Jason Bateman Breaks Down His Career, From "Arrested Development" to "Ozark" | Vanity Fair

hello i'm jason bateman this is my career time [Music] so things started out in commercials as a lot of careers do I love doing it because I got to skip school and oftentimes I got to do sort of fun stuff go-kart riding or bike riding and then eat a lot of sugary cereal and get all hopped up that was fun for me as a kid I remember I had to kind of go down a hill and kind of a soapbox derby for one of these commercials or show that I could follow tape X on a stick I remember for this honey nut cheerios commercial my skill set was pretty high pretty early [Music] [Applause] [Music] little Houston Prairie was sort of my first big type of thing I was on that show for a year got adopted into that family I just remember them being a really nice group of people and Michael Landon was directing and acting and writing the shows and that was a great first experience to have as a little kid seeing that it's not a it's not a scary place the set with us Chicago may be the Windy City but when you arrive breathless after Houston Prairie went on the Silver Spoons and a few other sitcoms four years after that again skipping school was a big part of the draw I wasn't too focused on money at the time - enough to spend on a lot of things you know I was a kid somehow those clothes and food just magically appears in the house so it was all about skipping school and in this case playing in front of a live audience it was a lot of fun to play as at least in Silver Spoons for this devilish character named Eric it's memory stay away from me and guest star Jason Bateman helped Michaels save him there was an episode of Knight Rider remember where I was 15 so I wasn't I couldn't get legally drive but I got to drive the KITT car Knight Rider car I remember that was even more excited than skipping school I got to drive this Trans Am and of course David Hasselhoff being there was pretty sweet to skip school drive a car Chum it up with the Hoff all given up a lot Brian here lost a girlfriend and well Gregory had to give up the track team and I love me I've lost a lot of sleep between dating Brian's old girlfriend and tracking practices after silver spoons there was a show called it's your move where I've got to play an even more devilish character or sort of a conniving conman but in school junior high we made pocket money selling hall passes doctor's notes and even the pimple cream we made out of Crisco and sand that's a lot of fun that only lasted about a year because NBC was getting notes from parents across the country that their kids were starting to do the same things that they were writing my character to do build schemes on how they teach kids how to cheat in school and steal your neighbors stuff and how to make a copy of a key that says do not copy so bad shut it down now we need that five hundred dollars to pay the band all my money's tied up in municipal bonds [Music] after your move was a show called DL started out being called Valerie and then it was called Valerie's family and then they switched it to the Hogan's and then the Hogan family so in five and a half years or four titles it was one of my favorite jobs of my career my life and I love all those people that was a really felt like a really safe cave we were in like we all had a job that was gonna last forever and and then you realize things going on the the Hogan family that was my first chance to direct it's a multi-camera show where there's a studio audience you shoot it like a play and it was a lot of fun and very challenging to work out sort of the puzzle of making sure each camera is pointed that the next actor who's about to speak it was a lot of fun to sort of not drop the ball for all these adults that were working there and giving this kid this responsibility so that was important that I had this positive initial experience with directing and and and has led to my passions that's such a crappy word but that's why I love directing today because I didn't have a bad experience then Jason Bateman is going through a few changes I did my first film when I was 18 I think I was with Teen Wolf to win her three separate Academy Awards Best Picture Best Actor and I think we got director too although I might be confused but definitely actor and future that was a great decision obviously and we just had fun on that it didn't feel like we were doing something like Adam E award-winning but what were we wrong check it out you'll you'll see what we mean [Music] from his family while I was gone heimo back in those days there was a movie every week that the networks would make called the movie of week one called moving target that I remember I had a lot of action running around I remember jumping off a bridge this bridge in Century City so still to this day every time I Drive under it I remember shooting that day that was kind of cool another one where I played my sister's brother family ties Justine Bateman and Jason Bateman and unforgettable performance they Newfield me dancing one day she played a blind woman in that what do I do to get some attention around here go blind she was great at that except for one day she put her hand through a plate-glass window and cut a nerve I think she still does not have feeling in her one of her pinkies to this day watch it don't take the blind rolls Jason Bateman is moving target Monday after off I want you to meet my brother Simon there was a sitcom called Simon that was right at the beginning of the WB when that was first coming out and we were so low rated that we were I think we were 109 out of 111 shows maybe that we're on TV at the time we we had hats made for everybody's a Christmas gift that just said 109 on it [Music] Chicago Suns was a show that I did where I played one of three brothers that live in Chicago and I remember Scottie Pippin the Chicago bull and Gabby Reece where they were both guest stars on that I thought that was awesome I'm a big sports fan David Krumholtz and DW Moffett we were all brothers and loved those guys we had we had a really good time why don't you and I go go in the kitchen and uh and and and and be be in the Georgia neo was another show that I did I played the son of Bob Newhart which was an incredible honor and thrill I remember being able to see Bob Newhart do a five-minute set of stand-up comedy just for that studio audience every every Friday when we would shoot the show that was pretty cool he said whoa slow down when it comes to letting people into my apartment I've very strict requirements like I'm first last month's rent and you've met them all burn refreshments some of my best friends was a show that was sitcom on CBS which is about a gay man living with a straight man as roommates and the hysterics that would come from something nowadays diversity is much much better represented on television and don't think people would