Quotes from Jason Bateman

I like to give my daughter some rope and let her make her own decisions.

Television is much more of a producer's writer's medium, so a lot of the time, when you're directing a television show, they have a color palette on set or a visual style and dynamic that's already been predetermined, and you just kind of have to follow the rules.

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

If the goal is to be believable when you're acting, I've got the best idea of what that believability might look and feel like. And because you need a normal guy in a comedy so that the eccentricities can pop, that's a good part for me.

Actors, by very definition, we want people to pay attention to us, and so usually, that comes in the package of insecurity. So if we're not comfortable, we don't really show you a lot.

Acting has always been very comfortable for me, so it allows me to pay attention to other parts of the process literally while I'm acting.

I really empathise with some of my peers who had success in the early years; then it dries up, and so there's no reason to get up in the morning.

It earns you a lot of snark if you're able to convey vulnerability.

I feel incredibly fortunate I walked away, took care of other business, and then came back to show business.

I remember my dad working with me on breaking down my script and writing out a back story for my character and all that stuff.

There's a bunch of different flavours of funny. It's all about the execution of it.

I look at whatever the finish line is for the character and then kind of act backwards from that and play him in such a way so that that finish line is more rewarding.

I have to warn you: I bet horses like a girl.

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

When you're playing a supporting character, you don't really have a lot of control of the quality of the film.

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.

I was very surprised to get a reading for 'Arrested Development' because it really seemed to be the opposite of that which I was known for doing.

My family is pretty funny. My mother is British, so she's got a very dry sense of humor. That's where I got that from.

My sense of humor lies a little closer to the middle.

My goal is to get another 30 years out of this business. So I need to figure out the fuel to do that. And so far, I think it's respect and quality and company, not celebrity or box office or stardom. It's not a sprinter's approach. It's more like a long-distance thing. You can stick around a lot longer if you kind of slow-play it.

People have often asked if I'm gay because I don't go out of my way to spit and scratch and give people attitude.

Throughout my 20s I spent a lot of time just playing and not really working, but fortunately for me I continued to get just enough work, and have a reason to wake up in the morning. I really empathize with some of my peers who had success in the early years then it dries up, and so there's no reason to get up in the morning.

I remember my dad working with me on breaking down my script and writing out a back story for my character and all that stuff.

I think anybody who's doing work in their teen years on TV or in the movies, you're a teen idol by default.