Self-Proclaimed ‘Everyman’ Jason Bateman Dips Into His Spooky Side with Stephen King’s THE OUTSIDER

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede PASADENA, Calif. – Reporters got a look at how successful Jason Bateman sees himself during a panel session for HBO’s THE OUTSIDER at the Television Critics Association event. It was tongue-in-cheek … we think! “The role (as Terry Maitland in THE OUTSIDER) was one that I thought would be fun to do, considering it’s supposed to be, you know, the everyman, the boring sort of middle-aged white guy who coaches a Little League team, and I seem to fit that lane,” Bateman said. He was surely exaggerating for comic effect, as THE OUTSIDER – for which Bateman also is the director and one of the executive producers – is the latest in his current string of successes, on both sides of the camera. Based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel of the same name, HBO’s THE OUTSIDER debuted last Sunday with back-to-back episodes, only on Crave. Also debuting last Sunday on Crave was CRAVINGS: THE AFTERSHOW, in which Lainey Lui and a panel of guests recap episodes of THE OUTSIDER. A new episode of THE OUTSIDER airs this Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, with CRAVINGS: THE AFTERSHOW following immediately after. Bateman, who was joined at the TCA event by writer and executive producer Richard Price, acknowledged that when he first was approached for THE OUTSIDER, it was mainly as a director, not an actor. “But I like acting in things that I direct, only because it makes things a little bit easier, because I don’t have to direct that actor,” said Bateman, prompting laughter. THE OUTSIDER, which also stars Ben Mendolsohn and Academy Award® nominee Cynthia Erivo, explores the investigation into the murder of a young boy, and the mysterious force surrounding the case. Bateman said that from a directing point of view, he was drawn to THE OUTSIDER because the source material was a certain kind of Stephen King book, rather than another kind of Stephen King book. “I’m not a huge sort of horror fan, or a scare, jump, gore, slasher kind of audience member,” he said. “But I really love dread and thriller and intention and all that stuff. So I was really excited that this story lived more in Stephen King’s kind of The Shining (genre), as opposed to some of his other great stories that live more in that frightening scare shock world.” Because many King fans might already have read the book, Bateman was asked if he has any surprises in store for future episodes of THE OUTSIDER, things that might surprise those hardcore King fans. “Episode eight is animated, episode nine is musical,” Bateman joked. “Get ready!” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv