I always forget that Jason Bateman’s wife, Amanda Anka, is Paul Anka’s daughter. For whatever reason, I’ve always had the false impression that Jason is married to the daughter of some powerful Hollywood player, like Tobey Maguire and his wife, who is the daughter of Ron Meyer (the current president of Universal studios). Anyway, Jason and Amanda have been married for 10 years, and I bet Jason looks exactly the same now as then, which just sucks if you’re a woman who spends a lot of time with him. The Bateman is ageless – he still looks 20-something, even now when he’s 42. Happy news, though! Jason and Amanda are expecting their second baby – and it’s another girl! They already have one daughter, Francesca, who is 4 and a half.

Jason Bateman and wife Amanda Anka are about to become parents for the second time.

“I’m going to be a grandfather again,” Amanda’s father, singer Paul Anka, tells ET Canada in an interview that airs Wednesday night.

What will it be for the couple, who are parents to 4½-year-old daughter Francesca Nora? It’s “another baby girl,” proud grandpa Anka says.

Married to Amanda for 10 years now, Bateman, 42, is “the actor in the family,” adds Anka, saying: “He’s … a very smart boy, a wonderful guy for my daughter.”

[From People]

Amanda is 42 as well, by the way. Yay for couples being the same age! Also: I friggin’ love Jason’s daughter, who I think is one of the cutest kids in Hollywood – and she’s not constantly on parade either. So, I think Jason and Amanda have a great gene-meld, and I’m sure their second daughter will be adorable too. Congrats to Jason and his family.

Okay, here’s my sidenote, and the whole reason I’m writing this post. I currently have free Showtime, and over the weekend, I ended up watching The Switch, that Bateman and Jennifer Aniston film. Um… it was a really cute movie. I’m sorry if I disrespected it out of hand, just because it involved Jennifer Aniston and a giant turkey baster. Honestly, Aniston was the weak point of the film, but it was only a mild annoyance. Jason and the child actor were so, so beautiful and funny in the movie. I love him so much – he should do more movies with kids.

Photos courtesy of WENN, GAP ads.

This box-office weekend was a bit of a surprise in a more ways than one. First up, Rise of the Planet of the Apes grossed an estimated $54.0 million domestically thanks in part to some fantastic CGI (very impressive on a $92 million budget) and a 81% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and despite an utter lack of James Franco performance art. In fact, this was a very non-Franco movie in that it was a blockbuster (which we haven’t seen from him since the Spider-Man movies), and there’s not a damn thing wrong with that fact. Seriously, if Franco would just admit, “Yeah, I occasionally make popcorn movies so that I can finance all of my Ivy League schooling and ridiculous performance art,” we’d all probably like him a lot better, right? But no. In fact, Franco gave an interview to Playboy in which he tried to prepare the public that this movie could (in his mind, unlike his other movies) very well suck terribly despite his elevating presence.

What occurred was the precisely opposite, for Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a an immensely enjoyable movie (I liked it too) despite the presence of Franco, who was playing the straight man with less life than a paper doll. Pajiba gave the film a positive review while also penning the following assessment: “Franco is in stoic Oscar-hosting mode, and though he’s onscreen for most of the film, you never develop much feeling for his character.” Ouch. And yes, Kaiser recently called out Franco’s douchey ways that don’t quite match up to an actor who supposedly “lives, breathes, kills, poops and dies for art.” If Franco is such an incredible artist, you know, he could’ve given much better than his flat, lifeless performance in this movie. In fact, I generally do like Franco as an actor, but I don’t like that his attitude in non-artsy endeavors is such that this film would’ve been better off if it had hired an actor who actually wanted to be there.

Meanwhile, The Smurfs continued its inexplicable reign by adding another $21.0 million for a domestic total of $76.2 million; and Cowboys & Aliens shamefacedly follows the little blue people with another $15.7 million for a total domestic take of $67.4 million. Ordinarily, that would be great news for a couple of summer pics in their second weekend, but Cowboys is hurting a lot due to its $200 budget and failure to meet very high expectations for a movie starring the current James Bond and directed by the helmer of Iron Man.

In huge upset news, the body switching comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman, The Change-Up, opened to a measly $13.5 million. This result is definitely cause for concern where gerbil-faced boy is concerned, and we are not experiencing the summer of Reynolds that was projected, for his presence as a leading man in Green Lantern only resulted in a $53.2 million opening weekend, which was at least $10 million below both the Thor and Captain America openers. While Green Lantern went on to a $160 million worldwide total, that doesn’t scratch the $200 million budget (plus promotional expenses). It goes without saying that the box office totals for Lantern cannot even be properly credited to any star power on Reynolds’ behalf, for the vast majority of people that bought tickets were fans of the comic. Certainly, Reynolds’ name on the marquee brought nothing additional to the table.

