Interviewer: Jason, it’s such a pleasure to finally meet you.
Jason Bateman: Thanks very much.
Interviewer: Thanks for joining us.
Jason Bateman: Thank you for having me.
Interviewer: Erm, I have to let you know that I walked into this and from the get-go, was really laughing –
Jason Bateman: Really?
Interviewer: Out loud. Yeah, yeah, yeah, out loud. So, but, when you were offered the script, the - when you were told the premise of this film - did you think, “Oh, God, another body-switch movie? What’s going on?”
Jason Bateman: To be honest, I didn’t really have that impression or that-that sort of bias because I’ve never really seen any of those movies ’cause they’ve never really appealed to me ’cause they’ve always been family-friendly –
Interviewer: Yeah.
Jason Bateman: – sort of soft movies. Er, all I thought about was that the guys who wrote ‘The Hangover’ wrote it and the guy who directed ‘Wedding Crashers’ is gonna direct it, and-and I would be able to play two parts, so I was very excited to read it based on that and-and, you know, it’s the funniest script I ever read and so when I finished it I actually immediately emailed the head of the studio and asked them, you know, “Please, please”, you know, you know, “let me have this movie”. And, er, it took a while to sort of find the right, er, other actor to-to, you know, in this case it was Ryan. Thank God it was ’cause we’ve-we’ve been friends for a long time and that worked out well for us.
Interviewer: Yeah, did that help? –
Jason Bateman: Yeah.
Interviewer: – ’cause I suppose when you’re playing the two different characters, you’d have to know a bit of his mannerisms and personality.
Jason Bateman: Ye – well, that would be helpful if we were trying to do impressions of each other, but-but we-we both agreed that that wouldn’t be very appropriate for this because anybody who’s gonna go to see an R-rated Comedy – or in this case, 16, I think –
Interviewer: Yeah.
Jason Bateman: – er, you’re not really looking for some super acting lesson; you know, they don’t wanna see that crap. They wanna see some-some funny stuff; some stuff that might make them feel a little uncomfortable. You know, it’s not a - not a family movie
Interviewer: Uh huh. [Laughs]
Jason Bateman: Yeah, so, we just wanted to accomplish that and-and I think we did.
Interviewer: You did. There’s a lot of stuff that’s out there. Was there anything off limits?
Jason Bateman: No, no –
Interviewer: Really?
Jason Bateman: We stuffed it all in there, erm… I - you know, I don’t think - I don’t think - everything was-was - the rules were, “Anything that makes you laugh, let’s do it” –
Interviewer: Yeah.
Jason Bateman: – and so we-we love this movie, but it’s not for - not for your parents, I don’t think, yeah. Or your kids.
Interviewer: No, no, no, kids definitely stay away. But, erm, there was even a scene where you had to get naked.
Jason Bateman: Yeah.
Interviewer: What was that like? Looking good, by the way.
Jason Bateman: Thank you. Very much.
Interviewer: Yeah. [Laughs]
Jason Bateman: Erm…it was, erm…it was cold that day. So, erm –
Interviewer: Oh, really? [Amused]
Jason Bateman: I just needed the one hand to cover things. Erm…it was, er, it was kind of – it was my idea actually to do it completely naked. It was originally – er, we, er - we shot it and I just had a robe on, which was open, but that didn’t really get done what I was supposed to be doing in that scene, which was be some sort of shocking comedic relief at the end of a very sad, dramatic scene that Leslie Mann dies in –
Interviewer: She’s fabulous, by the way.
Jason Bateman: Yeah, she’s great in the movie and she did such a great job in that scene, I thought, “Well I think I’ve gotta come in with a bit more of a shocking punch at the end”, so I asked to re-shoot that scene without the robe, and, er, that was not very smart, but I was caught up in actually trying to do a good job, you know.
Interviewer: Well, it was brilliant.
Jason Bateman: Thanks.
Interviewer: Erm, and I’m sure you’ve been asked this a million times over this junket, but if you were to switch bodies with somebody, who would it be and why?
Jason Bateman: Hmm, I don’t know, erm…it’s – I’m getting a real good, close-up view of what it’s like to be four years old again – you know, now that I’ve got my, you know, my-my kid seems to be having a great time at this age.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Jason Bateman: I can’t remember being four. Er, my earliest memory’s maybe five or six, so I wouldn’t mind switching with my kid. She’s - she watches a lot of TV; she never has to pick up a cheque at a restaurant…that looks pretty good to me.
Interviewer: She gets put to bed; picked up –
Jason Bateman: Yeah, exactly, all she has to do is just squeak a little bit and, you know
Interviewer: Yeah, I can relate.
Jason Bateman: So, her, I think.
Interviewer: Yeah, I-I think that’s good. Erm, now you’ve been in this business for a while – I’ve been a fan of yours since ‘Valerie’ and you did ‘Silver Spoons’ –
Jason Bateman: Right, yeah.
Interviewer: – before that. Now I sound like a stalker. I’m not, I promise, Jason [laughing].
Jason Bateman: It’s OK, I’ll take it.
Interviewer: But, erm, how did you make that successful transition from child star to adult actor? ’Cause there’s so many people out there who get stuck.
Jason Bateman: Yeah. Well, I was better about robbing the liquor stores – I never got caught. And, er, all my drug abu-abuse was done, er, before there were, you know, camera phones, and, er, I dunno, I guess I was just smarter about it, and…er, I got ‘Arrested Development’. That was - that was a big key to sort of start a new phase in my career. I think without that show, it would’ve been more difficult, but I like to think I still would’ve been able to do it – I hope – but ‘Arrested Development’ was really, really important.
Interviewer: Yeah. Do you think – you mention, you know, now it’s the era of camera phones and the paparazzi are everywhere – do you think if you were going through what you went through then, now, you’d get through it the same way? Do you think it’s tougher for child actors today?
Jason Bateman: I definitely think it’s more difficult to have your growing-up process be private, but it’s almost - it’s almost easier to become famous now because of scandal. You know, and you - you know, things - people get sort of, if you have this sensational moment in your life, you can use that to get thrown into the media spotlight and then if you’ve got some talent, you can kinda diversify that celebrity into perhaps some success as an actor. I don’t - I don’t know, I mean, that’s sort of a cinical way to look at it, but –
Interviewer: Quite…right.
Jason Bateman: - there’s a few people who have successfully done that, so I don’t know; I-I’m glad I got mine done.
Interviewer: Yeah. And finally, you mentioned ‘Arrested Development’ –
Jason Bateman: Yeah.
Interviewer: I absolutely love it! There’s always talk of “Yes, there’s gonna be a movie; no, there’s not gonna be a movie”.
Jason Bateman: Right.
Interviewer: What’s going on? Please.
Jason Bateman: Yeah, I’m sorry that there’s always sort of a-a non-update an-and I’ve got the same one. That ther – I don’t have a-a-a solid announcement to make except that things are still progressing very well and it-it-it looks like we’ll be doing it next year.
Interviewer: Brilliant! Well, I hope to talk to you then when you’re promoting that movie. Jason, it’s been an absolute pleasure speaking to you –
Jason Bateman: Thank you very much.
Interviewer: Thank you so much!
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