- 6 hours ago
Connect with Deadline online!
https://www.facebook.com/deadline/
https://twitter.com/DEADLINE
https://www.instagram.com/deadline/
https://www.youtube.com/Deadline
https://www.facebook.com/deadline/
https://twitter.com/DEADLINE
https://www.instagram.com/deadline/
https://www.youtube.com/Deadline
Category
š
FunTranscript
00:00So DTF, obviously...
00:02Do you know what it stands for, Pete?
00:03Do you know what it stands for?
00:04Yeah, damn the fuck, right?
00:06Careful.
00:07Okay.
00:08My daughter had to explain it to me about a week in.
00:11Really?
00:11Yeah.
00:12I thought it was some small town, township, somewhere in St. Louis.
00:18DTF St. Louis.
00:19Yeah, Granddad is just not super bright.
00:30I think...
00:30I think Carol's crazy.
00:34Crazy how?
00:46Feels so nice.
00:49You're lying head next to me.
00:55Oh, whatever.
01:01You're fine.
01:03Feels so fun now.
01:07Fun in the forest.
01:08It's just my peace, dear.
01:13I love you, baby.
01:15I love you, baby.
01:17I love you, baby.
01:19I love you, baby.
01:22I just wanna hold you.
01:25Find my fingers.
01:30I put that swing set next to the fence because there's a woman over there that makes me feel a
01:40certain feeling.
01:42And I look over there to, you know, see what I might be missing.
01:47And, uh, um, there's a...
01:51There's a guy over there, too.
02:00He's got this certain vitality that I like.
02:04I like...
02:05I like to look at.
02:08I'm in love, baby.
02:10Give it up.
02:11Give it up.
02:11Maybe I want his easy life.
02:13You know?
02:13They don't have kids.
02:15But, um...
02:17Maybe I like just looking at him.
02:20I'm hung up.
02:22I don't know.
02:23No doubt.
02:24It's been a really confusing summer.
02:26I'm so in love with you.
02:28For me, there's no way I'm caught.
02:32Deeper and deeper.
02:34In love with you, I'm falling.
02:38Sweeter and sweeter.
02:40Your tender words of love.
02:42Welcome to Behind the Lens.
02:43Today, I just told him this, but it's true.
02:46He's the king of the Emmys this year.
02:47It's amazing.
02:48How many people have four individual nominations?
02:52Unbelievable.
02:53This is so good.
02:54It's old news to him.
02:56He's been nominated for Emmys now 18 times.
02:59An Emmy winner.
03:01From experience in Lucci.
03:04Maybe, but you've won.
03:06That's true.
03:06You did win.
03:08This is Behind the Lens.
03:09We're also talking about directing here
03:11because you won as a director on Ozark.
03:13Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:14So, one for 14 so far.
03:18It's not a great average.
03:19This is Jason Bateman.
03:21Welcome.
03:21Hi.
03:22Thanks for having me.
03:22And really, congratulations.
03:24I mean, first of all, these are extraordinary things to be involved with.
03:29These movies.
03:30These limited series that you're nominated for.
03:32Two in one year.
03:33Not many people do that.
03:35DTF St. Louis on HBO and Black Rabbit on Netflix.
03:41Yes, sir.
03:42Yeah.
03:42It was pretty cool that they were such different characters
03:45and that they ended up being in the same year.
03:47I was feeling very, very lucky.
03:49I know.
03:50And look, on top of Carry On, which was a movie that really did a number on my head,
03:55that was an amazing little film on Netflix.
03:58Where you were the bad guy.
04:00Right.
04:01You know.
04:02On top of these, this is a very dark period for Jason Bateman.
04:07Yeah.
04:07I'm working through some stuff, Pete.
04:11These guys are both sort of broken and flawed and just not super capable in very different
04:21ways.
04:22But I was just kind of attracted to them not being as buttoned up as the characters that
04:29I usually play.
04:30Usually you play guys that are pretty bright, pretty clever, or at least are able to fake
04:36like they are.
04:37Yeah.
04:37They're usually pretty full of it.
04:40These two characters that I played, they're not really capable of feigning swagger.
04:47No.
04:47You know.
04:48Vince in Black Rabbit?
