that?
- [12:00]
Jason Bateman
I do, yeah. It was actually. It was during Arrested Development. I think I had. I think I worked in the morning up. Up in la. Arrested Development. They were shooting that down south somewhere south of the airport. And I drove down there at lunchtime, and it was just a half a day to do that stuff because it was just. We were just sitting like this, and so we could, you know, hose down all those scenes. There's no different position for us. And I remember saying to the director, before we went out there, I asked him, I said, so, what's the tone of the film? Like, how crazy is crazy? Or should I. How he's, like, pretty crazy. I said, well, like, should I put. Should I ask a makeup lady to put a. Like a neck tat on me? Is that. Is that. Is it perfect?
- [12:42]
Jesse David Fox
There's a pirate in this movie.
- [12:44]
Jason Bateman
Exactly, yeah. I mean, the script was somewhat obvious, but then, you know, a director's prerogative is always to, you know, adjust tone. And so, you know, you just want to be in the same movie as everybody else. And it's hard to know what the tone of the movie is if you haven't been there for the first three weeks of their shooting and you're just coming in for a few hours.
- [13:00]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah, the other thing I was thinking about is you're. You're a really good SNL host. I remember specifically that episode you had, the recent one, which was during COVID I'd been like, this is one of the best episodes in a really long time.
- [13:10]
Jason Bateman
Thanks very much.
- [13:11]
Jesse David Fox
Because you had. You got to do both straight men in some scenes, and both. Do you remember especially that later week, which was during. It was an odd, Odd time to do the show?
- [13:19]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, I think there was once, just after Arrested Development got started, and then this one. Yeah, you're talking about this. This.
- [13:27]
Jesse David Fox
Either one, if you remember.
- [13:29]
Jason Bateman
I just remember that. How impressive that machine is over there. It's like a Swiss watch. You know, they don't really commit to anything until Wednesday or something like that. So they've got only, you know, three or four days to build all those sets and make all those wigs. And I just. It's stunning what they do there. The, you know, it's really. They write, I'm gonna Guess here, 60 sketches. And from which they. They narrow it down to maybe 15 or something, and then 10 make it to show something like that. And so you read all those 60 sketches around a table, and you read them cold. You don't really have a chance to read through them. And with each sketch. Each sketch is, you know, five pages or something, and you have to figure out what your funny is in each of those sketches. You know, are you the straight man? Are you the crazy person? Should you do an accent? Should you not? And it's. It's awesome to me that they're able to get such a high batting average of success with really having no time to work on that. There's no comedic interpretation for a director to say to that host, hey, so the way this. This particular writing in this sketch is going to work is if you play this sort of paranoid, you know, or if you play this part real cocky, you know, that. That's what we were thinking when we wrote it. Like, there's. There's no real help with that.
- [14:52]
Jesse David Fox
Be like a second. We'll be like, hey, just, you know, you're going to be singing throughout this entire.
- [14:55]
Jason Bateman
Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know. I just. That is a. That was. That first time I did. It was like, one of the best. Best weeks of my life.
- [15:04]
Jesse David Fox
I believe you're currently out east because you're working on Cackling Up Dodos.
- [15:08]
Jason Bateman
The Cackling of the Dodos, Yes.
- [15:10]
Jesse David Fox
A new feature you're directing for Netflix. Can you share the general premise of that?
- [15:15]
Jason Bateman
Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson find a dead body in a grain bin on a farm that they both run, and they try to get rid of this dead body and they create two more dead bodies doing it. And it's a very, very, very dark, dark comedy.
- [15:32]
Jesse David Fox
Is it like Cohen?
- [15:34]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, it's like early Cohen. It's more like Blood simple than, say, Raising Arizona. It's.
- [15:42]
Jesse David Fox
It's.
- [15:42]
Jason Bateman
It's. It's. I'm Loving itself. We just finished our first week last night.
- [15:45]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah, I was wondering where. So you are just start shooting. What. Where are you in the process? What do you. When you're. This part in. What do you, like, how do you. In terms of, like, you already know what kind of you're doing. You're in the middle. I'm so curious where you. What do you feel about the process when you're, like, deep in it? What do you like as a director?
- [16:03]
Jason Bateman
What you mean, what do I enjoy? Or what am I, like, nervous wreck?
- [16:07]
Jesse David Fox
Are you, like, around being like, okay, okay, on Monday, we're this. Like, what is. What is your process like in terms of your. You know, this is Saturday, so, like, on Monday, you got to go back to work. Oh, oh.
- [16:16]
Jason Bateman
Like, what am I going to do today and tomorrow? Yeah, yeah, a lot of homework. Like, so I've already got, you know, all the camera angles and all that stuff worked out and how we're going to shoot each scene. But now I'm more familiar with some of the sets because I've been on it this week. And so today, when I get home from this, then all day tomorrow, I'll go through all the scenes that we're going to shoot this coming week, and I'll get more and more specific about where exactly I'm going to put the camera, you know, subject to the actors agreeing to sit in that chair and, you know, go out that door when I'd like them to. You know, it's. It takes a lot of planning, but you also have to be flexible. And so the more of a plan you have together, the more you are comfortable with the changes that come because you've got. You've Got. You've done your homework.
- [17:02]
Jesse David Fox
You. You've known Woody for a while. I believe you were sort of ascended at the same time.
- [17:06]
Jason Bateman
Yeah.
- [17:07]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah. Do you have any Woody Harrelson stories that capture your relationship or what it's like to know him?
