COUPLES RETREAT

In 2004, actor, producer and director JASON BATEMAN (Jason) was honored with a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, and earned an Emmy Award nomination and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for his irreverent portrayal of Michael Bluth in the Mitchell Hurwitz created, multi-award-winning comedy series Arrested Development. Since then, Bateman has attained leading-man status on the big screen while returning to his roots in television by continuing to produce, write and develop projects for the small screen. One can easily surmise, by the prestigious array of studios, directors and producers that are hiring Bateman, that he is a valuable commodity.

While Bateman’s starring role in the Emmy Award-winning FOX comedy series Arrested Development brought a newfound appreciation from the public, it also caught the attention of the motion picture industry and reinvigorated their interest in Bateman. Since the show ended in 2006, Bateman has secured one major film role after the next.

Currently, Bateman can be seen headlining the Miramax feature Extract, directed by Mike Judge and produced by Bateman through his F+A Production banner. Extract co-stars Mila Kunis. Bateman also has a cameo in the Ricky Gervais-penned and - directed comedy, The Invention of Lying.

This past spring, Bateman delivered an emotionally charged performance as a political press agent in the crime drama State of Play, directed by Kevin Macdonald for Universal Pictures.

In late 2009, Bateman will be seen in a supporting role, opposite George Clooney, in Up in the Air, directed by Jason Reitman for Paramount Pictures. In the first quarter of 2010, Bateman will star with Jennifer Aniston in the Mandate Pictures romantic comedy The Baster, in which he plays the lead role. Bateman just completed production on the Universal Pictures and Working Title comedy Paul, directed by Greg Mottola and written by Nick Frost and Simon Pegg.

Bateman is also producing and starring in a film for Universal Pictures, based on his original idea, called The Remarkable Fellows, which Joe Carnahan is writing and directing. Bateman reteams with Carnahan after working with him on Universal Pictures’ Smokin’Aces in 2006. The film is an action-comedy about two elite revenge specialists who are hired by the most powerful and wealthy people all over the world to exact revenge on those who have wronged them. The film will begin production in late fall 2009.

On the small screen, Bateman’s company F+A Productions secured a first-look production deal to develop, direct and write original content for 20th Century Fox Television. The deal came to fruition after Bateman directed for the network the comedy pilot Do Not Disturb, which premiered in the 2008 fall lineup. Bateman also reteamed with his Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz to voice a character in the FOX animated comedy series Sit Down, Shut Up, which premiered on April 17, 2009. Upcoming this year, Bateman will direct and produce the pilot for FX Network’s The Merger.

Last year, Bateman co-starred in the Peter Berg action film Hancock, alongside Will Smith and Charlize Theron, which had one of the biggest box-office openings worldwide in 2008. Hancock arrived on the heels of one of the biggest success stories in independent filmmaking, Fox Searchlight’s gem Juno, in which Bateman had a pivotal role as the potential, yet uncertain, adoptive father to Juno’s unborn child. Directed by Jason Reitman, the film was nominated for Best Picture by most major film critics groups as well as by the Hollywood Foreign Press and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2007, Bateman co-starred opposite Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper and Jennifer Garner in the Universal Pictures drama The Kingdom, an action-thriller set in Saudi Arabia and directed by Peter Berg. Prior to The Kingdom, Bateman starred opposite Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman in the 20th Century Fox/Mandate Pictures family-fantasy film Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, for ingénue director and writer Zach Helm.

Bateman’s other recent film roles include starring with Zach Braff and Amanda Peet in the Miramax comedy The Ex, and a supporting role in The Break- Up, again with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston. Prior to those, he portrayed a loose-lipped sports commentator in 20th Century Fox’s comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, starring Vaughn and Ben Stiller. Bateman also co-starred in the Warner Bros. film Starsky & Hutch, opposite Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Vaughn. In 2002, he starred with Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate and Selma Blair in the romantic comedy The Sweetest Thing.

Dating back to his adolescent and teenage years, Bateman’s portrayal of the charming schemer Derek Taylor on Silver Spoons prompted NBC to create the spin-off It’s Your Move, starring Bateman. He then starred with Valerie Harper in her serial series Valerie, Valerie’s Family and The Hogan Family from 1986 through 1991 and, prior to that, was a series regular on the iconic television series that has become an American treasure, Little House on the Prairie. 

Bateman currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Amanda Anka, and their daughter, Francesca.

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