04:50Definitely not.
04:52Yeah.
04:52And that look was interesting.
04:55Yeah.
04:55I'm still holding on to that a little bit.
04:57You know, it's a wife recommend and request.
05:01Oh, really?
05:01Yeah.
05:02Okay.
05:02Yeah.
05:02If I get a different wife, I'll cut my hair.
05:05It was a little more extreme than what you've got right now, but it was, yeah, it looked
05:10like you were auditioning for Passion of the Christ 2.
05:13Yeah, right.
05:13Mel Gibson.
05:14Uh-huh.
05:15It's a good look.
05:16It was a good character.
05:17I mean, do you like playing these kind of deep character roles people don't recognize
05:22you from?
05:22Yeah.
05:23I mean, for a long time I was really interested in playing somebody that just kind of disappears
05:28into the story and functions really as kind of the audience's sort of tour guide
05:35and proxy, you know, as kind of just sort of the everyman.
05:38And that guy's got a certain look, you know, which is pretty bland.
05:42Right.
05:43Vince required a different look and tried to drop a bunch of weight too.
05:49And so that was fun to be able to look in the mirror before I started acting each day
05:54and see that, oh, half the work's already kind of done.
05:58Yeah.
05:58So I can do a little bit less and therefore hopefully be a little bit of a better actor by
06:03not doing as much acting, you know?
06:05So that show is Black Rabbit.
06:08And what's significant for me at least here is that premiered like when the Emmys were
06:13happening last year.
06:15Yeah.
06:15It didn't really get sort of that cushy sort of Emmy consideration spot, which I think
06:22is a little bit, what is it, after the first of the year?
06:25It's kind of in the first quarter, right?
06:27Yeah.
06:27It's like the Oscars, you know?
06:28It's like the fall version of the Oscars.
06:30Right, right.
06:30Sort of that spring place, which I think DTF got.
06:35So Black Rabbit was in September, something like that.
06:36And I was really happy for everybody associated with the show that it got such nice recognition
06:42in the nominations that, you know, people clearly remembered it and really enjoyed it.
06:49Yeah.
06:49So I was happy for everybody.
06:50That was significant.
06:51Seven nominations and two of them belong to you, including Best Director again.
06:56Yeah.
06:57Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:57You're becoming quite the director now.
07:01Well, I just love it so much.
07:03You know, there's nothing more fun to me than figuring out the right cast for something
07:10and the right crew for something and the right production design and location for something
07:15that can really set it up to deliver, you know, whatever the great writing is that precedes it.
07:21Yeah.
07:22And you know, in this case, you directed the first two.
07:24Yeah.
07:25And you're nominated for episode two of this, which is, is that difficult for you to be the
07:32star as well as directing yourself or would you rather just stand off and do it separately?
07:39Well, I mean, I'm just finishing up a film now where I, all I did was, was direct it.
07:45I wasn't in it as an, I mean.
07:47The Cackling of the Dodos.
07:49The Cackling of the Dodos.
07:50Yeah.
07:51Great title.
07:52Yeah.
07:54It pops a little bit.
07:55I enjoy being in something that I'm directing in so far as it allows me to kind of have two
08:01hands on the wheel.
08:02If it's got sort of a tricky, narrow tone.
08:05Yeah.
08:06It's, it's efficient for me to be able to be in front of the camera and behind the camera
08:11to try to, to hit that target.
08:13You know, I don't know how successful I am all the time, but at least it makes me think
08:18like I, I can eliminate that sort of creative negotiation with whomever is in front of the
08:24camera to try to communicate what I'm trying to do with whatever I'm doing behind the camera.
08:28Yeah.
08:28So I like that.
08:30And acting is, is so comfortable for me.
08:32I, I am able to hopefully do both decently at the same time.
08:37Yeah.
08:37But happy, happy to just do one at a time.
08:40Like DTF, I, I was, I really enjoyed being a soldier for the great Steve Conrad.
08:46And, and in the, in Dodos, I'm, I'm really enjoying, you know, directing these incredible,
08:51you know, actors, two of which brought it to me.
08:55Sam Rockwell and, and Woody Harrelson are just like a joy.