- [17:12]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, there are some I can't speak
- [17:16]
Jesse David Fox
about,
- [17:18]
Jason Bateman
but we did this. We did. I love that you, like, know to ask me if there's a Woody Harrelson story of my life. We. There's this celebrity car race. I don't know if they still do it, but it was the Toyota Grand Prix of Long beach that was around for a long time. And there's a. You know, they let us cheesy celebrities drive around these. These cars and go fast, and it's really fun for us because we don't get out a lot. And so Woody and I were a couple of those celebs a bunch of years back, and they train you up at this racetrack in Northern California, and, you know, so you don't kill yourself and figure out how to handle a car over 100 miles an hour. And they have a bunch of. A bunch of Toyotas up there, and they're souped up, and they got roll cages and whatnot. And there's about 20 cars, and there's red ones, blue ones, and white ones. And I was in a red one, and he was in a red one, and my sister was in it as well, and she was, like, in a blue one. Anyway, so we're all going around these tracks, and we're going as fast as we can. We're training for, like, four days. And there's this one really fast portion of the course where you take it flat out, meaning you don't lift off the accelerator coming off the straightaway, and you take this turn, because this turn is gradual enough where you just keep the speed going all the way through it, and you're right on the limits of adhesion. And if you don't take it just right and kind of apex the turn at the right moment, you will slide off the road a little bit, and it's a desert out there. So as soon as those wheels touch the sand or touch the rocks just off the asphalt, the. The car just goes.
- [18:52]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah.
- [18:53]
Jason Bateman
And so Woody, I guess, was in front of me a bit, and I was kind of with my sister, and. Or, no, I was in front, and Woody was back with my sister. No. No. Anyway, he went off the track and spun, and the car flipped up in the air doing 130 miles an hour, and the whole back end of the car ripped off and it was upside down, and you could see the body hanging inside the car. And so he was in the same color car that I was. And my sister thought that it was me just hanging there upside down was Woody that was somewhat knocked out. He broke a little hand, a little bone in his. In his hand. But I remember pulling into the pit stop, we all had to come off the track while they'd sent out the emergency vehicles. And I saw my sister just crying and crying on the pit wall. And I walked up to her, I said, are you okay? She goes, oh, my God, it's not you. I said, yeah, no, it's Woody. She kind of looked a little relieved. I was like, well, you know, he still might be kind of hurt persons in there. Yeah, no, we were all really close and we was. Because he shot Cheers on the same lot that she was doing. Family Ties, Paramount.
- [20:02]
Jesse David Fox
So you started directing at 18, I believe at the time you're the youngest person ever in the history of the DGA. What's it like being an 18 year old directing grownups?
- [20:10]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, it's nerve wracking because you don't want to tell any adults what to do. You can make suggestions. But that was year three, maybe or four of that show I was doing at the time. And so we were all very close and the crew, you know, was very supportive of me and they kind of helped me out, you know, because I didn't know what the hell I was doing. And it was really, really fun. I just loved it. You know, sitcoms are very near and dear to my heart, and I wish they would come back. Do you guys miss sitcoms at all? Right. Is this, like, really fun to watch? You're basically watching a play. Yeah. And to do them is incredible. It's like doing a play. You've got an audience, and if I was doing a scene with you and I had some joke, like, we would hear you laugh, and then you kind of hold for the laugh and you stay in the scene. You wait till the laughter comes down. You keep talking again, like there's a partnership with the audience. And we've been doing this material Monday through Thursday, and then Friday you guys come in and watch it and, like, no one's laughing at it anymore by Thursday on set. And like, all of a sudden it's new to you guys and you're laughing and so it. It buoys you and it's. I don't know, it's just. And then you get all new material the next week, and it Goes on like that for 22 weeks. You know, nowadays shows are only like 10 episodes. But back then it was so. I don't know, it's. It's. It's a. It's a great life for.
- [21:34]
Jesse David Fox
For a while you considered becoming like a sitcom director in the sort of James Burroughs, the director of Cheer Style. And one of my favorite things about your IMDb page is In 1997, you directed an episode of Family Matters.
- [21:47]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, yeah.
- [21:48]
Jesse David Fox
Do you remember the plot of that episode?
- [21:51]
Jason Bateman
I remember that Donna Summer was like, one of the big stars in that particular episode. I think she was. She played like the aunt to the family or something. And she came into town and she was leading some gospel set piece, a song at a church or something like that. And I remember being really nervous about having to direct. You know, like, you have a full, you know, gospel choir up there and all these actors in a church. Like, you know, that's the tricky part. You've got only four cameras and all these people talking, and you have to work out the puzzle, the choreograph. You know, when this camera, like a line cue, so this camera's pointing at you while you're talking. As soon as you're done talking, that's your cue to get over there and get ready for that person to come in. And you have to work out this puzzle so that a camera is pointing at every person that's talking. And I remember being really overwhelmed by that and wondering if I could pull that off. It was. It was tough.
- [22:48]
Jesse David Fox
Here's the plot. It's a very funny. It's a Very Family Matters plot.
- [22:51]
Jason Bateman
Was I right?
- [22:52]
Jesse David Fox
You're pretty. I mean. And so Steve's aunt Una from Altoona.
- [22:56]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, yeah.
- [22:57]
Jesse David Fox
Returns to visit her nephew. And the wind blows again. Unfortunately, she's embarrassed about the extra weight she gained from eating so much. She's desperate to lose the extra weight to impress Reverend Fuller at church. So I assume that's part of it. Steve comes up with a solution for his favorite aunt.
- [23:12]
Jason Bateman
A GLP one.
- [23:13]
Jesse David Fox
Basically, a fat, compressing invention should do the trick. And then classic family.
- [23:19]
Jason Bateman
Oh, right.
- [23:20]
Jesse David Fox
She works and then doesn't.
