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Alexander H. Gibson and

Carrie Graham

TFA Chicago Critics Club

JASON BATEMAN DOESN’T TAKE COMEDY LIGHTLY IN BAD WORDS

On Wednesday February 26th, Jason Bateman sat down with students

from campuses around Chicago to discuss his new film Bad Words. Members of the TFA Chicago Critics Club, Alexander H. Gibson andCarrie Graham, had the opportunity to participate in this conversation. The following is an edited transcript of the full interview.

I always find it interesting to hear how different people get started in theindustry. What event or project made you think this is what you wanted todo?

My dad was a writer/director/producer and from a very early age he

shared with me what he really enjoyed and what he was passionate

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about. And you know, most sons kind of really start to like what their

dad likes. So I started talking about the movies that we would seewith him. He would explain to me what was good, what was bad, and

why. I started to develop a taste for entertainment. I developed myown taste, so when I finally got a chance to enter the business I did.

There was a guy who lived next door to us who was an actor. He

asked my dad if I wanted to go to an audition with him one day. Hewas auditioning for the role of the father. They were holding auditionsfor the role of the son, too. So I got there and he said, “You should

pretend like you’re supposed to be here and just audition for thepart.” And I ended up getting it. It was this small little educational film,

but it showed me that “Wow! This is something I can do. Dad, takesome pictures of me and we’ll send them into an agency.” It kind of

started that way.

What attracted you to Bad Words? What’s that tone that you’re attractedto?

Specifically in comedies, I like characters that are deeply flawed andthat is why they are funny. As opposed to them just being arbitrarily

antagonistic. This guy is antagonistic to be sure, but it is because heis deeply flawed. He is not very advanced spiritually and

emotionally. He’s a little backwards and when he gets his feelingshurt he does not pick a very responsible way to mend those hurt

feelings. And you get a comedy out of it.

Guy isn’t a nice guy, but he’s somehow likable. How did you pull that off?

I’m glad that you felt that, because that was our main goal. We really

don’t have much of anything if you can’t enjoy this guy and empathizea little bit with him. There were some structural things that I think help

that a lot. For one, the first sequence of the film is a moment ofintrospection that he’s going through. Including the music,

Beethoven’s 1st Symphony. We don’t start with The Beastie Boys,that comes later. I think it’s harder to establish that tone if you don’t

start with it. We start with that and basically let you know what theinside of him is so that you can tolerate the veneer.

When you first were handed the script for “Bad Words” what was yourreaction?

My initial reaction was, “Who needs to see another spelling bee

movie?” so I was not that excited about that part of it. When I read it I

realized that’s just the venue where this very human and fairlyemotional story takes place. “There’s a lot of comedy in this drama”

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is sort of the way I was looking at it. It’s not funny to anybody in the

movie, so that was attractive to me.

Is being an actor/director something you would do again? What aresome of the challenges of that?

Yes, I would love to. In fact I’m going to do another one starting in

May. I’m attracted to things that have a very specific tone. The odds

of hitting that tone, that target, become greatly increased if you’re

behind the camera and in front of the camera. There is a checks andbalances system that’s eliminated by me doing both jobs and I

recognize that potential problem. As a result I just have to prepare

that much more and defer to people around me as well to let me know

if it sucks.

Was it challenging to tread the line between drama and comedy?

It was constantly something we were trying to manage and calibrate. I

was trying to use the appropriate department at each moment.Sometimes the drama would be carried by the lens choice and the

comedy would be carried by the performance and sometimes the

drama would be carried by the music and the comedy would be

carried by the production design. You’re always trying to make surethat the meal is cooked just right.

What is the difference between directing for film and for television? Iknow you’ve directed an episode of “Arrested Development.”

I’ve directed a handful of other television shows, mostly multi-

camera. You know there’s a huge difference between directing multi-camera and directing single camera. The multi-camera is the stuff in

front of a live audience. It’s much like a play. With single camera it’s

stuff that’s basically shot like a movie. You have to shoot more pages

per day because you have less time. Also television is not really adirector’s medium. It’s more of a producer/writer’s medium where

you’re working at their pleasure trying to execute what they want to

see done. As a director in film you have that singular end goal andyou have the autonomy to create that.

So you would rather direct film as opposed to television?

At this point, yeah. It’s a medium that I’ve spent less time in than

television and I’m looking forward to doing many more films if they’llhave me.

Did you find it odd watching yourself in playback?

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I’ve always learned a lot from watching what I do, because you

perform it and you think it’s coming across one way and you watch

playback and you see that it actually is relayed much differently. Thatpart is not uncomfortable for me. Plus I’m a huge narcissist and I just

watch myself all the time [laughs].

Are there any directors or films that influenced your work in Bad Words?

I’m a big fan of Paul Thomas Anderson, David O’Russell, The Coen

Brothers, Spike Jonze. Being John Malkovich is a film that was a big

influence on me for this particular project. You know, it’s labeled a

comedy but it’s not an obvious funny movie. It’s a movie about abunch of raw people that are going through an absurd situation and

trying to navigate it in a dramatic way, and that’s kind of what makes

it funny.

What was the hardest word to learn to spell?

The very first word: absquatulate. It’s not a long word, and I couldn’t

spell it now. I remember it being fairly simple, but I could just not get it

out. We didn’t write it on a big white board like we did for all the otherwords for the rest of the movie.

So what’s next for you?

I start pre-production on another film that I’m going to direct in May.

I’m acting in that one, too. Nicole Kidman and I play brother sister. Wereturn home to look for our parents who are now missing and we are

trying to figure out whether they have been murdered or if they are

hiding as part of a new performance art piece. They’re famousperformance artists. It’s called “The Family Fang” and it’ll be out in a

year or so.

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