Jason Bateman Reveals His Pick for Comedy’s Top Legend

Jason Bateman’s career has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but he’s managed to stay in the game for decades. Starting out in the early ‘80s as James Cooper Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, then popping up as Derek Taylor in Silver Spoons, he’s rarely been out of the public eye. Like plenty of child stars, though, he hit a rough patch. The ‘90s saw him struggle with booze and drugs, and for a while there, he was almost forgotten. But after getting sober in 2001, Bateman’s been everywhere you look.

His big comeback kicked off with Arrested Development, which set him up for a string of comedy hits. Films like Dodgeball, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Tropic Thunder, Couples Retreat, The Switch, The Change Up, and Identity Thief made him a familiar face for anyone keen on a laugh. Then came a shift—his role in Ozark showed punters he could handle serious drama just as well. Not only did he star in the series, but he also directed and produced, proving he’s got more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

Comedy and Drama: Two Sides of the Same Coin

There’s a saying that making people laugh is tougher than making them cry, and Bateman seems to have cracked both. He reckons the best comics on screen are the ones who don’t try too hard. Getting a laugh without obviously going for it is no easy feat. That’s why he’s always been drawn to Peter Sellers, a bloke who could do it all without ever taking the mickey out of himself.

Sellers’ roles in the Pink Panther films and Dr Strangelove were anything but subtle, designed to get a reaction. But Bateman points to Sellers’ work in Being There as the perfect example of what made him stand out. During a chat in the Criterion Closet, Bateman said,

“Peter Sellers, one of the original kind of no-winking comedy guys. There’s a lot of pure acting chops in what he does. He never asks for a laugh. You’ve got to pay attention. No jokes. It’s just characters that would be deeply offended if they heard anybody laughing at what they were going through and what they were doing or saying.”

Why Sellers Stands Out

Bateman is adamant that pulling off this kind of comedy takes real skill. Sellers’ performances have inspired plenty of big names—Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers—but he also had the dramatic chops to back it up. He managed to snag two Academy Award nominations, which is no small feat for someone mostly known for making people laugh, especially since the Oscars aren’t always keen on comedies.

For Bateman, it’s that blend of subtlety and honesty in Sellers’ work that sets him apart. He never played for the crowd, never winked at the camera. Instead, he let the characters do the talking, and the humour came naturally. That’s the kind of approach Bateman admires most, and it’s what he reckons makes Sellers the greatest comedy actor of all time.