The “garbage” movie Jason Bateman only made for the money: “Everyone’s gettin’ paid”
Most actors can be forgiven for chasing the money, especially if they’re honest about it. Jason Bateman was forced to basically rebuild his career from scratch after his first attempt at navigating the tricky child star pipeline fell flat, so he was entitled to ensure he had a healthy bank balance to fall back on.
By the time he’d left his teenage years, Bateman was already a familiar face to film and television audiences, having appeared in Little House on the Prairie, Silver Spoons, The Hogan Family, and Teen Wolf Too, but trying to capitalise on that momentum saw him hover perilously close to rock bottom.
He only appeared in three feature films throughout the entire 1990s, and while a smattering of recurring roles on the small screen kept him booked and relatively busy, he struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for most of the decade before getting sober in 2001, which coincided with an upturn.
Arrested Development‘s premiere in 2003 was the catalyst for his rise up the ranks, and while he quickly became synonymous with high-profile mainstream comedy flicks, he’s since diversified his portfolio to become a Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe-winning performer who also dabbles in writing, directing, and producing.
He’s experienced the highs and lows that come with stardom, and as such, he was well within his rights to chase the bag. 2012’s Horrible Bosses became, and still is, the highest-grossing live-action movie in which he’s taken top billing after the workplace caper snaffled over $200 million at the box office.
The way the industry works is that hits will have sequels ordered sooner rather than later, but Bateman didn’t need to tell anyone that his heart wasn’t really in the follow-up. Horrible Bosses 2 arrived in 2014, and it earned half as much money as its predecessor, while also faring half as well among critics.
A cast that included Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz, and a pre-exile Kevin Spacey didn’t come cheap, but the former didn’t mind. “A lot of people saw the first one, but there are plenty of films that made a lot of money where no one is interested in seeing another one,” he explained.
“The first one was funny,” he added. “The first one put up some money.” As for the second, though? “The second one was garbage as far as box office goes,” Bateman admitted. “Who knows if it was on the merits or when they released it, but it did not do any money.” When it was suggested that the dollar signs in everyone’s eyes affected their performances, the actor didn’t deny it.
“Oh yeah, that’s a paycheque for everyone,” he replied. “Everyone’s gettin’ paid; it’s a freebie.” Comedy sequels are hard to get right, and Horrible Bosses 2 was hardly the first or last example, and it sounds as though the only people to get anything out of the experience were Bateman and the rest of the ensemble’s accountants.
