Child like quest

From the prairie to Bad Words

Bateman, 45, has been acting since the age of 10, when he was cast as James Cooper Ingalls in the TV series, Little House on the Prairie, an experience that he said influenced the way he incorporated the child actors in Bad Words. “Michael Landon was a director of a lot of those episodes as well as an actor in all those scenes with me, so that’s where I learned a lot of how I treated Rohan on the set,” he said.
Bateman said he waited until now to make his directorial debut, drawing on his years of experience in front of the camera to find funding for the film. Bad Words, made for under $10 million, is distributed by Focus Features, a division of Comcast Corp’s NBC Universal. The film has so far received lukewarm reviews from critics, with Manohla Dargis at The New York Times writing that the film’s appeal lies in “irresistibly disreputable characters engaging in socially unacceptable behaviour.” After building a career through sitcoms such as Valerie, Bateman carved out a niche playing the affable deadpan guy in dark comedies littered with cynicism and often absurdity, such as 2007’s Juno and 2011’s Horrible Bosses. But it was his leading role as Michael Bluth in the FOX television series, Arrested Development, which was revived last year for a fourth season on Netflix, that the actor credits with changing how Hollywood perceived his talents.
“It was something that was vital to where I am today. Without that, I don’t know if I’d even be in the business anymore,” the actor said. “I’m basically the straight man, I’m the proxy for the audience, and it’s a great privilege to be able to be the lens through which the audience receives the eccentricity of that family,” Bateman said of playing Michael Bluth. Ted Sarandos, the chief content officer for Netflix, said last year that there was “no question” the show would return. Bateman said he “knew nothing” about when it would be back for a fifth season or whether the DVD rental and online streaming service would make it into a movie.

Hal Douglas, voice of Hollywood movie trailers, dies at 89

Hal Douglas, a veteran voice-over artist who worked on trailers for films such as Philadelphia,Forrest Gump and Lethal Weapon, died at the age of 89, his daughter informed last week.
He passed away on March 7 at his home in Lovettsville, Virginia, surrounded by family after suffering from pancreatic cancer, which was diagnosed in 2010.
“Hal was known not only for his incomparable voice, which could be heard on thousands of movie trailers, television and radio promos, commercials, documentaries, and as the spokesman for numerous broadcast networks, but also for his warmth, humility, humour, and generosity of spirit,” Sarah Douglas said on a memorial website for her father. With his throaty voice, Douglas was one of the top talents in voice-overs for decades.
Director Casimir Nozkowski made a short film in 2013 about Douglas called A Great Voice, in which he demonstrated and described his voice-over technique. He also appeared on camera in a trailer for comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s 2002 documentary Comedian.
Born in Connecticut, Douglas was a pilot, wrote fiction and studied acting before turning to announcing and voice-over work for radio, television and films.
He worked in New York studios for most of his career but spent the last 15 years recording in his home studio in Virginia. He is survived by wife Ruth, daughter Sarah, two sons, Jeremy and John, and three grandchildren.