Time Sep

108 TIMESeptember 3–10 2018

9 Questions

‘

I’M USUALLY

THE PERSON

REACTING TO

THE FUNNY OR

RUNNING FROM

THE SCARY

’

behind the shack that rents the boats?

What’s going on behind the liquor

store? What’s going on in the homes

apartments trailers—the people who

service the vacation homes?

You earned two Emmy nominations

forOzark one for acting and one

for directing. After having acted for

so long what do you enjoy about

directing?With this type of project you

can’t be over-reliant on one particular

element. It’s a world and a story line

that lends itself to many diferent

departments that a director can utilize—

it’s not something that is going to win

if there are a bunch of jokes in it or win

if there are a bunch of cool efects. It

can succeed only if every department is

doing a tasteful and subtle job.

You’ve returned toArrested

Development twice. What’s changed

as you revisit the show? Not much—it’s

great being with that bunch and working

with characters that we love.

Are you open to doing another

season? I would always be open to

working with everybody and anybody

associated with that show.

Back in May you apologized to Jes-

sica Walter amid criticism that

you had minimized her feelings

in an interview after a bad on-set

experience with Jefrey Tambor.

How did that make you rethink

how people should treat each

other in the workplace?I have al-

ways thought it’s important for peo-

ple to treat one another with respect

at work no matter what industry

you’re in. The whole experience has

allowed me to do a lot of listening and

I continue that to this day.

What do you want to do next that

you haven’t already done?I just hope

I continue to get chances to challenge

myself to the edge of what I can handle.

That’s fun.—MAHITA GAJANAN

T

he men you play on both

Arrested Development and

Ozark are unassuming

guys who get embroiled in intense

situations. Are you drawn to

characters like this? I like to be a proxy

for the audience—that’s a necessary

component in a drama or a comedy. I

like the responsibility of that. It’s not the

funny part in a comedy and in a drama

it’s not the scary part—I’m usually the

person reacting to the funny or running

from the scary.

Ozark details class divisions and

economic inequality. How did you

consider those issues in the show?

A family—the Byrdes—comes down

to the center of the country and thinks

they can dominate and manipulate.

They underestimate the savviness of the

locals and they’re still kind of paying

that bill. The rude awakening they ind

themselves in is something that would

be familiar to a lot of what our country

realized a couple of years ago.

Marty Byrde shares similarities with

classic TV antiheroes like Walter

White. Do you feel sympathy for him?

I do yeah. Anybody who overestimates

their intelligence and overplays their

hand of ambition deserves sympathy

and empathy as long as they’re trying

to mend those mistakes. He is. There’s

some regret and some shame and some

moments of contrition that he and

his wife go through. They tried to cut

a corner when they got into this big

mess. Now they’re trying to get out of

it and get back to the “boring life.”

Have you visited the Ozarks?We

shot there for the irst and second

episodes. Certainly the Lake of

the Ozarks is not a cool type of

palette—it’s a very sunny hot

place famous for its recreation.

What was interesting to me about

the story and these people is

what’s happening behind that

lake economy. What’s going on

Jason BatemanTheOzark star

talks Season 2 taking the helm as a

director and why he’s listening more

GABRIEL OLSEN—GETTY IMAGES