Jason Bateman Returns to the Stern Show

Actor talks "Identity Thief," "Arrested Development," and more

January 30, 2013
Photo: The Howard Stern Show

Jason Bateman stopped by to promote his new film “Identity Thief” and begged Howard to stay away from his checkered past.

“Be kind. There was a lot of drinking, Howard. That gets you puffy,” he said. “I used to do the drinking and the smoking and the snorting and the running around.”

Jason said it started with the film that killed his career—a film he only did because his father turned manager wanted to do a studio picture. “[With different representation] I wouldn’t have done ‘Teen Wolf 2.’ Dad was very encouraging. Dad was a producer on that movie,” Jason explained.

His career seemingly dead, Jason “drank [himself] into some very interesting situations.” All that changed one day when an agent who didn’t even represent Jason suggest he audition for “Arrested Development.”

Doing ‘Juno’

Jason said he almost opted out of the hit independent dramedy “Juno.”

“We’d just had a child and I said no,” Jason recalled. “[Then] I re-read the script and what sealed the deal for me was that–and I’m not proud of this–my daughter was colicky.”

“She was screaming her ass off. It was driving me bananas,” he continued. “I called my manager and I said, ‘Where does it shoot?’ He said, ‘Vancouver.’ I said, ‘How long?’ He said, ‘Three weeks.’ And I said, ‘I’ll take it.'”

And look where it got him. “I look like a genius,” Jason said, adding “the beak continues to get wet from ‘Juno.’ It was good for all of us.”

While he wasn’t specific about the details of his compensation for starring in the film, Jason pointed out that “Juno” was shot for $7 million and made over $150 million. Even just a single back-end “point” would be worth well over $1,000,000.