- [23:21]
Jason Bateman
She blows up a little bit. Yeah. She had, like, an inflatable suit or something. Oh, my God. See, this is why we love sitcoms. It's just this crazy town.
- [23:29]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah. So after you do Arrested Development, which sort of refresh your career, and at some point you decide to be a director to really make a go at it, can you talk about the moment or series of moments where you're like, I want to truly not just do it for fun or do it on a show, but actually seriously do it and be seen as a director. How did you reach that decision?
- [23:55]
Jason Bateman
That started really early on. I really. It's a T shirt. What I really want to do is direct. You know, you need people to let you. And so that can come in various forms. Either, you know, you're independently wealthy enough where you can finance your own film, which, you know, who's that? Or you've got sort of enough capital in the industry where you can say, hey, you know, cool if I do this? And maybe you're, you've got enough of an audience as an actor where, you know, if I play the lead then maybe you, the financier feels confident enough to finance this because people are going to go see it and I don't care who directs it kind of thing. And I think that's kind of how bad words came about. I mean, my agents found this script that they thought I might really like and I was like, yeah, I love this and like, where can we find the money for this? And fortunately, I think Arrested Development had provided enough of a, you know, the paddles on the chest of my career where people might want to go see me in the lead of, of a small film. And that was the risk that that financier took and they backed me as a director on it. And you know, it didn't turn out to be some big, huge, you know, box office success that facilitated the next directing opportunity, but it was enough of a sort of, well, he knows how to, you know, take the lens cap off the camera and he didn't screw it up. And, and then, you know, the next one was very, very small too. But you know, directing single camera stuff as opposed to a sitcom where it's multi camera is a, is a whole, you know, different thing. And that's, that's something that I've always really wanted to try to see if I could do.
- [25:43]
Jesse David Fox
I mean you joked about it, but like were you self conscious or even considered the like, trope of I'm an actor who wants to actually direct? Like actually you should. The, I mean as a, who've been around the industry, you've been around a lot of actors who like actually.
- [25:56]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, my, my, my cynic radar was definitely up. I, I try to, you know, try not to embarrass myself by being too much of a cliche at times, but it's like, you know, the fact of the matter was, is that I really wanted to direct, and I just knew that I would, I'd have to just sort of ignore the eye rollers and just hopefully the proof would be in the pudding that, oh, well, he's not bad, and I would see something that he would direct again. And so you cross your fingers that you don't clank it and that they give you another opportunity.
- [26:31]
Jesse David Fox
In 2019, you win the Emmy for best directing for Ozark. And.
- [26:38]
Sponsor Announcer
Thank you.
- [26:39]
Jesse David Fox
And when they announce it, it's staggering. Like, you are frozen. It is truly like the world around you is cheering, and you are just there and you don't move. Do you remember, like, you had won and been nominated for acting awards before then, but do you remember what went through your head when they announced your name?
- [26:57]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, I was, I mean, I knew that I was not favored to win in that category at all. In fact, I think there were two or three directors for Game of Thrones in that category that I wore. Like, well, one of these guys. That's what everyone was talking about. So there was that. But it was also. That's all I wanted out of Ozark was directing and playing the character, you know, as an actor, too, was great, fine. But that's not what excited me about Ozark. And so to win for directing was just like, you know, I just immediately thought about the group that I had assembled there that just helped me so much with that. The cameramen and the cinematographers and the production designers and those actors. And it's just there were so many good people involved in that show. And to be able to be the person that got to go up on the stage and say, you know, kind of look, what we did was, like, kind of overwhelming.
- [28:07]
Jesse David Fox
After that had you consider stop acting. Like, why do you still act? I mean, I'm not actor, and we're at the performances recently. We were very.
- [28:19]
Jason Bateman
No, but it's fair, especially given what I've been saying about acting is that, you know, but I do really enjoy acting, and I don't want to stop that. There is a kind of acting that I'm enjoying right now, but as we said earlier, maybe the, the more, the more acting type of acting will become more appealing to me again soon. In fact, it's, it's now, like, if I, if I got a script that was the, the dude with the limp in the accent and the ira, you know, I, I, I, I would probably say, yeah, you know, maybe I can do that. Yeah. But I, I do really like acting in the things that I direct because I, there's a There's a tone of things that I'm as a viewer really attracted to, which kind of dance between comedic but kind of also unsettlingly dramatic and where. And a real murky line like, you know, David O. Russell does a really good job of that. You know, where there's no real knee slapping broad comedy, but there's some funny stuff in it. But it's because people are just being really raw, like someone's losing their dignity. And that's what's funny about it. Like, there's no winking. So if that hitting that tone is somewhat reliant on often either how you cast the bad guy or who the protagonist is, who's the lead, who's the person you're cutting to to react to this stuff and frame up for the audience. Is this crazy town or is this real? And if I can, you know, to be able to rely on, for better or worse, you know, an actor that's reading my mind effectively, it makes the process that much more efficient for me because on the, on a set, you just, you don't have time to do a whole lot other than just shoot the pages that you're meant to shoot that day. There's no time for a lot of creative negotiation and kind of massaging the scene and kind of getting it just right. So if you can have somebody that's doing what you know is going to work for the scene that precedes it and the scene that follows it that you're going to shoot three or four weeks from now, and you just don't have time to explain all that stuff. So I kind of like being in front of the camera and behind it, only in. In the. In how it helps me hit that small target for my own personal taste, for better or for worse.
- [30:46]
Jesse David Fox
So as we were talking, as we alluded to now, there's.
- [30:49]
Jason Bateman
Or if you got Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson, get the hell out of the way.
