Bateman heads for the hills in ‘ Ozark’
If you liked ‘ Breaking Bad,’ this may be the show for you
An average Joe adopts an illegal side- hustle to pay the bills, and draws the ire of a Mexican drug cartel.
That may sound a lot like AMC’s Breaking Bad, but it also is an apt description of new Netflix drama Ozark ( streaming Friday), which stars Jason Bateman as a money- laundering everyman who becomes the target of a ruthless kingpin ( Esai Morales) when his business partner ( Josh Randall) steals millions. Bateman understands why many critics are drawing parallels between his character, Marty Byrde, and Bad’s cancer- stricken, meth- cooking Walter White.
“There’s certainly a lot of elements that one could say are similar,” he says. “I’m really glad I’m not hearing a terrible show that we’re compared to. But I think there are a few other shows we’re certainly inspired by, and who knows, if we’re given another ( season), what the show will morph into.”
Among the differences: Bad was set in New Mexico, while Ozark takes place in rural Missouri, where Marty abruptly relocates his wife ( Laura Linney) and two kids ( Sofia Hublitz and Skylar Gaertner) from Chicago to recoup his cartel debt on the cash- rich tourist haven Lake of the Ozarks. He poses as an investor and descends on small businesses through which he can filter cash. But he faces resistance from dubious locals and a crafty redneck clan, led by the callous Ruth Langmore ( Julia Garner).
Bateman, 48, is known for the Horrible Bosses movies and zany sitcom Arrested Development, but he’s warmed to behind- the- scenes roles, directing films Bad Words and The Family Fang. After reading The Accountant screenwriter Bill Dubuque’s first two scripts for Ozark, he agreed to star, executive- produce and direct four of the season’s 10 episodes, including the first.
He was intrigued by Marty, a smart but supercilious anti- hero, “because he probably thinks what he’s done is not that bad, but only in relation to what ( his partner) has done,” Bateman says. “He’s smart enough to create these mental safe harbors for himself and justify these weird decisions. If you’re put in a challenging situation, you can get pushed just that little bit and trip over into making some choices that might not be as well- serving for yourself or your family as you think they are.”
Linney, 53, whose last TV series role was a cancer patient in Showtime’s The Big C, relished the opportunity to play the similarly messy Wendy, who is revealed in the first episode to have cheated on Marty. Although they swear to stay together for their children, she eventually becomes entangled in his shady dealings.
“She could be labeled just a total witch, and she’s not,” Linney says. “As the show progresses, more is revealed about all of them, the core of who these people really are and how they function. With Wendy, you see what sides of that she embraces and the sides she tries to submerge.”
Asked where they might go if they were trying to fall off the map, the Ozark duo says it would depend how much money’s at stake and who they’re hiding from.
“There’s a primal thing that makes people flee that I don’t think has anything to do with wishes or desires,” Linney says. “It’s just instinct and survival. I don’t think anybody knows how they would be until they’re there.”