(Initially, he hoped to direct every episode, but the demands of the production didn’t allow for that.) Through it all, he says that he approached Ozark not as a TV series, but as a “10-chapter movie” - an expansive storytelling canvas that most feature films can’t boast of. In addition to starring in the 10-episode series, Bateman is the show’s executive producer and directed four installments, including the premiere and the feature-length finale. And when he finished the script, written by Ozark creator, Bill Dubuque, he put his feature film plans on hold, and committed his time and energy to Ozark both in front of and behind the camera. Reading and re-reading that scene on the page, Bateman’s directorial mind immediately took over as he envisioned the various ways it could be shot to make as big an impression on a viewing audience as it did on him. And then one problem literally falls from the sky right in front of him.” “Marty thinks he’s got everything under control, but he’s not so bright that there aren’t going to be problems. “The way that scene sneaks up on you when you’re reading the script was a clear indication of the prism of the show,” Bateman says. It’s his rival for Wendy’s affections, tossed over the side of his 80th-floor balcony by the drug cartel enforcer, Del (Esai Morales), whose bosses have been laundering money through Marty’s firm. As he approaches the tower, rehearsing what he’s going to say to the pair, a body hits the pavement right in front of him. But then the pilot script for Netflix’s moody crime drama Ozark arrived on his desk, and reading through it, Bateman came across a scene that landed on him with a major impact.Īrriving at roughly the 40-minute mark in the first episode, “Sugarwood,” the scene that turned Bateman’s head finds the show’s central character, financial planner Marty Byrde (Bateman), racing up to the apartment building where he expects to confront his wife Wendy (Laura Linney) and her lover. Instead, as the actor tells Yahoo TV, he planned to expand his feature filmmaking horizons by directing a movie that took place on a bigger canvas than his first two features, 2013’s Bad Words and 2015’s The Family Fang. With one Netflix series already under his belt - the revival of Arrested Development, which debuted its fourth season on the streaming service in 2013, with another to follow next year - Jason Bateman wasn’t necessarily looking to add another. Warning: This post contains spoilers for the “Sugarwood” episode of Ozark. Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde in ‘Ozark.’ (Photo Credit: Jackson Davis/Netflix)
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