- [30:54]
Jesse David Fox
Recently this year we had two shows that came out that did show a different sort of side of your acting, which was Black Rabbit and DTF St. Louis. And I want to ask you about them. I'm going to back up a little bit, which is you have said you read reviews, and there's one review from the New York Times about Ozark that you'll quote, which is they describe you as having an aggressive blandness of an airline gate agent.
- [31:14]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, that's pretty fucking good. That's my kale.
- [31:19]
Jesse David Fox
And like, in many ways, that's like kind of what you're going for when you read that. But then transition roles, we'd be like, I'll show him Blandis. Is there a chip on. Do you have a chip on your show?
- [31:31]
Jason Bateman
No, no. But I mean, I'm doing my job there, you know, I mean, Marty Byrd was meant to be someone pretty repressed. And this sort of. This. This percolating tension and aggression and frustration that would flare up and pop out at strategic moments to propel story and do something that might be wrong or do something that's a little outside of what we, the viewer, might do at that moment. And so it was important to be restrained. You know, I don't know, maybe if Mike had seen the rest of that season or the seasons that followed, he'd go, oh, I get there was a long play involved there. I don't know. I. I don't mean to sound defensive at all. He's entitled to his opinion, but there are. There are parts that are showier and are meant to be a bit more. Less gate agent, you know, and I enjoy playing those, too. It's just. That wasn't the job.
- [32:38]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah. So Black Rabbit, if you watch it, Jude Law plays the character that often you would be cast and playing, and you get to play the other person, the sort of the fuck up brother. What was it like? What was that experience like for you?
- [32:52]
Jason Bateman
It was great. You know, I'd read the scripts not knowing which part they were thinking about me for, because Jude and the writers sent me the script. And so when Jude and I and the writers, we got on the phone, we had the conversation, the four of
- [33:09]
Jesse David Fox
us,
- [33:11]
Jason Bateman
about, you know, well, so Jude, which what part? What part are you guys thinking about before? And Jude was like, yeah, you know, we don't know. We were thinking, like, what do you think? And I said, well, it's exactly what you said. You know, I think people would expect me to play your part, Jude, but I've got kind of a great take on Vince. And he was like, yes, exactly. Like, that's what I was thinking, that it would be great maybe and more interesting for you. I said, awesome, I'll do that guy. Because we all know we all have somebody in our life that just can't get out of their own way. They don't have the coping skills to deal with some of the tricky choices we all have to make. And it's tough to love those people sometimes until you really take the time to try to understand them and empathize with them. And there was some math in there that I knew the first few episodes it's tough to like this guy, but eventually, if you see, stick with it. You see, oh, there's kind of a reason why this guy is just kind of broken. And then eventually I won't spoil anything for you. For those who haven't seen it, there's somewhat of a winning sacrifice that he makes that hopefully kind of earns it back a bit. But it's a long play and he might be a tough guy to like until then.
- [34:27]
Jesse David Fox
You also directed some episodes and I was curious. In one of the episodes you directed, he goes on a sort of gambling binge. And I was curious how your own experience with addictions plays how you want to portray those things. Because when I think about your work, especially as a director is you're sort of allergic to cliche and you're like, oh, this is how everyone films it. But a person with experiences, was there something you wanted to convey maybe differently than you feel like it has been
- [34:50]
Jason Bateman
portrayed with the, with the gambling scene
- [34:53]
Jesse David Fox
in particular or just any. He's a person who's struggling with a variety of addiction.
- [35:00]
Jason Bateman
I mean, I think it's really interesting as an, as an audience member to find yourself feeling for somebody that is, that is repellent. You know, like, you know, maybe if you're the, a serial killer is the lead of something and you find yourself eventually like, oh, this poor, this poor guy, this poor woman. They're just killing people and they don't know. Like, those are fascinating moments to find yourself in as, as an, as a, as an, as a viewer. And you, you got to earn that spot with the audience by showing the vulnerability of that. Like, how did they get there? Why, why, why do they have addiction issues? And you know, in this case it's, it's gambling or, you know, just making bad decisions. So there's really no non cliche way to show that except just through, you know, the great writing. And you try not to screw that up and just kind of be honest and be willing to kind of pull your pants down a bit and like, you know, show that you're, you don't have it all together. There's nothing interesting about somebody who's got it all together.
- [36:09]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah. DTF St. Louis is. It's a very interesting performance, especially when you watch the full thing because in some ways, and sometimes you're a straight man, sometimes you're, are you the villain of the show? You're like more guileless than usually a character you play is. Usually your characters are knowing and this character is the opposite of it knowing there's sort of all these moves and you can't be necessarily ahead of things, but you don't, you know, how did you approach that show that was such an interesting mix of tones and, like, concepts of a performance that you had to do?
- [36:41]
Jason Bateman
Well, central to the concept is that someone dies. And then these two characters, you're sort of meant to think that one of them may have done the murder. And so that's. That's one of the things that presumably would pull you through each episode. You know, sort of like a murder mystery who ended up doing it. And so part of our job, Linda Cardellini and I play those other two characters. And David harbor is a character that dies, you know, in the first 10 minutes, but then the whole thing is done in flashback. So I'm not spoiling anything. You know, there's an obligation on Linda and I's part to shape our performances in such a way where we are providing sort of like, oh, oh, that person's nuts. They may have definitely been the killer. And so it's our prerogative as actors to develop a version of that character, a version of our performance that feeds that mislead. And I thought it was really interesting to maybe play my guy a bit more. Shucks, golly, affable, really taken with the character that David Harbour played. Much more so than what was written in the script. Written in the script, which is incredibly well written by Steve Conrad. Wrote every single script, directed every episode. This guy, Steve Conrad, I recommend you watch his other shows. Patriot. And it's escaping me now, I haven't seen that one. But he. This. This guy is just remarkable. Anyway, so he wrote this. I play a weatherman from St. Louis, and. And, you know, he's got all sort of the cliche trappings of a weatherman. He's super polished and he's got it all together. And he's, you know, he's a. Like a game show host, you know, and. And so there's. There's some vanity to him that he's sort of almost charmed by this fella, this bit. This bit big guy, you know, And I thought that was kind of like, what if. What if? Instead of being charmed and a bit, you know, or sort of condescending, maybe, he's just, like, enamored by him. And I thought, given the finish line that we get, to which I won't spoil for you, it's a much more satisfying payoff. And it serves that mislead like, oh, if I'm an audience member, I'LL see. Oh, this guy's fucking crazy. You know, he just thinks this, this big guy's just the best, you know, like, oh, he's a killer, you know, that, you know, he's going to fall in love them and just want to kill him.
