After headlining such comedic hits as Identity Thief, Horrible Bosses, and the Fox cult-TV classic, Arrested Development, funnyman Jason Bateman is taking his comedic chops behind the camera as a director in next year’s Bad Words.
Bad Words premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival to glowing reviews. John DeFore at The Hollywood Reporter said of Bateman’s acting and directing:
Andrew Dodge’s script, which refuses any attempt to make its protagonist likable but gives him lines too funny not to laugh at, must have looked like a gift from heaven to star Jason Bateman, whose big-screen outings sometimes don’t get that the actor is so sympathetic his characters don’t need to be. Choosing it for his debut as director, Bateman demonstrates the same knack for timing and fine shadings of attitude as he does onscreen
The film features Jason Bateman as Guy Trilby, a 40 year-old who’s found a loophole that allows him to compete in The Golden Quill, a national children’s spelling bee. Along the way, Guy finds himself partnering up with one of his competitors, an awkward 10 year-old named Chaitanya (Rohan Chand of Showtime’s Homeland) while being investigated by a reporter (Kathryn Hahn of Step Brothers and We’re the Millers) who attempts to find out his true motivation. Also joining Bateman in the film are Rachel Harris (The Hangover) and Allison Janney (The Way Way Back, TV’s The West Wing).
Yahoo! recently premiered a red-band trailer full of enough swears to live up to the film’s namesake, along with a lot of laughs. Bateman’s character seems to be a breath of fresh air for Jason Bateman, who normally plays very sympathetic, morally well-adjusted characters. Focus Features, who, according to Deadline, picked up the film at the Toronto premiere for $7 million, plans releasing the film in a limited run on March 14, 2014. Check out the red-band trailer below:
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