Horrible Bosses II actor Jason Bateman will star in a new thriller written and directed by Australian actor, film producer and screenwriter Joel Edgerton.
Currently going by the working title Weirdo, Edgerton, fresh off a role as Ramesses II alongside Christian Bale in Exodus: Gods and Kings, is set to leap into the role of director for the first time after also landing Vicky Cristina Barcelona’s Rebecca Hall in a lead role.
“I am as ready as I will ever be,’’ Edgerton told News Corp. “I don’t mean that in the: ‘yes I am ready sense’. More like: ‘I am terrified but willing. And I am being as prepared as I can possibly be.”
“The character I wrote for myself, albeit small, was something I wanted to try,’’ Edgerton said.
Having recently appeared in the Horrible Bosses sequel, as well as This Is Where I Leave You and Identity Thief, Bateman will play Hall’s husband in a screenplay about a couple “who seek to reinvigorate their relationship with a fresh beginning in a new town, only to have their life disrupted by a ‘friend’ from the past.”
Edgerton will also play a role in the thriller, but is more looking forward to expanding his résumé.
“We’ve done the schedule and I will only need to be in about a fifth of the movie, which I think is manageable,” he said of the upcoming change.
“I suspect the future for me is not all that happy if all I am doing is being an actor, because eventually I won’t be the young hero anymore, I will be that guy who is sitting around on set doing bits and pieces.
“I want to use my brain more, I want to write and I want to direct — to drive things.”
Photo: Justin Tallis