- [39:10]
Jesse David Fox
It makes the audience analyze their own preconceptions of people and characters. When you're like, oh, he's nice, he must be a sociopath, right?
- [39:19]
Jason Bateman
And then there might be sort of like a satisfying moment for an audience where you're just like, well, shame on me that I thought this guy is so nice, he must be a murderer. It's like, how cynical are we all? You know, and Linda Cardellini plays a, plays a mom that is so, you know, fervently protective of her child and their domestic situation there that you think that she's a hard ass and she must be a murderer. No, she's just protecting her flock, you know, and so this, I don't know, it's just one of the many interesting sort of payoffs.
- [39:49]
Jesse David Fox
A line that comes up a lot in the series is no one's normal. It just looks like that from across the street, are you normal? Why or why not?
- [39:57]
Jason Bateman
I'm nuts. I think we're all pretty freaking crazy, you know, I mean, you know, who isn't crazy? Simpletons, you know, Like, I think if you're, if you have just a thimble full of intelligence, you are pretty crazy because you can justify many different ways to live, many different decisions to make, many different people to love, many different jobs that you could take on. And kind of by definition, that's kind of nuts. You know, we kind of are all somewhat schizophrenic if you're smart enough to be. And certainly my job is to be convincingly multiple people. And so from a very young age, 10 I started my job was to really be convincingly somebody else before I was really fully developed as to who I would be at my core. You know, you don't really kind of figure out who you are till you're, I don't know, what, 20. And so it was tricky for me. You know, I kind of developed a bunch of other different ways and parts of me that might not have taken the lead had I just left to just waking up and going to bed every, every day just being me. So there's many different parts of me that are a part of me and welcome parts of me. And I kind of have to figure out I'm not schizophrenic, but I Have to figure out, well, who are you most dominantly today? And it's fun being an actor because I'll read a script and like, this guy in dtf, this guy in Black Rabbit, they're me, you know, they're at the far end of my spectrum. But I get those guys. I, I have those guys in me. Fortunately for my wife and my kids, they're not the, the lead part of me. But, But I, I, I love, I love people. I love. I love how much it takes for all of us to kind of get through every day and be functional and have our coping skills. And it's kind of, Kind of beautiful that we're all able to kind of keep it on the rails, you know?
- [42:01]
Jesse David Fox
Do you think we should ban child actors? Why or why not?
- [42:05]
Jason Bateman
I mean, for what I just said, you know, when parents come up to me and say, you know, what's your advice? Should I get my kid into them? I say, well, you know, be careful, because if they're really good, they're going to kind of develop parts of themselves that may or may not have come to fruition. So just kind of enjoy that and kind of help shape, you know, they're going to become much more dynamic people, I think, as a result. But, you know, there's also this, this business, or really any, Any business that deals with, pardon the term arts. There's no. The best person, the best painter is not guaranteed the most sales. The best actor is not guaranteed the job. The best singer is not guaranteed the most album sold.
- [42:50]
Jesse David Fox
So.
- [42:50]
Jason Bateman
So it can be really frustrating and unfair for those that are super talented if they don't have access to the room. And that's tough for folks that have taken some time to really train and make a commitment to it and are really passionate about it. So there's a healthy level of indifference there that one has to hold onto, but you still have to make a passionate commitment to it. So it's. It's tricky. You don't have a diploma that can guarantee you a basic salary.
- [43:21]
Jesse David Fox
I was thinking about the Family Fang, your second feature, which I believe debuted at Tribeca 11 years ago.
- [43:28]
Jason Bateman
Sounds right.
- [43:29]
Jesse David Fox
And it's about two kids who were raised by performance artists and were incorporated into their arts. And I was thinking about. I often think about there's something missing in the Nepo baby conversation, which is there's a sort of unique burden placed upon the kids of aspiring artists because their parents care so much about their work in a sort of different way than any parent might care about their work. And it's, it's something I've talked to Ben Seller about and Bryan Cranston about who both of them had parents who wanted to pursue it and their parenting was sort of shaped by that. I bring this up to say you have always been pretty adamant about not wanting your kids to pursue acting and directing, but now it seems like they both are pursuing that.
- [44:14]
Jason Bateman
Literally last night, my 14 year old daughter, I was directing her. She was, she, I gave her this, she's like that, that's one line in the movie and it was like the greatest thing ever. But like I've had all these, you know, pardon all my, you know, yammering today. But you know, she's had to hear it too. So like I've had all these conversations with her about if you want to do it. Just know it's kind of tricky and every parent's going to be able to make their own, you know, your kid better than anybody. Is it going to be safe for them? Like, do they have the coping skills to manage the complexities of it and
- [44:57]
Jesse David Fox
so you feel like they do?
