Jason Bateman on If He Considers Himself an Actor or Director First

Jason Bateman is this year’s Emmy overachiever, nominated for lead limited series actor and limited series directing on Netflix’s “Black Rabbit,” and as both supporting actor and executive producer on another limited series, HBO Max’s “DTF St. Louis.” So where does the multi-hyphenate’s brain reside more in these days, as an actor or director?

“They are in both worlds at the same time, but they kind of always have been,” Bateman tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast. “That’s why I was so drawn to having the official job of directing. Acting at an early age became so comfortable for me that I was able to really observe all the incredible work going around me. All the technical work of the camera and sound and lighting and what might be happening with editing later. So I’ve always thought about all of that — what a team it takes.”

Bateman, of course, has been acting since he was a child — “Little House on the Prairie,” “Silver Spoons,” “It’s Your Move” and even “The Hogan Family” as a teen. But he also started looking at directing as a young actor.

“I’m enormously grateful that I’m still working in this industry in this town,” he says. “I mean, I’ve gained a lot of experience in this business, and one of the things that’s really clear to me is that the best people are not guaranteed employment.”

Bateman, of course, saw that firsthand in the lean years that came prior to “Arrested Development,” which set his career on a new, lucrative course that eventually included smashes like Netflix’s “Ozark,” his podcast “SmartLess” with buddies Will Arnett and Sean Hayes, and then most recently the back-to-back success of “Black Rabbit” and “DTF St. Louis.” Bateman talked about all that, as well as his next project — and he took the Awards Circuit Podcast 10 Questions Quiz! — on this edition.

Also in this episode, we look at the latest moves in the Emmy race as Phase 2 voting continues — and marvel at the variety special (prerecorded) category, which includes a showdown between Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande. Listen below!

Is Bateman stunned at the Emmy surplus he’s been given this year with his four nominations? “Obviously you don’t do this work for the money or the accolades, but those things are really sort of exciting and helpful and practical,” he says. “When you do something and it comes together as well as these two projects did, it’s a little bit of magic. There are so many people that go into making these things and making them not fall flat on their face. It’s a miracle that any of these things work because the ball is constantly wanting to drop … I just feel so fortunate.”

Bateman also notes that he has the luxury of choosing projects and characters who have such a unique and interesting tone. Both Vince in “Black Rabbit” and Clark in “DTF” are tragic in their own ways. “Vince is just a disaster, kind of a broken, self-destructive guy,” Bateman says. “Clark’s main plot point for him is he wants to cheat on his wife. Yet they are both just heartbreakingly relatable, human and flawed, and they just don’t have the coping skills that most of the viewers have.”

Next up, Bateman just directed the film “The Cackling of the Dodos” for Netflix. “Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson brought me the script and said, ‘would you would you direct us in this?’ I didn’t even really need to read it, when you get that kind of call from those two guys. It’s a dark, dark comedy about these two guys who run a farm and they find a dead body in the grain bin and try to figure out how to get rid of it — and create a couple of more dead bodies doing it. It’s kind of like an old Coen Brothers-type of film.”

For Bateman’s first time in Variety, we found a clip from Nov. 16, 1979, announcing that he had signed with the Dorothy Day Otis/Jack Rose Agency. “I was around 10,” he remembers. “I remember getting an agent for the first time. That was really an interesting process. It was after this educational film, I’d done one of those little films, and then I was like, ‘well, Dad, I should get an agent and maybe do some commercials and try to work my way in.’ So he took pictures of me, and off we went.”

10 QUESTIONS WITH JASON BATEMAN:

1. Childhood nickname: “’Jayco.’ My dad used to call me that.”

2. Something you loved as a kid but can’t believe you were into it now: “I would play arcade games, 10 hours a day, and I think I’d still do that if I had the time. In fact, the first time I made some money, I got my parents to let me buy a Donkey Kong machine, like a real stand-up arcade machine, and we put it in the garage. And I just played it all day, all night.”

3. Go-to karaoke or sing-in-the-shower song: “I’m so horrified with the sound of my own voice singing. I don’t even sing in the shower. Not even alone. I don’t sing. I cringe myself right out of the water!”

4. Give me an alternate title for ‘Black Rabbit’: “One and One Make None.”

5. What’s your secret talent?: “If I properly ball up a piece of chewing gum, I can tilt my head straight back and hover it above my lips by blowing a stream of air.”

6. Favorite ice cream flavor: “I’m a cookies and cream guy.”

7. The one item you couldn’t live without: “Classical music takes me to a place where I think the best part of me lives, and where my best thinking and processing and planning comes from. I just love it for many reasons, and I think it started with my dad getting me into it like he did with movies and television. But then really seeing how classical music is used in film and television, from ‘2001’ or ‘Apocalypse Now’ or ‘Amadeus’ or any of the John Williams films. It’s incredible. I listen to classical music almost all day every day.”

8. What TV show in all of history do you wish you were a cast member of?: “Fawlty Towers.”

9. Fictional character you most admire: “I don’t know. That’s millions and millions of characters. I have to take a pass on that one because there would be many right answers for me.”

10. Your favorite piece of advice: “This sounds a bit earnest and probably a bit cliché, but it really is true, and something that’s so needed for anybody that’s got the kind of complicated thing of fame and having a public job. But in any position of leadership, doing unto others as you would you want them to do to you. When I meet somebody on the street, and I might not be in some great mood, or I’m with the family, or that’s still the one moment that they have. They may have been watching me do stuff for years on television or film, and want to say ‘hi’ and say that they like show X or movie Y. If I were to be short or dismissive of that, that’s louder than anything that they’ve watched. I try to remember that. I’m certainly far from perfect and far from consistent, but I try to be better every day.”

Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.