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I SPENT 10 OR 15 YEARS HAVING SO MUCH FUN WITH ALL OF MY BUDDIES AND OBVIOUSLY LOSING MY PLACE IN THE BUSINESS .
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As Muller points out in his article , Arrested Development may have given Bateman a do-over , but he had to make good on it . Bateman did just that . He quit the booze , started running , and redirected his addictive personality in a new direction . Behold , Jason Bateman 2.0 .
With Ron Howard , the renowned child star turned adult actor turned producer-director , as inspiration , Bateman has re-written the script to the second act of his life to great effect and much acclaim .
“ I remember somewhere in there seeing some interview with Ron Howard , and I remember watching him be that famous , kind , affable , engaging , almost eager persona , and I remember thinking , ‘ Boy ,’ you know , ‘ there ’ s no way anybody would ever misinterpret that kindness for weakness .’ And I thought to myself , ‘ If I ’ m ever lucky enough to find some relevance again and some access and some success , that ’ s going to be the best part of it , that I ’ m going to be able to be as nice as I want to be and not be nervous that that ’ s going to be misinterpreted for desperate .’”
It ’ s not lost on Bateman that fate saw to it for Howard to be the narrator of Arrested Development and one of its executive producers . “ So the fact that I ’ ve been able to say that to Ron — I ’ ve literally walked him through this long-winded story — it was just really , really nice to be able to do that and to have him be a mentor and a friend and then obviously such a huge part of what was a career-defining job for me on Arrested Development ,” Bateman told Vaughan .
With his fire once again burning bright , Bateman was careful to take solid roles that played to his deadpan sarcasm and expressive face . Movies like Juno , Couples Retreat , and Horrible Bosses followed .
Jennifer Aniston , who starred with him in Bad Bosses , among others , had this to say as Bateman was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017 : “ He looks 12 . He acts 100 . A head of hair that women envy . He works hard . He ’ s tired . Even in his most restful state , he ’ s one of the loveliest men to be around .”
“ He always gives you deep connection , full attention , authenticity , and some of the deepest belly laughs that I can remember ,” said Aniston .
NBC NETFLIX WARNER BROS .
BATEMAN STARRED WITH VALERIE HARPER IN THE 1986 SITCOM VALERIE , THE SAGA OF A WORKING MOM RAISING 3 BOYS .
BATEMAN IN THE FUNNY , EMMY-WINNING NETFLIX SERIES ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT .
GAME NIGHT IS A 2018 ACTION COMEDY STARRING BATEMAN AND RACHEL MCADAMS , AND FOLLOWS A GROUP OF FRIENDS WHOSE GAME NIGHT TURNS INTO A REAL-LIFE MYSTERY .
26 • JULY / AUGUST 2021