08:59I mean, yeah.
09:00Yeah.
09:00And that's for Netflix as well.
09:01Yes, sir.
09:02Yeah.
09:02Um, what, you know, I can't wait to see that.
09:04It just sounds fun.
09:05Like a different kind of thing.
09:07Yeah.
09:07Yeah.
09:08It's weird.
09:08It's great.
09:09And Rockwell is just amazing in everything he does.
09:14Yeah.
09:14Yeah.
09:14Yeah.
09:14And I had put Woody right alongside him.
09:16I mean, um, you forget about all these incredible films and directors that Woody has, has worked
09:22with, um, you know, and obviously Sam as well.
09:24So it was, it was nice to watch those two horses run, you know?
09:28That's cool.
09:29Yeah.
09:29Um, so what, what attracted you about playing Vince in Black Rabbit?
09:33Uh, opposite Jula, who's, who's great.
09:36Yeah.
09:36Who's another horse.
09:37Yeah.
09:38You bet mom's money on the Knicks.
09:45A lot of people bet the Knicks, Jake, they're a professional basketball team.
09:48And the money you got from the restaurant?
09:51This the one you and the bean kicked me out of?
09:52Bailed you out.
09:53Bailed you out.
09:54Saved your fucking ass.
09:55You gambled that too, right?
09:57Then you go down to Junior, take a loan on the house.
10:00You bet it again, lost it all.
10:03And then you skip town.
10:06Sound right?
10:08Sounds like the least favorable way you could possibly phrase it.
10:11But yeah, you're all caught up.
10:12Brothers dependent on each other and all of that in a weird way.
10:16Jude plays the character that I'm, I'm usually associated with, which is the, the, the fella
10:22who's kind of, you know, makes it look like he knows what's, what's going on.
10:26Uh, but as his feet are paddling hard on the surface.
10:29And we talked about that before we went in, you know, which, which part, you know, do you want to
10:33play?
10:33Oh, really?
10:34Yeah.
10:35And, and, and I, I said to him, I said, you know, I, I usually play the character, uh, of,
10:39of Jake, but I've kind of got this great take, I think, on, on, on Vince.
10:43And he, and the, and the writers, um, um, Kate Sussman and, and, um, and Zach Balin, who sort of
10:48finished my sentence for me.
10:50They sort of started laughing.
10:51He was like, yeah, that, that's what we were thinking.
10:52It'd be really exciting to see you play kind of this, this screw up, you know, this antagonist.
10:57So, um, so that was, that was great that they were open to that.
11:01And, and, you know, this guy, Vince, he's a, he's a tough guy to love in the beginning, but I
11:06think as you stay with it, you start to see that he's, he's kind of the guy that I think
11:11all of us know a bit.
11:13There's, there's somebody in our lives that, that just can't get out of their own way.
11:17And it's, it's kind of, it's heartbreaking.
11:20Yeah.
11:20Right.
11:21Yeah.
11:22No, I know your nephew.
11:24This guy, he's going to be okay.
11:26This is a good, but Vince is, yeah.
11:30He's an interesting kind of guy, you know, keeps stepping on his feet and that's the problem.
11:36Yeah.
11:37Yeah.
11:38Spoiler alert.
11:39It's not pretty.
11:40Yeah.
11:40But you know, it's hopefully by the time we get to the ending, you understand why he does the thing
11:47that he does and, and you appreciate that sort of sacrifice.
11:54Yeah.
11:54What was interesting here too, is that you directed those two episodes and then Laura Linney, your Ozark co-star
12:01comes in and does a couple too.
12:04Yeah.
12:04Yeah.
12:04That was very, very nice of her.
12:06Um, she just lives a couple of blocks from the studio.
12:09So I thought, well, maybe, maybe she'd say yes, you know, to walking to work.
12:14And, and thankfully she did, you know, it's so easy to say no to what is an enormous amount of
12:20work.
12:20Fortunately, she had a good enough time directing Ozark.
12:23Um, she did an incredible job doing it, but you know, it is a lot of work and, and I'm
12:28just so thrilled that she said yes.
12:29And she did two incredible episodes on, on Black Rabbit.
12:33So I hope she stays with it.
