Jason Bateman entered his interview for Extract commenting on a DVD copy of Idiocracy brought for director Mike Judge to sign. From there, we went on to talk about his role as the boss in an extract factory, memories of Silver Spoons and plans for Hancock 2. The interview happened literally the day before writers were hired to start a legitimate script.

Jason Bateman: [Looking at Luke Wilson’s picture on Idiocracy.] “What happened to the marketing?” This picture of Dax Shepard is awful. This is a great movie. I liked this movie a lot. And I loved Office Space too. Have you guys seen that?

Crave Online: Of course. So as a Mike Judge fan, what was it like working with him?

Jason Bateman: He’s very, very easy. It’s very effortless. I think he does most of his work before the production starts. He writes a great script and then he casts people that do exactly what he’s written these characters to do, so I think it is probably just indicative of how lazy he is. He doesn’t like to work very hard on the set. He likes to sort of just watch TV and say yes and no, cut and action.

Crave Online: You’ve discussed how your plan is to play supporting roles and have a longer lasting career, so is it a risk to do the lead in a comedy?

Jason Bateman: It’s not a risk if Mike Judge is out in front. I’ve got this thin with Jennifer Aniston next year, so that’s a lead but she’s out in front. This Couples Retreat thing, you know, I’m safely at number two underneath Vince. He can carry it. I’m fine with that but I’m not looking to be the star of a movie just to be the star of a movie. I’d love to be the star of the movie if it’s a director’s vehicle like this is, or name it. Any sort of celebrity director, these filmmakers, the Michael Manns or Peter Jacksons or Steven Spielerbergs or whatever it is, then yeah, obviously I’d want to be number one but a lot of times actors will sort of attach themselves to a project and then they’ll just hire whatever director is available to shoot the movie. That’s usually a recipe for disaster, I’ve seen, I’ve read.

Crave Online: Would you work with Woody Allen?

Jason Bateman: I don't think so, man. Yeah, he’s running sort of a first/second sort of swap with the Coen Brothers, right? As far as people’s dreams to work with. He certainly is for me.

Crave Online: I read that the tattoo on your neck in Dodgeball was your idea. Did you add a personal touch to Extract?

Jason Bateman: Some flair? I don't think so. I don't think so. I think I wanted to make sure that his hair was short and sort of workplace kind of blue collar. Mitch Hurwitz actually, the Arrested Development creator, he sort of clued me in on that. At times, I wouldn’t get a haircut during Arrested Development. He’d say, “Let’s get the hair cut.” And I was like, “Wow, what difference does it make to you?” He says, “Well, the longer a guy’s hair is, the more it sort of looks like he can deal with stuff, kind of laid back.” It’s like ooh, I get it, all right. So that’s about it but I’m reaching to even come up with that one. I just sort of deferred everything to Mike. He’s got a very specific eye for things obviously. Coming from animation, he knows the way things should look and feel and sound.

Crave Online: Did you know the pot scene was going to be a trailer moment?

Jason Bateman: When we were doing it, no. No, not at all. You never really do. You never know what marketing’s going to come up with. They’re sort of their own little fiefdom over there. It’s certainly funny. I don't know honestly if it sets the table properly for what you expect from the movie. I personally feel that the teaser, which is what’s out there, there isn’t even a trailer for this film, it’s a teaser that everybody’s been looking at, a guy gets his ball sack blown off and I take a big bong hit. I mean, it makes you think that you’re about to see something that is a bit more of sort of the recent comedies that have been out as opposed to stuff that is more consistent with Mike’s sense of humor and comedic tone, which is a bit more muted. Those two moments in the teaser are a bit sort of high concept and a bit broad. His stuff is much more sort of character based and scenes are very long. There’s a lot of conversation and dialogue as opposed to big, comedic set pieces. So I hope it sets the table properly for the audience and that the audience doesn’t go into it thinking it’s going to be a movie full of those kinds of moments because if that’s what they’re expecting, they’re going to walk away from the film and give it what I think would be a false negative, thinking that, “Well, it didn’t live up to that.” So if it were me, I would’ve cut a different trailer or actually cut a trailer and set the groundwork for people to be in the right mood, the right gear for this brand of humor which is a bit more subtle than what the teaser indicates.

Crave Online: What was your reaction when Mike said he had you in mind?

Jason Bateman: I think that that was mostly a result of, you know, we share a manager. He knew that Mike had this script or this idea - I think Mike started writing this back in the Office Space days - and so when Arrested Development started to take off, I think he remembered this script that Mike had and thought that I would fit this part in this movie quite easily because they’re very, very similar, sort of these straight men, these conservative guys that are in the middle of a bunch of craziness. So we showed Mike some episodes of it and Mike agreed. That’s how this came about.

Crave Online: How would you feel in a management position?

Jason Bateman: Well, I would hope that I would handle it well and I hope that I wouldn’t take advantage of my power and my influence. I aspire to that position, to actually the equivalent in my business which would be being a director. It’s something that I’m trying to ramp up and fade out of acting maybe into that or maybe split time like a Ben Stiller or a George Clooney, these guys that sort of do one or the other. Hopefully someday that’ll take off for me because it would just give me a chance to use what I’ve learned.

Crave Online: What kind of material would you direct? Comedy, dark comedy, drama?

Jason Bateman: Right now, my taste is in the dark comedy arena but those don’t tend to make a ton of money and I think you need to sort of make money for one or two and then they’d let you make dark comedies. I don't know. I’m not a genius but basically, it doesn’t really matter to me what I would direct. I like that position because you get to work with multiple departments and multiple department heads as opposed to just learning your lines, coming in, saying your lines, and walking away.

Crave Online: Maybe a family movie?

Jason Bateman: Doesn’t matter to me. Sure, do you have a script with you?