Jason Bateman isn’t going to throw fastballs all the time. His latest film, The Change-Up, represents his off-speed pitch and finds him playing Dave, a stressed-out lawyer and father of three who swaps bodies with his carefree friend, Mitch, played by Ryan Reynolds. Bateman talked about the movie with The Huffington Post recently, touching on how he draws inspiration for the characters he portrays and his desire to play different types of roles in the future.
“I love playing the protagonist. I don’t know where I got that from, perhaps it’s my British mother, who kind of gave me a very dry sense of humor,” he said. “There’s part of me in every character that I play. There’s a lot of Mitch inside my person and yeah, I spent a lot of time in the 90s being a guy very similar to Mitch, so I just kind of had to dust that guy off and I put him out there. It was a lot of fun to hang out with that old friend.”
Still, the 42-year-old former television star would like to evolve as an actor. “It’s up to me, it’s my obligation to play different kinds of characters so I inspire different thought in the public. It’s kind of chicken or the egg; fortunately I’ve got a film in the can that shows something different…” he said. “I’d like to just keep trying to do different stuff, but mostly just work with people that I really look up to, and if I’m offered to work with them, I’ll say yes in a heart beat, whether it’s a comedy or drama or I’m the star or supporting player.”
