Bateman as Jimmy Stewart

Bateman is one of six guys in a "roundtable" interview in the Hollywood Reporter. The interview was done back in April, and it focuses on dramas, so no mention of Arrested Development. The online article includes video clips. It's okay, though I don't really care about Ozark.

Bateman responds to a question about pay equity, saying that the industry nowadays is a "fertile ground for parity" and there's less excuse now for the idiots who kept saying the men draw more audience. That's fine, but then the other guys say that all actors are discouraged from discussing salary. It's not just actors, people! Every industry tells its employees not to share salary info with colleagues! That's how we wind up with cases where women don't find out until years later that they were paid less than men doing the same work! In Hollywood, though, there are agents negotiating salaries for actors, which was why it was so egregious when Michelle Williams's agent didn't let her know that she was paid so much less than Wahlberg for those All the Money in the World reshoots. If an actress can't even trust her agent to get her fair pay, then what the hell hope does anyone have?

I say, start discussing your salaries in Hollywood. Don't fucking listen to agents saying, "trust me", and use your star power to help others get fair pay, like when Jessica Chastain helped Octavia Spencer. Do something about it, and be an example to all the other industries that aren't fighting the wage gap.

But back to the HR article. Later, Bateman also claims to want to play a woman in a Tootsie-like role, but says that he's overall satisfied with his niche as the everyman. Darren Criss is surprised, mentioning a friend of his saying, "Oh, Jason Bateman, he's just the ultimate Jimmy Stewart straight man. He's the 21st century straight man and he does it so well and with such variance but he's always in that lane." Darren Criss thinks it's cool that Bateman is self aware and likes being in that lane.

I do wonder, though. Bateman says he wants to be the relatable everyman, and yet I find that he's constantly playing jerks in movies and shows, which is why I don't watch everything he does. I do wish he would do more nice guys, not jerks. Then I could see more stuff like Game Night. ETA: I mean, I don't mind sly rascals like Nick from Zootopia, but I'm tired of entitled jerks with no redeeming qualities. Really, what I want to see is him and Will Arnett do a movie together. Why do they never do that?