12:34Obviously we know what an incredible actor she is, but, um, the, the, the directing, uh, talent with her is,
12:40um, I hope she knows how great she is.
12:43She seems pretty effortless with it.
12:44And sometimes when people, uh, are just sort of, you know, a duck to water, it feels like they're not
12:50doing anything.
12:51Yeah.
12:51And so I, I hope she knows that she's so naturally talented with it, uh, that, that she keeps going.
12:57Do actors make great directors because they understand actors?
13:02I think so.
13:02I mean, that's, it's helpful cause it is a weird language to try to learn.
13:06You know, we're all such kooks, you know, um, you gotta figure out how to talk to each of us.
13:10Um, but, um, you know, actors get to work with multiple directors.
13:16Right.
13:16And so you can kind of cherry pick, um, uh, certain techniques that, that, that the good ones have, you
13:23know, directors don't ever work with another director.
13:25So they may be doing things in a way that, uh, is not fantastic and they never, they never know.
13:31They go through their whole lives.
13:33Um, their whole career is doing things in a way that, you know, perhaps if they got the access and,
13:39and the observation to, to multiple directors like us actors do or cameramen do or boom operators do, you know,
13:45you can, you can, you can,
13:46you can sort of accrue all these different hacks and, and, and, and, and cheat codes and, and, and good,
13:51good, good pieces of technique to kind of mold into your own style.
13:55And hopefully I've absorbed, you know, a handful of those things.
13:59You actually started very early.
14:01People may not realize this, but you were directing on the Hogan family.
14:05Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
14:06Which was started as Valerie and then became the Hogan family.
14:09And you did a few of those.
14:11Yeah, that was, that was pretty neat.
14:13That was, um, that was something that, uh, I was super young doing and, and consequently pretty, pretty scared to
14:20be, you know, politely asking these adults to do certain things.
14:23And, um, fortunately that was a few years into that, that show's run.
14:27So the, the crew and the cast, uh, you know, we all knew each other and loved each other and
14:31I got a lot of help on that.
14:32Oh, so that was, that was a good experience.
14:35Oh, great.
14:35Great experience.
14:36Yeah.
14:36And that sparked you to, to want to do this.
14:38It did. Yeah.
14:39My, my dad really sparked it in me even earlier than, than that.
14:43Um, he was a writer, director, producer.
14:46And so that was his passion.
14:47And, and instead of taking me to the park to throw the ball, he'd take me to, you know, the
14:51theater right down the road here, the Newark.
14:53Oh yeah.
14:54And, and take me to, to these old foreign films and kind of show me what is directing and, and,
14:59and what is good and what is bad and, and what, what, what is good acting and why.
15:04And so, um, that, that really kind of started my whole interest in this business and, and kind of clued
15:10me into what to look for when I got lucky enough to be on some sets.
15:13That's cool.
15:14Yeah.
15:14So DTF is such an interesting, it's a very different role.
15:18You know what it stands for?
15:19Do you know what it stands for, Pete?
15:20Huh?
15:21Do you know what it stands for?
15:22Uh, yeah.
15:22Yeah.
15:22Down the fuck, right?
15:23Yeah.
15:24Careful.
15:25It's okay.
15:26They're not going to cut that either, right?
15:27Okay.
15:29My daughter had to explain it to me about a week in.
15:31Really?
15:31Yeah.
15:32I thought it, I thought it was some small town, township somewhere in St. Louis.
15:38DTF St. Louis.
15:39Yeah.
15:40Granddad is just not super bright.
15:42So DTF St. Louis, not, it's a very different kind of character as well.
15:48He's an innocent in some ways.
15:50Yeah.
15:50He's a simpler guy.
15:52Yeah.
15:52And he's a good guy, but you're never sure with anybody in this show.
15:57No.
15:57Yeah.
15:57He's a very decent, meek, kind of aw shucks guy with the exception of, you know, the choice
16:04he makes in this show, which is to join this sketchy website, you know, DTF St. Louis and,
16:13you know, cheat on his wife.
16:15It certainly disqualifies him as being completely decent and meek.
16:19But he's a fella that is not very savvy and is looking to, as he says, you know, spice it,
16:25spice up his life a bit.