Meanwhile, Captain America: The First Avenger picked up another $13.0 million for a $143.2 million domestic total and a $246.2 million worldwide take. In other words, there will be a sequel and much more therapy for Chris Evans and his waxed-up nips. No complaints in that department, right?

Photos courtesy of AllMoviePhoto

Would it kill Jennifer Aniston’s rep to just let her lay low for a while? No confirming the news that she got a new tattoo, no pushing her new relationship with a guy who couldn’t be bothered to end his last one before he took up with her, no breathlessly reporting the details of her dates and outings. Only Aniston has one setting, and she’s playing it for all it’s worth. This latest report has her going on a double date with her bearded new man Justin Theroux, and her The Switch costar Jason Bateman and his wife. We even get to hear details of what they ate, drank and talked about. She’s just so fascinating.

A table for four and talk of tattoos. Just another night on the town for Jennifer Aniston and new beau Justin Theroux.

The couple were spotted dining at New York’s Il Cantinori Saturday night with Aniston’s friend and Horrible Bosses costar Jason Bateman and his wife Amanda Anka.

Enjoying Grey Goose cocktails, Aniston, 42, started with an arugula salad and shared a pasta course with Theroux. Then it was chicken paillard for her and branzino for him.

At one point, Theroux showed Bateman his inked torso, which the waiter also complimented. Aniston herself is new to the world of tattoos, showing off her first during a walk in N.Y.C. Friday.

After sorbets, the couples headed out – hugging goodbye before Aniston and Theroux were seen strolling down 10th Street arm-in-arm.

Other fans of the downtown spot include Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Beyoncé, Katy Perry and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

[From People]

That just made me really hungry for lunch. We get it, Aniston is happy and in love and she’s going on amazing outings with her incredible man and their dear friends. Sometimes I wonder if this kind of drivel actually works, and it must on some level. Like we’re all very jaded gossip consumers and we read and dissect this crap day in and day out. For the casual consumer, the person with mild interest who doesn’t follow it slavishly, they must just breeze over these reports and think “Oh, that’s really sweet. What a nice life that girl from Friends with the pretty hair must have. It’s a shame what happened to her, but she’s moved on so well.” That’s the point of these stories, right? There must be some people who think like that and don’t find it as transparent and predictable as we do.

On another note, how hot is Jason Bateman? He’s a doting dad too.

I don’t know why this Jennifer Aniston pictorial for Marie Claire is cracking me up so much. I mean, some of the photos are really lovely and flattering. I guess I’m laughing because in the cover shot, there’s something in Aniston’s crotch area that looks vaguely dongish. That’s a horrible thing to do to an actress, and totally inappropriate given the current Anthony Weiner situation. Of course, maybe it would be different if Aniston had agreed to pants?

Another reason I’m laughing is that Aniston is made to pose with her three Horrible Bosses leads, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day. You can tell a lot about her relationships to the men by how she poses with them, I think. With Jason Bateman, the two look genuinely close, like they’re buddies in real life (which they are) and they make each other laugh. The ones of Jen and Bateman are my favorites – she looks the most “real” and engaging, and Jason is a good-looking dude. The ones of Jennifer and Charlie Day are kind of cute too, but it seems like she’s just using him as a prop, or like she’s just trying to force the chemistry, in my opinion.

The ones with Sudeikis are the most interesting, I think. JS and Jennifer allegedly had a brief romance last year, after which Jason began dating January Jones and he seemed to laugh off the Aniston stuff. I feel like Aniston is trying too hard to make “sexy” faces and poses with Jason. In one, she’s even hiding her chin! Of course, one of the pull quotes from the magazien seems to suggest that Aniston says to Jason, “We should clear it up right now, we never dated, right, Jason?”

On the whole, I do like this shoot. I mean, it’s slightly boring and “on the nose” to promote the film, but it’s one of Aniston’s better shoots as of late. Remember that horrible Allure shoot? Yeah, this is much better.

Photos courtesy of The Fashion Spot.

Jennifer Aniston’s new in vitro romcom with Jason Bateman, The Switch, seriously underperformed at the box office this weekend and finished in a bomb-worthy eighth, well below other movies in their second week. I’d heard that the movie might have trouble due to distribution issues, although this is probably much worse than they were expecting. If you calculate how much money The Switch made per theater it was fourth, which isn’t that bad I guess. It made $8.1 million in its opening weekend, which might be ok if you factor in how much it cost to make. (Box Office Mojo does not list a production budget for The Switch. Update: it cost a relatively low $16 million – thanks to pity party for the link.)

