Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Jason Bateman Spent The 90's In A Haze Of Drugs & Booze


In a very open and upfront interview with Details Magazine, Jason Bateman explains what his life was like when he was growing up. He said it felt a lot like Risky Business. Presumably this is without Tom Cruise in his underwear. "My parents were out of town, they left me a bunch of money, the car, and the house, and I didn't know when they were coming home."

Judging by his experiences, they didn't come home for much of the 1990's. Because he worked for almost all the 1980's in either television or movies he didn't have much fun until that run was over, and then he didn't want to stop.

"Booze was what would make me want to stay out all night and do some blow or smoke a joint or whatever, so shutting that off was key," he says. "It's like ketchup and French fries – I don't want one without the other."
Even Jennifer Aniston had a story about Jason Bateman's wild days, "Even though he was pretty wild in those days, something about those dimples and that sweet face made you go, 'Oh, it's okay that you just drove up the street backwards in a Range Rover with the door wide open.' I don't know what was happening there."

So when exactly was this get together with Jennifer Aniston? Very interesting. Anyway, Jason says that he gave it all up because of his wife and AA.
"That's the moment," Bateman says. "Do you want to continue to be great at being in your 20s, or do you want to step up and graduate into adulthood?"
I think it says a lot that he is willing to talk about it and let others talk about and not hide from what happened and how he has grown. Now get to work on the f**king Arrested Development movie and stop with the interviews for anything else until you get it finished. That was some serious rage inside me. Must be hay fever.


41 comments:

  1. i love the fact that he's around again and doing such quality stuff...well and some not so quality stuff but whatevs....

    my friend made me watch that movie "The Sweetest Thing" (some Cameron Diaz piece of crap) He played the skeezy brother and was the only redeeming thing in it. made me laugh my ass off.

    he's so good.

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  2. Yeah, Michael Bluth - get on with the show!

    Appearances are deceiving, because I would never have pegged him for the drug abusing type.

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  3. he looks yummy! He has aged well and I'm glad he's being honest about his past!

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  4. I have had a serious crush on this man for a while now.

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  5. I know what he means about booze and drugs going together. Too much booze -> blow to level it out, then more booze and maybe pot to fall asleep. I know people caught in this. Good for him. He's now swoon-worthy :)

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  6. PS - that terrible movie with Will Smith as the drunken superhero - Jason Bateman saved that, too. He's always a bright spot in every movie he does. I can't remember the one where he played an asshole in a wheelchair trying to steal another man's wife...anyone?

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  7. I didn't like him when he was younger, but I agree; he's aged well and is now yummy! I came around when I saw him in The Kingdom. I felt like I couldn't breath for several minutes when the muslims kidnapped him and were going to execute him.

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  8. I will always love him as the cute douchebag on Silver Spoons.
    Why do I love douchbags?

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  9. @RocketQueen

    i remember that but only cuz his name was Chip, lol

    don't remember the name of the movie though

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  10. @rocketqueen- its "The Ex" with Zach Braff and Amanda Peet- I wanted to like that movie so bad- as much as I dislike Zach Braff-- sadly, I didn't- which is probably why it sat on the sheles for a long time.

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  11. that would be sat on the shelves for so long. It was finished a long time before they finally released.

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  12. Anonymous1:15 PM

    I'd like to see him do more than comic relief sidekick. Even though he's great at it. (go rent State of Play right now if you haven't seen it yet)

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  13. My friend did him back then.

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  14. Right! Yes, the movie itself was bad, but he was great :)

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  15. I loved him and Jeremy Licht on Hogan's Family. Or Valerie's Family, or whatever it was called.

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  16. i <3 me some pepper brooks!!!

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  17. "My friend did him back then."

    i hope for your friend's sake he didn't have coke dick :D

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  18. He is a very very very cool guy.

    And I'm slobbering for the release of Arrested Development.

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  19. Just the 90's?

    Amateur.

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  20. i've always loved him. it's nice to know there's someone in hollywood that got a clue and cleaned up and opens up about it.
    drinking and drugging is the same for everyone, even the rich and famous. it leads you one direction---DOWN.

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  21. Anonymous2:28 PM

    I liked him in that show "It's Your Move," with his sidekick "Eli."

    "Your gonna laaugh..."

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  22. DNfromMN have you seen the original State of Play? The British mini-series with Bill Nighy, Kelly Macdonald and James McAvoy? It was phenomenal. You've mentioned the American movie a couple of times, you've gotta Netflix the original.

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  23. how on earth could i have ever considered 'rick'y schroeder to be cuter than this juicy piece of manhood! shame shame shame on me.

    anyheisSOhotways, his comedy is genius. i bet he's also super nice in person.

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  24. well, at least that explains his growing up!
    good for him.

    except now i want french fries. with ketchup.

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  25. I'm probably the only person on the planet who refuses to eat french fries with ketchup.

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  26. Love Arrested Development.
    Love Jason Bateman.
    Love the article.
    Love Enty's commentary.
    Love it all!

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  27. Wow. Someone who actually takes personal responsibility for his actions and then does something to correct it! I like Jason Bateman even more.

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  28. Wow, rough start but he turned out all right. Very sharp guy :)

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  29. Wow, rough start but he turned out all right. Very sharp guy :)

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  30. @Sierraton I don't like ketchup on my fries either. Prefer vinegar (yep I'm Canadian) or salt only if I can't get vinegar.

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  31. Sierraton - what do you eat fries with - Mayonnaise??? That's the way I was brought up anyway...

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  32. It's great he got smart. Good for him. Actually he's good in almost anything he's been in and I agree about the totally awful Will Smith superhero movie.

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  33. I met him in the late 90's (would love to post a pic, actually) and now reading this, understand completely what was going on that day. He was soooooo out of it, but he could function. I gotta give him that!

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  34. french fries and mustard here....yum....both the fries and JB

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  35. yep I loved him since he was my teenage crush on Silver Spoons. I'm glad he has stuck around this long and ended up so well.

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  36. I gotta say, as old as i am now i still have a crush on him, he is just so beyond handsome.

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  37. People, people...you're missing the main point of the item: hay fever! We now have an excuse for every time we ever screw up the rest of our lives.

    Oh yeah, Jason Bateman. Liked him in Juno.

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  38. LOVE Jason Bateman. LOVE Arrested Development. But he was soooooo funny as Pepper Brooks in Dodgeball...."Pepper needs a new pair of shorts!"

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  39. Fries are awesome with ranch dressing. It's a proven fact, people!

    Anyways, about Jason Bateman, I like his comment about either being good at your 20's or growing up and becoming an adult. It's pretty spot on, which is so rare for celebs. He seems like a pretty decent guy, which is even MORE rare, so I wish him well. At least until I find out he's a communist socialist douchebag like everyone else in Hollywood, lol.

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  40. Jason and his sister Justine both seem like relatively sensible, centered people, which appears to be a really rare thing in Hollywood. And even though Justine's politics are typical for the liberal elitist type she's stereotyped into, she IS open about being a woman of faith and talks about her Christianity on her blog, which IS something that bucks the Hollywood stereotype. So, you know, the Batemans? Decent folks. Good on them.

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