- [44:59]
Jason Bateman
Yes, absolutely. My 19 year old daughter got the directing bug a couple of years ago and that's been the greatest thing too because we have another thing to talk about. And you know, she asked me questions about how do you do that? And it makes you feel great as a dad because right about 15, 16, they don't want anything to do with you. So now she's like, she turned to me a couple years ago right about the time she was like, spend a lot of time outside the house with her friends and stuff, as they do. But she came home and she, you know, because your kids don't give it up for you, you know, they don't know what the hell you do. They don't know what the hell I do. And she came home, she goes, hey, so you do this, don't you? I was like, what do you mean the directing stuff? She goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you know, there was that one shot in the movie that we saw the other day. Like, how do they do that? You know how to do that, don't you? Like, yeah man. You know, and so, you know, so we get to talk about, you know, technique and all that stuff. And now she's in film school. And so now I said, hey, during the summer, you know, I'm going to go direct this film. Do you want, like, you can learn a lot in film school but you're not on the set. Like that's a whole different thing on set. Do you want to, do you want to assist me? Do you want to be with me every single day and be on the front row to see how fake life is created? Like it's a weird machine. And so she's my assistant on this film and we're living together and we're driving to work every day and she's soaking it all in. And I think maybe I'm just telling myself this, but I think she's looking at me with like, huh, I guess he does know how to do something. You know, Like, I think she's kind of giving it up a little bit.
- [46:40]
Jesse David Fox
I want to preface this next question by saying I ask this every interview.
- [46:44]
Jason Bateman
Capricorn.
- [46:46]
Jesse David Fox
Great.
- [46:46]
Jason Bateman
Was that it?
- [46:48]
Jesse David Fox
Close. And however you want to answer this. How much money do you have or make what the. However you want to answer it, you.
- [46:59]
Jason Bateman
How about that? No, I, I, I, I have, I have a friend, a really close friend that asks me that like once every three months and he's like, he's like, dude, what's the big deal? Just tell, I'll tell you. You want me to know. I said, no, I don't want to know. And I don't know why we all sort of like keep that from one another. Is that like a weird thing that we like, I'm asking to please. I mean there, there are, it's been publicly reported for, for actors or whomever, what they make on certain things. And so, you know, if anyone's super interested they can probably go figure it out. But I'm not going to. That's, that's, that's icky.
- [47:37]
Jesse David Fox
This is why I want to ask you specifically is as a person who's worked and had success at different parts of your life and you know, you had a 10 year period, we had nothing. I was curious about your shifting relationship to money versus the passion of
- [47:55]
Jason Bateman
is an interesting subject for me personally only because I had a complicated relationship with it growing up because both my parents were my manager. And so there was, what I made was very helpful to our bottom line each month. And so there was a great community feel a pressure to kind of, kind of, you know, like, don't get fired, you know, and if I, if you don't keep a C average in school, you don't get your work permit and you're fired. And it's every six months that work permit needs to get renewed. And the television season is nine months and I was doing TV every year and so it was, it was, it was rough and so as, but as anxiety inducing as that Was there was also this early muscle that I kind of developed where I, I knew I could generate money. And so I, I was sort of not that nervous about spending money because I felt I could replace it. And like, I have got some friends that are incredibly wealthy because their parents were incredibly wealthy and they were, they inherited a bunch of money and they're the tightest people I've know because they, they didn't make that money. And so they feel every dollar out they're not going to be able to get back. It's like, I don't know if you guys have people like that in your life, but so there was a healthy part to it, making money when I was a little kid. Going forward, I feel enormously fortunate that things have worked out for me. Knocking on wood where I, I don't have to take jobs that aren't creatively exciting for me and consequently could be kind of a detriment to my longevity. You know, you do some really terrible thing that no one likes, people might not want to hire you next.
- [49:51]
Jesse David Fox
And so, you know, I was curious if, you know, smartless has been a huge boon for you. And I was curious like when I think about you, I think of you as historically not indulgent as an artist. Like straight man is a non indulgent actor. When you direct, it's, you'll see and like this is exactly what the scene needs and not like you're not doing huge like indulgence shots or whatever. I'm curious, do you feel like the security that that offers you has allowed you to be a little bit more artistically ambitious or indulgent in some ways? Not hugely. But do you feel like it's freed you up a little bit?
- [50:25]
Jason Bateman
Yes, for, for the, for the same reasons I said that, you know, that you can, I can, I can, I can take on the stuff that speaks to my taste. My taste, which was really kind of shaped by my dad. Like, you know, and I mean to sound like I was complaining about, you know, them being my manager. Like he took me to the movies when I was a kid instead of to the park to throw the ball. So the, the reason I'm doing what I do is because he kind of exposed me to it and he, he told me what was good and what was bad, you know, directing and acting. And so my taste for stuff is at a really subtle level. Like I like flashy stuff, but I'm so impressed by people that can move us by doing just a little bit, whether it's directing or whether it's acting. And so that's. That's him that he, He. He. He gave me that. So that's what I'm trying to do each time. And certain projects, certain roles we were talking about earlier about, like, Marty in. In Ozark, I love that he's a guy you've got to kind of lean in to see what's going on. You got to try to read his mind. He's not overt. So I liked that part, and I liked that I like that the director let me do that little bit, you know, and not do a whole lot. And I knew that I had to get the camera in here to see just the tiny bit I was doing. So, anyway, I feel lucky.
- [51:48]
Jesse David Fox
Podcast fame is different than other types of celebrity. People feel like they know you. How have you adjusted to fans who have that sort of relationship with you now? Were there fans of Jason Bateman the person, Not Jason Bateman the creator of Work?
