JASON BATEMAN - JASON BATEMAN TO TAKE LEAD IN MIKE JUDGE COMEDY

Juno star Jason Bateman is to take the lead role in a new comedy from Beavis & Butthead creator Mike Judge.

Extract will see the Arrested Development actor as the owner of a flower extract plant who finds his ordered life in disarray after a string of bad luck, including his wife's affair with a male escort.

According to Variety, the Miramax Films project "explores what it's like to be the boss when everything seems to be shifting around you".

The film, to be produced by John Altuscher and Dave Krinsky, represents the first feature to be released by Judge's new company Ternion Productions.

It will not, however, be his first foray into workplace-related comedy after 1999's Office Space - starring Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston - found a cult following with its wry portrayal of desk-based boredom.

Judge's last film Idiocracy, a satirical 2006 comedy starring Luke Wilson, was also well received on DVD though its ridiculing of corporate America and lowbrow popular culture meant it was buried by its distributor 20th Century Fox, who repeatedly delayed the movie's release before it made a limited appearance on in US cinemas with the bare minimum of advertising and advance publicity.

Having starred in Oscar-winner Juno, Bateman can next be seen in Will Smith actioner Hancock as well as political drama State of Play.


28/04/2008 10:34:32