ON PLAYING DAD ON SCREEN
SheKnows: Jason, do you bring any of your fatherly qualities to the set?
Ryan Reynolds: He gave me a spanking.
Jason Bateman: But what he loves most is to be powdered. [Laughs]
Ryan Reynolds: And changed.
Jason Bateman: He likes to stay dry. [Laughs]
SheKnows: I guess that’s a no…?
Jason Bateman: Um… my fatherly skills are questionable to start. Let’s be clear. [Laughs] I didn’t need any lessons on how to change diapers when I was playing the Dave character. I’m upset I didn’t need to do any swaddling in the film because I can swaddle like a mofo. I can wrap kids like a little burrito. [Laughs]
SheKnows: What about when you’re playing the character who doesn’t know anything about kids?
Jason Bateman: He’s got to handle them like a guy who doesn’t know how to handle kids, but I was able to do that in a safe way. I know how to find parts on a kid… As long as you’ve got a firm hold on them, on that part, you can…
Ryan Reynolds: …The scrotum.
Jason Bateman: You can just about drop them, and they’re still safe. [Laughs]
ON WORKING TOGETHER
SheKnows: Rumor has it there was a lot of cutting up on this movie, is that true?
Jason Bateman: There wasn’t a lot of… this is a hacky way to say it, but we didn’t do a whole lot of work. Because there was a lot of playing. He’s [Ryan] got incredible ideas for what to say if you’re tired of hitting that joke out of the park. You know, these writers write these incredible lines, and eventually you’re gonna get tired of hearing that, and you’re gonna stop laughing at it. And, he comes up with one, no better, no worse, but just beautifully different.
Ryan Reynolds: I’ve admired this guy for a long time, both personally and professionally, but working with him was… [Laughs] I used to pride myself with the fact that I could not break in a scene. You couldn’t do or say anything, but he turned it into an actual disability for me.
SheKnows: So, you broke scene more than once?
Ryan Reynolds: There’s an entire movie that can be cut of me just tearing up and trying to hold it together. And, then standing at a perfect right angle for the rest of the scene because I can’t catch my breath.
Jason Bateman: And then he got over me. I run out of material in, like, week two.
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