- [52:02]
Jason Bateman
I don't know that to be true, and I'm not asking for confirmation, but it is. You know, we recorded one this morning, actually, and I actually did have that thought. Well, you know, we're just freestyling for an hour, and you can't be contrived, and you can't be predetermined about what you're going to say and what you're going to share, what you're not going to share. You do have to know that, you know, you don't want to say something that is going to offend a bunch of people. You know, you don't want to be an idiot, but. But there is a certain agreement with the audience that, like, I'm just gonna. Like we're doing today, you know, like, you guys don't want to hear somebody give a bunch of sort of, you know, measured answers and playing it safe. Like, what? That's boring. So I am sharing that and going back to what we first started. Like, I'm so lucky that you guys think that my inner thoughts might be interesting. So thanks, truly, but I'm sure yours are as well. I don't know if any one of you came up here and answered the question. It's great to hear what makes people tick, so thank you for that. I don't know if that makes people a fan of me other than it's just sort of community stuff. Like, we're all. Oh, he thinks kind of like, I do, too. Yeah, Great. Cool.
- [53:22]
Jesse David Fox
You know, you've been around the industry for a really long time. You've seen a lot where it is at now. It's a lot of streaming services. AI is now taking over more and more parts of certain people's jobs. Martin Scorsese said he'll start using AI to do his storyboarding. Where do you see Hollywood in the next, even five years where it can be radically different than it is now?
- [53:46]
Jason Bateman
Yeah, I, I'm, I'm not smart enough to really give a firm take on, on AI. I just, I haven't educated myself on it. I look forward to learning a lot more about it. My super duper smart friend Ben Affleck is, is very well educated on it and just sold that company to Netflix. And so I'm looking forward to talking to him and people like him that can let me know what, what, what it can do to help our business, help the product, make it more entertaining for the audience, how it can also help preserve some of the jobs that it may absorb. But just like any technology, there's a migration into what was. That is an adjustment period that may be uncomfortable for some parts of that industry. We've certainly seen it in, in making cars and, you know, music with music stores going away or selling albums goes away. Like you just buy one song at a time. Like there are multiple industries that have had to go through this technological integration. I'm, I just choose to be kind of bullish about it, and I'm assuming it's going to be great. I hope I will tell you, you know, I've seen some stuff and it's just incredible. I mean, we've all seen it on the Internet, right? These AI videos and stuff is like, wait, is that AI? Is that not. My personal preference would be that anything that is computer generated, that there is either a bug in the bottom right corner so that we can, if we want to look to see if this is real or not, we can. Or there's some sort of like, you know, right click that you can see to see what the. I don't know if that's the right term, the metadata or whether to know whether was this a real person or was it not? And so we know whether this is entertainment or is this news, is this opinion or is this news like it's, it's so incredibly convincing that the most discerning of us might be tricked. And I don't think that should be right, you know.
- [56:00]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah. I will ask this question as a sense of like to give us insight on where you hope to maybe go professionally over the next few years. Whose career are you jealous of?
- [56:14]
Jason Bateman
Well, since my, My, my passion right now really is is, is directing. I, I really admire, I admire the, the filmmakers that can sell a bunch of popcorn and get really incredible reviews like Christopher Nolan, you know, like Denis Villeneuve, you know, Dune. Steven Spielberg was kind of the OG with that. And I can't wait to see Disclosure Day. I bet is fantastic. So to me, that's a, that's a real challenge to be a great partner to a studio and make a big, huge piece of studio business that makes them a ton of money and keeps our industry healthy, but is also artistically, you know, fulfilling and exciting and everybody can really enjoy the, the making of it, the artistry of it. So as opposed to just like, you know, a small film, it's like, you know, you know, an awards piece but, you know, is, you know, about some odd subject that, you know, not a bunch of people want to see.
- [57:13]
Jesse David Fox
So.
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Sponsor Announcer
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Jesse David Fox
Okay.
- [57:15]
Jason Bateman
This one says you get a free phone if you switch. Hey, this one also says you get a free phone if you switch.
- [57:20]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah, they all do.
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Sponsor Announcer
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- [57:24]
Jason Bateman
The T Mobile one says their customers had the lowest wireless bills versus the other big guys over the past five years. And their latest experience plans have Netflix included plus a year of dash pass by doordash. Hang on, let me see that. Oh yeah, we're switching. That's what I'm talking about. Do we clap now or AT T Mobile get savings that keep stacking up. That's value you can feel every day. And right now bring your phone to T Mobile and we'll give you $400 when you switch. Savings based on Harris X billing snapshots from Q3 2021 and Q4 2025 compared to average AT&T and Verizon bills. Comparison includes discounts, credits and optional charges. $400 with new account on qualifying line. Unlock Device credit ported 90 plus days with device and carrier and timely redemption required. Virtual MasterCard typically takes 14 weeks, no cash access and expires in 6 months. Card issue by Sunrise Banks and a member FDIC.
- [58:11]
Sponsor Announcer
Visit t mobile.com support for this show comes from Odoo. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odoo. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one, fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, E commerce, and more. And the best part, Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you try Odoo for free@odoo.com that's o d o o dot com. Support for this show comes from Odoo. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odoo. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, e commerce, and more. And the best part, Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you try Odoo for free@odoo.com that's o d o o.com
- [59:35]
Jesse David Fox
but now time for our final segment, which is like a lightning round. But these questions don't have to be answered quickly. It's just these are questions asked every episode so they're bundled. And I haven't thought of a different name for it. Do you have a short story of an interaction with a legendary actor, director, living or dead, you're willing to share
- [59:51]
Jason Bateman
with us a short story with an actor just like.
- [59:56]
Jesse David Fox
Well, a good one that you're like thousands. So pick one that jumps in your head. God, legendary.
