Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman are the stars of the new movie The Change-Up which hit theaters today.
The film is about two friends growing up together, Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) and Dave (Jason Bateman) were inseparable best friends, but as the years have passed, they’ve slowly drifted apart.
While Dave is an overworked lawyer, husband and father of three, Mitch has remained a single, quasi-employed man-child who has never met a responsibility he liked.
We caught up with the two hilarious stars Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman. Make sure you check it out and some photos from their new movie after the jump!
Jason, why did your character think Ryan’s character was living the dream in the first place?
Jason Bateman: Well, because I was playing the guy that is kind of always looking over the fence, the grass is always greener; he doesn’t realize how good he’s got it. It’s basically the big sort of enlightenment moment you would assume a body switch movie is going to give you and yes in fact, we do do that, but we do it in a way that is much more sophisticated, current and hilarious than the body switching movies of the past, which have all been PG and PG-13. So this is an R-Rated movie.
Ryan Reynolds: This is not your father’s body switching movie.
Jason Bateman: Exactly.
Ryan Reynolds: Or your mother’s … maybe your grandma’s.
One of the things we noticed was the dialogue was really quick, witty, current and really funny. How did you guys react when you first read the script?
Ryan Reynolds When I first heard the premise I just said no, no way, no. And then somebody said, ‘No you have to read it, the guys from Hangover wrote this and Dave Dobkin who directed Wedding Crashers is on board,’ and then I read the script. I’ll never forget I was in New Orleans at the time and I was in bed reading it and I was weeping laughing. I felt so guilty because I was like this premise is preposterous, like I should not be enjoying this this much and it was that night I made a call to Los Angeles to the headquarters, the comedy headquarters and I said, I’m in and heard Jason was possibly on board as well.
Jason: And still stayed in.
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah, then I still stayed on board despite my better judgment and everyone around me.
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Our favorite scene in the whole movie was the porn scene, that was either really horrifically terrible to shoot, or it was hilariously funny.
Ryan Reynolds: You know what, I have a funny story about that. I don’t look at the schedule in advance, I should, but that was the week my mom visited, she was there when that woman took that thing off…
Jason Bateman: Your mother’s very progressive though.
Ryan Reynolds: She’s so Canadian; she sounds like she’s right out of Fargo.
Jason Bateman: Canadians are notoriously left and progressive.
Ryan Reynolds: She has had just two smoking ocular cavities by the time she was leaving the set.
You can’t bring your mom to the set.
Ryan Reynolds: No, I ruined everything for her. She actually thinks she’s going to hell just for seeing it.
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So were you guys able to relate to what your characters were going through in this movie with the grass being greener on the other side?
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah, I certainly do. I’ve been a single guy; I’ve been a married guy…
Jason Bateman: Don’t you cry.
Ryan Reynolds: Barbara Walters over here. You see both sides and truthfully that appreciation for what you have, not for what you want, is the goal in life for everybody. I think that message is loud and clear in this, in this particular adventure.
Jason Bateman: But by no means is the draw — we’re not looking to teach anybody anything with this film.
Ryan Reynolds: No.
Jason Bateman: This is just a straight up hoot.
