Playing best friends who magically switch bodies in “The Change-Up,” real-life friends Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman have had plenty of time to think about what they’d do if they found themselves in that situation in real life. “I’d do terrible things to his body,” Reynolds admits.
Bateman, not batting an eye, finishes the thought for him: “And to my wife. He’s been after my wife for years.” To which Reynolds nods solemnly, adding, “Years, years. And she will be mine.”
Kidding (we hope) aside, the two friends were excited about the idea of working off each other’s quirks. In the film, Bateman’s straitlaced family man finds himself navigating the world of a bachelor, while Reynolds’ barely employed actor takes on a wife and kids and a rough week at work as a lawyer.
But while they may seem perfect for their respective roles, the guys insist they didn’t really mind who played which role. In fact, Reynolds doesn’t think he’s any more like one character than the other. “I’ve got to say I’m somewhere in the middle,” he says. “There was a time in my life when I’d wake up mornings in a shallow pool of my own fluid, but those days are over. I eat breakfast now, not ketchup. It’s different now.”
Bateman, though, definitely related to the husband and father he plays on screen, even if he was concerned it might not fit with the kind of raunchy comedy they were going for. “You look at the domestic part of this film and you think, is that going to soften the R-rating?” he admits. “Because when you buy a ticket to an R-rated film, you want R-rated comedy.”
“The Change-Up” is most definitely R-rated, and the two actors are more than proud of it.
“You want to go in there, have a good time, laugh your ass off, maybe get offended a couple of times and get the hell out,” Bateman says. “We’re not trying to win Oscars here or teach anybody any lessons.”