16:27And his wife's.
16:28It's sort of a, it's a couple's site where you can, you know, mix and mingle with other
16:37couples.
16:38Right.
16:38And get after it, as it were.
16:41He, like any good sort of comedy drama, gets in a bit over his skis and involved in something
16:49that he's just not fully capable of managing.
16:52And so that's, you know, that's why it's seven episodes instead of one, you know.
16:56Right.
16:56It takes him a while to figure things out.
16:58It's so, it's so watchable.
17:01I don't know.
17:01You want to binge it almost.
17:03But I didn't.
17:03I actually like to watch Weeks Week kind of thing.
17:06Yeah, yeah.
17:07And it builds and you want to, you want to know where it's going.
17:10It didn't end the way I thought it was going to end.
17:13That's for sure.
17:13Yeah.
17:14Well, that's, you know, Steve Conrad is the writer director of the entire thing.
17:19You know, his, his, his genius kind of would take too long to describe.
17:24But one of the many things he did well with this was, was kind of, you know, put forth
17:31this, this, this social critique, which is to kind of make the audience feel a little
17:38bit sort of like, well, shame on me that I thought, well, I don't want to spoil anything,
17:42but, you know, you're trying to figure out who killed David Harbour's character.
17:47Yeah.
17:47You know, he's revealed as dying in the, in the first episode.
17:50And then the whole thing sort of flash, flash forward, flash back.
17:53My character is presented as one of the, one of the suspects as is Linda Cardellini's character.
17:59Right.
17:59And, you know, my character is so kind and so enamored with, with David's character that
18:08you think, my God, this guy is so nice.
18:11Yeah.
18:11Yeah.
18:11And, and so aw shucks-y that he must be a murderer.
18:15Well, right.
18:16You know.
18:16In a lesser thing, I would say that would be the case.
18:20Yeah.
18:20Yeah.
18:21And, and Linda's character is so fiercely protective of her son and her, her whole sort
18:26of domestic harmony that she seems like, oh, well, that's a killer.
18:31She's, she's.
18:31Yeah.
18:32Yeah.
18:32Why is she so concerned with, you know, life insurance?
18:34Right.
18:35You know, well, you know, it's, it, it sort of makes her suspicious, but you sort of,
18:40well, shame on me that I thought that these people might be responsible for something like
18:44this.
18:45Yeah.
18:45I won't spoil whether they are or they aren't, but by the time you're done with the show,
18:49the whole sort of murder mystery kind of, you know, hook that kind of gets you involved
18:54with the first couple of episodes, kind of the, the, the yearning to find out, it sort
18:59of dissipates and you're just so excited that you got to know these people because they're
19:05like, so pardon the term, lovely, you know, like you just can't believe that these people
19:11are going through this stuff that you would have figured out a few episodes ago and, and
19:17how, how nice it is to see these, these sort of, these virgins trying to figure out stuff
19:23in this really lovely way.
19:25Yeah.
19:25And certainly the last episode, man, between you and David Harbour, this is pretty wild
19:32stuff.
19:33Yeah.
19:33There's this big, long, I think it's about a 10 page scene where David, David's character
19:38in mind, we basically talked the whole show through and end up in our underwear dancing
19:45in a pool, at a pool house.
19:47Wasn't on my bingo card.
19:49No, no.
19:50And it's heartbreaking and it's funny and it's a little scary.
19:55And again, Steve Conrad managed to, you know, put all of these things seamlessly in,
20:01in a single scene.
20:02And, and I remember shooting that and, and, you know, I had that date sort of circled on
20:06my calendar as, as really concerned that, you know, hopefully I've got, you know, my
20:11shit together and, and that I'm not going to screw that scene up.
20:14And, and David said the same.
20:16And, and, and I think Steve was sort of feeling the same too, because after we shot the first
20:20take of it, we did it from beginning to end, you know, and sort of the wide master.
20:24And he came out with tears in his eyes, not because it was so emotional, which it is,
20:28but mostly because he was just so sort of relieved that this scene, this, this really
20:34pivotal scene in the whole show worked.
20:36If it didn't.
20:38If it didn't.
20:38It wouldn't have killed the whole show for me, but it would have been disappointing.
