There are probably no two busier people right now in Hollywood than Jason Bateman and Olivia Wilde — except for maybe Bryan Cranston — but we like ’em both so no complaints from us, though their choice of upcoming projects does give us pause.
First off, Bateman will join Alexander Skarsgård, Frank Grillo, Andrea Riseborough (now confirmed since the last update), Colin Ford and Michael Nyqvist in “Disconnect,” the new film from “Murderball” director Henry-Alex Rubin. Written by Andrew Stern, (”Return To Me”) the film will follow a wide variety of characters as they struggle with how technology has impacted their lives. Skarsgård will play a former Marine who seeks out an affair after being emotionally cut off by his wife, while also struggling to make ends meet; Nyqvist will play a guy who Skarsgård thinks stole his identity and Bateman plays a computer expert who is eager to protect his 15-year-old son (Ford) from the dangers of the internet, but is probably not aware that the kid is already forming a relationship online by posing as a teen girl. This part was previously assigned to Grillo so no word yet if he was bounced from the project or took a different part entirely. Yeah, we’re not thrilled with a whole movie telling us about the evils of technology, but lets hope there is more to it.
Anyway, Bateman will also join Olivia Wilde in “The Longest Week” which unfortunately doesn’t sound all that great. Peter Glanz wrote the script and will be making his feature debut in the movie about “a man who lives a life of leisure in his parents’ prestigious Manhattan hotel. In the span of one week, he finds himself evicted, disinherited and in love.” We liked this movie better when it was called “Arthur.” Presumably/hopefully, this isn’t going the same man-child route that the Russell Brand reboot did, but we got a serious case of deja vu reading that logline.
Bateman will be working overtime, shooting both movies back-to-back in October and November. From there he’ll still have a number of options for his next project as he’s currently attached to “The Insane Laws” with Vince Vaughn; “ID Theft” with Melissa McCarthy and the stoner pic “We’re The Millers.”