After years of working in front of the camera, and helming the occasional episode on TV behind it, Jason Bateman has finally made his feature directorial debut with Bad Words, bringing it to TIFF this year for its world premiere.
The comedy earned great praise amongst critics, with Batman’s character, Guy Trilby, noted as perhaps the meanest he’s ever played, and that is definitely something to look forward to.
Focus Features picked it up coming out of Toronto, and with a Spring 2014 release date now in place, the studio has debuted the first red-band trailer over on Yahoo Movies.
Guy Trilby is a 40-year-old man seeking catharsis in his life. He seizes the ideal that this will come for him through the National Spelling Bee; after discovering a loophole in the rules, Guy zealously joins the competition and easily outpaces the pre-teen field in match after match. As reporter Jenny Widgeon delves into Guy’s story, Guy finds himself forging an unlikely friendship with a competitor, awkward 10-year-old Chaitanya, which may spell things differently for his future.
Bateman is joined by a great cast for his feature debut, starring alongside Kathryn Hahn, Allison Janney, Ben Falcone, Rachael Harris, Philip Baker Hall, Rohan Chand, Ethan Dizon, and Beth Grant.
Andrew Dodge is responsible for the script, making his own debut as a writer, with Bateman also earning his sophomore feature producing credit.
Bad Words is set to be released on March 21st, 2014 in the US. No word yet on when it will be arriving here in the UK, but it really can’t come fast enough. In the meantime, here’s the brilliant first trailer, along with a last reminder that this one’s not suitable for work. Enjoy.
