Jason Bateman

Actor

270 Quotes

Meeting my wife Amanda was the best thing that could ever have happened to me. She wasn't going to let me screw around my life anymore, so I stopped drinking and started behaving like a decent human being.

Not many get a chance to hit the career re-set button.

Pre-production and post-production is something that I've never been exposed to. I was pleasantly surprised that you could accomplish a lot during pre-production.

By definition, gay is smart. I see plenty of macho heterosexual idiots, but nine times out of 10 you can have a great conversation if you find a gay guy.

If it's a good part in a good movie, I'll do it.

I never looked at fan mail, for some reason. My mother and grandmother handled my mail - although it's not like I was ever in the stratosphere of Kirk Cameron or Scott Baio.

Not a lot of people get a second chance. And I think for a while there, my name kind of got in my way a bit, based on all of the television I was fortunate enough to do. But after a while, you sort of wear out your welcome in that genre, in that medium.

Obviously, I did a couple of things right on the old casting couch.

Obviously, I did a couple of things right on the old casting couch.

I think things that are really, really not good are easy to see. But films that are decent can either be made good or great based on the execution. At the end of the day, it's always a crapshoot about the execution, the level of taste, in any department.

People say: 'Why do you want to play the straight man?' Well, it's because he gets to be in every scene.

I'm in a little bit of a different situation, because working in the business that I do and living in the city that I live in, I haven't had a problem with people who are gay. Since I was 10 I've been working alongside them, and some of my best friends are gay.

I really enjoy playing that everyman part because that part is us, the audience. And you need somebody inside a comedy to tether the absurdity to reality.

I enjoy editing when I'm directing, but when someone else is directing, that's their film to cut.

Marathons are good training goals.

As disciplined as I am, I'm also a huge hedonist.

If you make a mistake, people are going to know about it really fast - and I was making a ton of them when I was a kid.

If you laugh, we just do another take. Laughter is too rare nowadays. If you can bust a gut, let it go, and we'll just go back to one.

Music is such an incredibly affecting part of any movie-going experience, and it just... it shapes your whole experience.

If it's a good part in a good movie, I'll do it.

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