Jason Bateman is living dangerously.
The actor-director enters this Emmy cycle with a problem most performers would envy: two acclaimed limited series, two wildly different roles and a directing-producing resume that keeps expanding even as he approaches the age when peers start thinking about slowing down. “Our tolerance for taking on more actually grows even as we start to approach the age when we’re supposed to [slow down],” Bateman says. “You gain so much knowledge through your experience that you just want to have the fortunate position of having a job that asks all of those things you’ve learned.”
He’s just landed in Los Angeles this morning and looks as relaxed as his public persona has looked across 40 years in the business — that run began as a child actor on the classic series “Little House on the Prairie” and made him, at the time, the youngest director ever to earn a DGA card. Three weeks from now, he starts shooting his first feature since “The Family Fang” (2015), a film titled “Cackling of the Dodos,” with Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. But first, he gets to enjoy some of the awards spotlight.
It’s the “Ozark” playbook again with Netflix’s thriller “Black Rabbit,” in which Bateman stars opposite Jude Law. He serves as an executive producer through his production company Aggregate Films, and helmed the first two episodes, one of which has already landed him a DGA nomination this past winter. But playing the chaotic Vince in the show was a deliberate swing. “I’ve kind of been playing the Jake part for a while, and [I thought] playing the Vince part would be fun,” he shares. “I got a take on what a heartbreaking screwup this guy is.” After knocking it out of the park, he pivoted somewhere unexpected.