think that that was such a mind-blowing concept but at the time I guess it was and we definitely have some fun wasn't wasn't a long-lasting show though for one reason or another what about wrestling I really like to watch wrestling tell me the truth okay cuz there's been a lot of lying in this family and a lot of love more lies Arrested Development was a show that was clearly a huge huge help to me and my career and that was a big life preserver for me that was an audition that came my way an ex-agent an old agent of mine called and said hey I'm looking at the breakdown on this casting for the show and I see that you haven't read for this this show you should ask your new agents so I asked my new agents to send me in on that yeah you're not gonna want to read for that that shows never gonna get on the air it's it's sort of it's like a mockumentary and and there's a narrator Ron Howard's gonna do the narrating and I don't even know if they're ever gonna be able to get him and apparently there's no dressing rooms there's no lights there's no makeup it's a mess simple can I read it they said sure you can read it if you want so I read the script and of course it was incredibly funny to read and I went in and read for it and ended up just sort of guessing right to what they might want out of that role of Michael Bluth the guy the boss Mitch Hurwitz followed me out of the room and said hey you're auditioning tomorrow for this other show that I'm producing but this this one right do you like this I said yeah love to do this show he said Gracie don't come in for that show tomorrow because I don't want that Network to see you I want you to do this one and I was like did this guy just give me the job so that was that was a very exciting day for me and my career and and of course the show turned out to be one of my favorite things ever and I owe a lot to to maturely now do you want to steer or you to old it on your pop slap and drive I think I might be okay hi mark Lauren I'm the husband and this of course is Juno like the city in Alaska No Juno was a film that was really helpful to my film career because a lot of people love that movie and it kind of took off a bit and it's nominated for a Best Picture I believe and Jason Reitman was a very nice man to put me in that film and it was a really fun positive high quality experience I work from home I'm a composer like Johan browser more commercial stuff like what commercials if I don't get home before age she puts on the sweat pants and once the sweat pants are on I got nothing extract is a film that I did a Mike judge film that I just thought was just a really really funny script really funny movie Mike judge is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to work with and Kristen Wiig was in at Mila Kunis Ben Affleck I highly recommended that one sort of was under the radar a bit I get paranoid when I smoke pot you smoke at all [Applause] I've even done a music video for one friend and Sons Jason Sudeikis called me or emailed me or something he said hey me and Ed Helms and Will Forte are gonna get together and play the band Mumford and Sons hi that's all I kind of really needed to hear it it just sounded ridiculous and we got to play you know little banjos and be real jackasses and that that was put together and beautifully well the Spelling Bee is meant for kids rule number 24 the speller must not have passed beyond the eighth grade on or before February 1st you can see there I have not passed the eighth grade not ever always wanted to direct a movie I wanted to be a father a husband and direct a movie that those are the three things I wanted to do before I got hit by a bus the film was bad words I'm really happy with it proud of it few people have seen it they seem to like it although the people that didn't like it they're not stopping me on the street and telling me I suck in the that was garbage so I'm in a little bit of a bubble a lot of people might hate that movie I just don't know about it but I am hearing from those that did there's at least a dozen maybe a baker's hey mom's let's break out the rubber pillowcases tonight little pricks you're gonna be countin tears not sure who's next and if I want to put all seven million nine hundred and forty five thousand four hundred dollars into a hot tub get buck naked and play Scrooge McDuck that is a hundred percent of my business now where's my money the directing and the acting guide progressively more comfortable for me going into ozark which to me was I was excited about the the challenge of directing a like a 600 page movie you know I wanted to give it a try and for better or worse I couldn't work out enough time to to prep all the episodes and ended up just directing four of the ten the first two and the last two but that's just something I'm really really proud of because there's just so many people that I managed to find talked into coming to work on that show cast and crew and and and Netflix giving us such a such a nice generous push and support with it all and and and letting us create kind of this tone and an atmosphere and moodiness and dangerousness and chilling the elements that you know are all there in the script and then trying to figure out what that looks like and what it sounds like was because my job as a director in ep where you make all these choices to kind of build this environment and it's been it's been really really rewarding feel very very fortunate sir there's no business opportunities that require that much not legal ones well I agree to disagree staying employed is tough success or relevance is paper-thin and you've got to try to align yourself with as many talented and kind people as you can because you need them it's this is not an individual game it takes takes a team and so working with quality people on quality things is what I think fuels longevity and if you want to want to stay in it for a while look for the good people [Music]

Channel: Vanity Fair

Views: 1,940,354

Rating: 4.9528141 out of 5

Keywords: jason bateman, jason bateman career, arrested development, jason bateman interview, jason bateman 2018, jason bateman juno, jason bateman ozark, jason bateman vanity fair, jason bateman movies, jason bateman movie, jason bateman funny, jason bateman arrested development, jason bateman little house, career timeline, bateman, jason bateman knight rider, little house on the prairie, teen wolf 2, silver spoons, arrested, vanity fair

Id: Vxq_K8SoxVs

Length: 14min 31sec (871 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 29 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/Decreagh]

From? What happened to Valerie, The Hogan Family, and the Hogans?

[u/geenidee]

He reached the top already, he drove K.I.T.T !

[u/LessCoolThanYou]

I’m sorry but what about “It’s Your Move” with Marcy’s first husband from “Married With Children”? Funny stuff.

[u/KazamaSmokers]

And the Jack Klugman show???