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Jason Bateman on The Kingdom
By Fred Topel | Image property of Universal Pictures.
The Kingdom
The industry has rediscovered Jason Bateman's comedic talents, with the critically lauded Arrested Development and supporting roles in comedies like Starsky and Hutch. The Kingdom lets him be dramatic, as an FBI agent on a mission in Saudi Arabia, but Batemen still found a chance to be funny.
Bateman Bales on Comedy for The Kingdom
"Peter Berg and I did a scene in Smoking Aces," Bateman explained. "Joe wrote this great monologue and after doing it for a few hours, he basically said, 'I want you to start to get a little looser with the lines, and make up some stuff.' I started to make Peter Berg laugh a lot that day. So I guess he saw that I could sort of talk on my feet, or improvise, or whatever and I guess he figured that that would be perfect for this part. So he said to make up a lot of stuff. There were a handful of lines written for the character in the movie but none of them were particularly funny. I didn't think the character was supposed to be funny. But he figured that a character that could bring some levity would be helpful in this."
That may sound like an easy task for an expert comedian, but remember, he's in the middle of a movie about terrorism and cultural differences in the middle east. "I did have to, sort of, every day kind of be on my toes and find moments to crack wise but I had to be mindful of the fact that this is a drama. I've got Jamie [Foxx] on one side, and Chris [Cooper] on the other side with a couple of Oscars. And Jennifer [Garner]'s got her Golden Globe. There's this jeopardy that they're trying to maintain in the movie, this tone so let's not be an idiot. I tried to pick and chose. I couldn't phone in any days. I couldn't come to the set and just say, 'Oh, well, I've got this dialogue to memorize, and I'll just say that dialogue when we get to my scene.' Every scene I had to be ready to perhaps put something in. So it was a little bit more work than one would think, with the limited amount of dialogue that was scripted for me."
In the film's climactic action sequence, Bateman's character gets kidnapped and the rest of the team has to rescue him. He took this opportunity to keep quiet. "My mouth was taped for 30 pages of the script and that originally wasn't the plan. That was sort of a last-minute thing that I said to the director, and I think a prop guy. I said, 'You know, if I'm gonna be tied up for 30 pages, every time you see my character, realistically I'd be screaming and yelling for somebody who could hear me in another room to let me out. And I don't want to do that.' I mean, how many times can you say, 'Get me out of here?' So I said, 'Why don't we just tape my mouth?' Then I kind of powered down, for the movie. The other days, I was sort of having to be on my feet, to improvise. But then I was like, 'Screw it. Could you just tape my mouth? So I can just show up on the set every day.'"
Being in such a precarious situation was more intense than Bateman was used to. "I threw up one day on the set when it was really hot. That was about it. It's sort of common for us pansy SAG people. No, there want any real injuries on my part. The stunt people were extremely professional, and our second unit director and stunt coordinator were amazing. I've really become a big sort of awed by these action movies. I saw Bourne Ultimatum the other day, and just felt bad that I was able to just drive away from that after two hours and say, 'Boy, that was a great movie.' The amount of work that goes into action sequences, and that one, particularly, from start to finish is all action. I really feel like they can charge more if they want. There's just so much work that goes into it."
The Kingdom opens to theatres on September 28th.
For the trailers, stills, poster and more movie info, go to The Kingdom Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of Universal Pictures.
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