It’s been five years since Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jason Bateman stepped behind the camera for a feature-length project and now Deadline has brought word that the Ozark star is currently in talks to helm the Netflix heist thriller Here Comes the Flood.
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The film, written by Simon Kinberg (Dark Phoenix), is being described as an “elevated, character-driven love story” with the heist element of the story “playing out in increments.” The project was the focus of a heated bidding war amongst studios, with the streaming service beating the competition with a mid-seven-figure deal and is reportedly considering it a top priority, with Bateman topping the list of other top directors out for the job.
Sources do report that the negotiations are still in the early stages for the 51-year-old filmmaker/actor/producer to helm the project and that talks are currently focused on only having him direct, but are keeping the option open for him to star in one of the many roles already written in the script. Should he take the position, it would give him more than enough time to finish production on the highly-anticipated final season of the acclaimed Netflix crime drama Ozark before heading into production on the film.
The project would mark Bateman’s third time helming a feature film after the well-received dark comedy Bad Words and the acclaimed indie dramedy The Family Fang, having starred in both, and would continue his work behind the camera on a handful of Ozark episodes and the first two episodes of HBO’s limited series adaptation of Stephen King’s The Outsider, which he also starred in. He was set to reunite with The Change-Up star Ryan Reynolds on the upcoming Clue remake as co-star and director, but dropped out of the latter position due to scheduling conflicts with Ozark.
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It will also mark another continuation in his partnership with Netflix, having signed on to produce the film adaptation of The Girls I’ve Been, which Stranger Things‘ Millie Bobby Brown set to star and produce as well, after already being set to return for Ozark‘s final season and in the streaming service’s revival of the former Fox sitcom Arrested Development.
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