- [60:03]
Jason Bateman
Well, I apologize. I shared this with somebody and you guys may have heard this before, so I apologize if you have. But it's top of mind because I did a movie of the week back when there were movies of the week, when I was 20, maybe something like that for CBS called I forget the name of it. Anyway, it was starring Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Quinn and I think it might have been Katharine Hepburn's last job. And I played her driver, sort of like a Driving Miss Daisy type of dynamic between the two of us. And we were doing this one scene just me and her and my character had to kind of like cry or something. And it's hard, hard to cry for, you know, on cue. And so I was really trying, I was really squeezing it, you know, and, and she stopped in the middle of the take and she said, oh, stop acting. And I was like, you mean professionally? And she, she said, she said, she said, no, just, just, just say it, you know, stop trying to. And I said, yeah, yeah. You know, I mean, like, that's a, it's a great note. And just like kind of be real. And then once I was being real and stopped trying to manipulate the audience and whatnot and, and be kind of raw, it, you know, it flowed. It worked. And so it was a really great piece of Advice that, you know, was painful to hear at the beginning, but ended up being shaped.
- [61:30]
Jesse David Fox
You so clearly off that. Who, in your opinion, is the greatest actor alive?
- [61:41]
Jason Bateman
Daniel Day Lewis. It's real tough to touch him. I will say that Christian Bale, as far as being somewhere near my age, is a guy that's just a beast. I really, really admire him. The guy I'm working with right now, Sam Rockwell, is one of my absolute favorite. Yeah. So that's a real, very humbling thrill for me right now.
- [62:09]
Jesse David Fox
What was the best time you ever bombed?
- [62:12]
Jason Bateman
The best time I ever bombed?
- [62:13]
Jesse David Fox
Yeah. Maybe on set you tried something and it did not work.
- [62:16]
Jason Bateman
Oh, God.
- [62:17]
Jesse David Fox
Or an audition, hypothetically.
- [62:22]
Jason Bateman
God. I don't know. Maybe I can't recall right now. Probably because I'm real good at pouring cement over things. But let me come back to you on that. Maybe I should have taken more risk. I'd have more readily available with that.
- [62:37]
Jesse David Fox
Do you have a favorite joke? Joke? Do you have, like, a street joke or a dad joke that you have that you pull when people.
- [62:43]
Jason Bateman
Oh, yeah, and I get all these from Sean Hayes. What. What did the. What did the bumble. What did. What did the sushi say to the bumblebee?
- [62:56]
Jesse David Fox
What?
- [62:57]
Jason Bateman
Wasabi. Wasabi.
- [63:03]
Jesse David Fox
Oh, that makes.
- [63:05]
Jason Bateman
Sorry. That's a dad joke. Wasabi.
- [63:13]
Jesse David Fox
What was your.
- [63:16]
Jason Bateman
It's a grower.
- [63:18]
Jesse David Fox
What was your best day? This will be the last one. Unless you can think of a bomb story right now.
- [63:22]
Jason Bateman
You're right on time. 3, 2, 1.
- [63:25]
Jesse David Fox
We're gonna go over with this answer.
- [63:27]
Jason Bateman
You're fantastic, by the way.
- [63:28]
Jesse David Fox
Thank you.
- [63:29]
Jason Bateman
This has been a real joy.
- [63:30]
Jesse David Fox
Definitely
- [63:32]
Jason Bateman
you guys, too. Thank you for being so nice.
- [63:35]
Jesse David Fox
Appreciate it. What's the best. What is your best day ever on a set or favorite day ever?
- [63:41]
Jason Bateman
I mean, my brain goes right to Arrested Development just because, you know, those folks were just so incredible and hilarious and nice and. And it was, you know, like I said, the paddles on the chest of my career that I was. I was. I was not working. And that was a show that the people who hand out jobs in Los Angeles watched. Not a lot of people in the middle of the country did, but the people who run Hollywood watched it. And so it kind of made me, you know, kind of cool. And so I got hired after that, and then I just tried to keep it going.
- [64:23]
Jesse David Fox
Do you remember a day early on where you're like, this might be special or that this might be the thing?
- [64:28]
Jason Bateman
I. I mean, creatively, I knew it would be on the first day. The first scene we shot was Jeffrey Tambor's character was giving a speech at some like, you know, party or something and, you know, some sort of like long monologue. And the family is standing around and watching him. And we shot his side first. So he, he did the first acting. And watching him play that part, I hadn't seen him what he was going to do. I had no idea what the comedic tone of the show was going to be. And he established it and declared it by basically going first and watching him with no winking whatsoever, just be hilariously dry and aggressive. And my mother's British, so I've got this very dry sense of humor. And I'd been doing all the sitcom work where it's very. And you're kind of like playing for the back row and kind of winking all the time. This was so dry and done in the way where if that character heard anybody laughing, they'd be deeply offended, you know. And I just, it fucking killed me. I was howling off camera and I thought, oh, this is. I hope this show works because this is my brand of humor.
- [65:39]
Jesse David Fox
Thank you so much, Jason Bateman. Thank you all for being here. Go Nick.
- [65:44]
Jason Bateman
Thank you. Go Nicks. Thanks, buddy.
- [65:49]
Jesse David Fox
That's it for another episode of Good One. Good One is produced by myself, Zachary Mack, Neal Janowitz and Ann Victoria Clark. Music composed by Brandon McFarland. Write a review and rate the show on Apple Podcasts. Five stars please. I am Jesse David Fox and you can follow me. Esse David Fox. Buy my book, comedy book, wherever books are sold. Thanks for listening to good one from New York magazine. You can subscribe to the magazine@nymag.com pod we'll be back with a new episode next week. Have a good one.
- [66:16]
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