20:42Yeah.
20:42It was a big swing and, and.
20:44A different way if this, the way I don't want to even give it away, but the way it was
20:49resolved is really satisfactory and.
20:53Well, that's, that's all Steve and the way that he was able to construct that whole thing
20:57and in this incredibly nonlinear way.
20:59I mean, it's all over the place, but he never loses the audience.
21:02It's just, it's, you just can't stop watching it.
21:06It's so unique.
21:07Yeah.
21:08So it's so good.
21:09And all the actors in it, the problem, the Solomon's choice for Emmy voters this year
21:16in that supporting actor category.
21:19Yeah.
21:20It's you.
21:21It's David Harbour.
21:23And it's the great Richard Jenkins.
21:26All three of you from the same show.
21:28I know it.
21:29It's just such a, I don't often use the word, but a blessing that, you know, the three
21:35of us got nominated and, and also Linda and Joyce Sunday.
21:39Right.
21:39Again, it's, Steve just gave us so much and, and, you know, we didn't, we didn't screw
21:44it up hopefully.
21:45And I'm just excited that we're all going to be able to be there that night and or two
21:50nights.
21:51Two nights.
21:51I know.
21:52Yeah.
21:53TV Academy.
21:54Yeah.
21:56I was going to ask you about Steve Conrad though, because he directed all seven episodes
22:00and we were just talking about black rabbit, where you did two, Laura did two.
22:05Yeah.
22:06I think Justin Kurtzel.
22:07Yeah.
22:08Yeah.
22:08And Ben Seminoff, which he did a movie I saw with Jude Law.
22:12So I could imagine.
22:13Yeah.
22:13He's an incredible director.
22:14Yeah.
22:15So you have different ones coming in.
22:17And in this case it's, it's one, it's like a feature film director, like you just did.
22:21Yeah.
22:21Yeah.
22:22That's, that's something that I've always wanted to do.
22:25And, and originally was the plan on Ozark and on black rabbit, but there's just, it's
22:32so hard to schedule that because you've got to prep it and shoot it like a film, which
22:38is effectively shooting a 600 page movie.
22:42And, and you know, when, like for instance on DTF, we shot the very first scene and the
22:46very last scene on the first day of shooting.
22:49Oh, wow.
22:49So, you know, so or 600 page story that is already constructed in a nonlinear way, shooting
22:56the very first image at the very last image took a lot of, of, of forethought and, and,
23:03you know, conversations with Steve about where's my character starting and where does it end?
23:07And are we, do we have a mutual agreement as to, you know, what that finish line is going
23:11to be?
23:11And it's, it's, it's a, it's a hard thing to, to manage and, and I, I haven't yet found
23:18the amount of, you know, time slash money to, to schedule that in a way that, that I'd
23:25really like to take it on because it, it takes a lot, a lot of prep and a lot of
23:32work and
23:33a lot of post.
23:34And, and I just, I've been so lucky to have opportunities before and after certain jobs
23:40that I just, I can't carve out the time, but that's, that's a goal of mine.
23:44And I'll probably have to wait until my 14 year old is off to college before I, I go away
23:48for, you know, what would be over a year to do something like that.
23:52Yeah.
23:52That's long on a limited series.
23:53Well, you just did it on a, you know, a two hour.
23:56Yeah.
23:56On a film.
23:56That's, but that's the equivalent of directing two episodes of something, you know, doing a
24:01film.
24:01It's, you know, you really are doing four movies if you're doing an eight episode limited series.
24:06You did one of my favorites, Bad Words.
24:08No, thank you.
24:09Thank you, buddy.
24:10Yeah.
24:11That was my first.
24:12I loved it.
24:13It's good.
24:13Listen to this again, a four nominations in four separate categories.
24:18That that's an achievement right there.
24:20You're a winner already.
24:21Thank you, pal.
24:22The shows are DTF St. Louis on HBO and a black rabbit on Netflix and carry on to quote
24:30another one of your movies.
24:32You're doing good.
24:33This is Jason Bateman.
24:34Thank you so much.
24:40Not the other one.
24:41We'll be good.
24:41We'll be back.
24:43Hey.
Comments