Jason Bateman, star of the hit television series “Arrested Development,” has made a big turn from being an actor to directing his first feature film. “Bad Words” (also starring Bateman) comes out March 14, and follows a middle-aged man trying desperately to win the national spelling bee for reasons unknown. It’s described as a comedy, but there’s a bit more to the story than the trailers lead on. I sat down with Bateman to get a little more insight on his film.
The inspiration for directing his own film came from early in Bateman’s life.
“My dad was a writer, director, producer,” Bateman said, “and like most sons I started to like what my dad liked.”
It was here that his acting career took off, going from child actor, to television and movie star and now a director on a feature film.
“It really helped a lot,” Bateman said of his child acting experience and how it facilitated his direction of the kids in the film. “I remembered how scary it can be on the set sometimes…I enjoyed being their friend as well as their director.” Working predominantly with a cast of adolescents, this understanding allowed Bateman to find a balance and allowed the production process to go much smoother.
I asked him if directing himself proved to be a bigger challenge than directing his costars. He laughed and thought a moment.
“Honestly, it didn’t.” he said, “Only because it’s such a comfortable place to be, in front of the camera, so much so that I’m able to keep an eye on the other parts of the process. That’s why I wanted to do the directing…I’m seeing what they’re doing with the camera and thinking ‘Oh wow that’s really cool, I can’t wait to see playback.'”
Of course, Bateman is no stranger to acting, appearing in dozens of film and television roles, perhaps his most iconic being Michael Bluth on “Arrested Development,” so it only seemed natural for his acting and directing to go hand in hand.
In “Bad Words,” Bateman plays Guy, a coarse and sleazy man, who is somehow strangely likeable. Bateman appreciated Guy being called likeable, admitting that’s what he and the team wanted.
“You don’t really have much of anything if you can’t enjoy this guy a little bit and empathize with him,” Bateman said, but they have the script to thank for that. “My initial reaction was who needs to see another spelling bee film?… but once I read it I realized that’s just simply the venue where this very human and fairly emotional story takes place. There’s a lot of comedy in this drama,” he said. This is what drew him to the film, and what allowed him to make such a likeably horrible character out of Guy.
When asked about upcoming projects, Bateman mentioned “This Is Where I Leave You,” in which he costars with Tina Fey, and his next directorial effort, “The Family Fang.” This will be the second production Bateman will helm, and the second film produced by his company Aggregate Films (the first being “Bad Words”)
. In the future, Bateman hopes to explore more sides of directing rather than acting. “I’m not as excited about convincing someone that I’m different than who I am, as I am excited to create a convincing fake world for them to be in for an hour and a half,” Bateman said. “That to me is more exciting creatively … I’m more drawn to directing. I’d love to do any kind of film as a director.”
“Bad Words” has a limited release March 14, and a wide release March 28.