For those of us who enjoyed watching him as Michael Bluth in TV's tragically short-lived Arrested Development, Jason Bateman's burgeoning movie career amounts to something of a mixed blessing. While it's heartening to see his talents find new life on the big screen, Bateman's recent success, as well as that of Arrested Development cohorts Michael Cera (Superbad, Juno) and Will Arnett (The Brothers Solomon, Semi-Pro) means that it may very well be time to finally let go of hopes for a revival of Mitchell Hurwitz's critically adored sitcom. Soon Jason Bateman, underappreciated sitcom star will become Jason Bateman, underappreciated movie star, and the prospect of a Bluth family reunion will vanish forever.
Bearing somewhat of a heavy heart, I am escorted by a publicist to Bateman's suite at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, where I find the actor engrossed in Sportscenter, anxiously scanning its news crawl for updates regarding the players on his three fantasy baseball teams. Having two teams of my own, I immediately sympathize. In the crucial final weeks of the baseball season, such concerns easily take precedence over more trivial matters, like eating, sleeping and one's promotional duties toward an $80 million movie.
After a sufficient period devoted to talking fantasy shop and lamenting the declining fortunes of our beloved Dodgers, it's finally time to discuss Bateman's newest film, the action drama The Kingdom, in which he plays...an FBI Agent? "It's retarded, isn't it?" he says, only half-jokingly. "I don't know what I'm doing in this movie. I did a scene in movie called Smokin' Aces that (Kingdom director) Peter Berg was also in, and he was in my one scene. And I guess he liked what I did in that one scene and asked me to do this movie."
The Kingdom's story begins in a suitably startling fashion, when a terrorist's bomb levels a compound housing American oil company employees in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. An elite FBI team, comprised of Bateman, Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper and Jennifer Garner, is sent there to investigate.
As far as Bateman's role was concerned, director Berg's instructions were clear. "My job on this was to kind of pop off every once in a while and say something smart-alecky that he could use or not use," he states, matter-of-factly. Doesn't seem like such a tough gig for the gifted improv actor. "It was a little bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be only because I couldn't phone in any days," he explains. "Usually you can just sort of learn your lines, show up on set and say your lines when it's your turn to talk. But with this one, I didn't have that many lines in the script, so my job was to listen for opportunities to pipe in with something snarky."
"So I couldn't phone in any days, which is bad for me," Bateman continues. "I like to phone in at least half the week. I need to leave time for my online commitments."
It wasn't all one-liners and wisecracks, however. Bateman's role called for some intense action sequences, including a fairly vicious beating at the hands of the bad guys. "I'm just some pansy TV actor who doesn't get a chance to get the sh*t kicked out of him in action movies, so I was gung-ho for that -- until I threw up," he deadpans. "But it was a lot of fun to be a part of that, to be witness to this monster, this machine, this big-budget, highly professional, deeply choreographed movie. It's something I'd never had first-hand experience with."
The Kingdom may be Bateman's first big-budget studio experience, but it most certainly won't be the last. He's already got two major releases in the pipeline, the comic fantasy Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and the Will Smith superhero epic Hancock, and just recently signed on to co-star alongside Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in State of Play.
He's also busy developing a project of his own, the action comedy The Remarkable Fellows, which he describes as "The Bourne Identity meets Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."
For the record, Bateman has yet to dismiss the possibility of an Arrested Development return. "That is certainly on the table and not dead yet; I just don't know when the right time will be," he says, adding that the surging careers of fellow castmembers Cera and Arnett could actually help the effort. "Maybe by virtue of us doing well, it makes the idea of a re-visit -- whether it be in a movie or whatever -- a little bit more of a viable scenario. Because if none of us had careers after Arrested Development, it would kind of reek of 'Oh, these poor people couldn't let it go,' or 'They need to make a check.'"
The Kingdom opens nationwide this Friday.
Check out ReelzChannel.com's The Kingdom page for clips, images and more!