Jason Bateman has joined the cast of Jason Reitman’s corporate downsizing dramedy, “Up In The Air,” which is already shooting in Detroit with George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. The casting move reunites Bateman and Reitman who already worked together on “Juno,” in 2007. Bateman will play Clooney’s boss who abets his lonewolf peripatetic lifestyle by sending him across the country to fire various clients, but then grounds him when a new employee (Kendrick) devises a computer system to downsize them from afar.
It’s certainly not a large role or a particularly colorful one — though admittedly there are one or two amusing verbal jousts between Clooney’s character and his — but Bateman is pretty great at playing the straight man which is pretty much his role here. For more, read our in-depth, but spoiler free “Up In The Air” script review.
Bateman is also working with Joe Carnahan on the script for “Remarkable Fellows,” a comedy he conceived and the director is writing. [Variety]