The Expendables was top this weekend in its second week, followed by Vampires Suck, Eat Pray Love, The Lottery Ticket, The Other Guys, Piranha, then Nanny McPhee 2, then The Switch. I don’t think it helped that the movie poster for this film was so nasty. It looked like Jason Bateman was about to take a shot of spooge. Here’s the very matter-of-fact way that Box Office Mojo explains the performance of the film and why it may have failed to fill seats:

The Switch delivered an estimated $8.1 million at 2,012 locations, which was about the same as Love Happens but more impotent than The Back-Up Plan. The comedy featuring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman had a largely nondescript advertising campaign, as if the marketers tried to hide the movie’s potentially unappealing premise of a man switching the semen in a woman’s artificial insemination with his own. Distributor Miramax’s exit polling showed that 63 percent of the audience was female, 73 percent was over 25 years old and over 80 percent were couples….

The Switch may star Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, but it has been presented as an also-ran. Many of the movie’s television spots eschew the movie’s premise and show a nondescript comedy, relying on the charm of the actors and how the movie is supposedly from the folks behind Juno and Little Miss Sunshine. Not that the premise of a man replacing the sperm in an artificial insemination with his own would be particularly palatable for a supposed romantic comedy. Ms. Aniston headlined Rumor Has It, which had a salacious storyline and disappointed, and, last year, she starred in Love Happens, which took the bland route and had little impact.

[From Two Articles on Box Office Mojo]

The film is doing ok on Rotten Tomatoes with a still somewhat respectable 51%, although many critics say it’s incredibly predictable and tedious despite Bateman’s strong performance. Is this going to derail Aniston’s plans to produce more starring vehicles for herself? Maybe. She has a ton of films in the works but it’s clear that she’s no longer a box office draw – if she ever was. It doesn’t help that she’s been playing the same character with minor variations for over a decade. (Although I did like her in The Good Girl.) I’d like to see her expand her horizons, which she might do in that musical comedy The Goree Girls – if she gets a chance to make it. From what I can tell, filming hasn’t started yet.

Here is Jennifer Aniston at last night’s premiere of The Switch. Maybe it’s not a tube top, but at first glance, I thought it was. It’s some kind of fancy bustier thing in beige (ugh). And then the skirt is a black mini, with an extra dash of fabric on the side. I would have liked to see the skirt as a full dress, you know? It would have been a standard LBD (little black dress), but I’m thinking that might have been better than the beige. One thing you have to give both Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie – they both seem to love the neutrals that wash them out. I’ll also give this to Aniston – she looks like she’s gained a little weight, and it looks really good on her. She looks like she isn’t working out constantly and obsessively, and like she’s actually taking some time to eat some pasta every so often. Of course, her body is still great, I’m not saying that. I’m just applauding her for having some meat on her bones. Although… it could just be the outfit, right? There’s some weird fabric puckering around the waist.

The hair is still flat-ironed though… oh well. Jason Bateman looks good! And did you know that Juliette Lewis is in this film? She plays Aniston’s “kooky” friend. US Weekly recently spoke with Juliette about working with Aniston, and whether it was weird considering they both were with Brad Pitt at one point. Juliette said: “I love her so much. We have a mutual affection, she’s really down-to-earth and a girls’ girl… plus, there’s, you know, that obvious history we share… no, [we didn’t share stories] but I met her ages ago when they were at a restaurant, and he introduced us. For her, being with him was profound, as it was a marriage. For me, it was only like high school relationship. Brad and I were on a journey together at the beginning of our careers. Then he became this sensation in a whole other way. I always knew I’d stay an outsider.” She also talks about being down the Xenu for 22 YEARS. Damn. Anyway, here’s Juliette at the premiere, with her “outsider” blue hair.

Aniston photos courtesy of WENN.

Jennifer Aniston is probably going to be getting the bulk of the coverage from the promotional campaign for The Switch, which is too bad. Because it seems like the star, the lead, of the film is Jason Bateman, and La Bateman is lovely and hilarious. Anyway, Aniston and Bateman were together for some of the press recently, and they got some questions about friends with benefits, or that eternal question, “Can you f-ck your friend without it blowing up in your face (and not in the money shot way)?” Jennifer’s reaction was basically yes, a girl can be friends with a dude without him ever trying to bone her (ha), and Jason’s reaction was basically that every dude wants to bone every girl at all times, friends are no exception. It’s kind of funny:

Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman play the best of friends who lurch towards something more in their new romantic comedy ‘The Switch.’ The movie premise allowed the two stars to debate the eternal girl-guy buddy question — can men and women be the best of friends without the physical part?

When posed the question at the film’s press day, Aniston immediately shot out a “Yes!,” adding that she’s had such hands-off friendships that have lasted any temptation.

Bateman just as quickly countered with a “No!” This prompted an hilarious mini-debate.
Aniston said that women are able to walk that no-hanky-panky line better than men.

“It’s hard,” said Aniston. “But I think women have an easier time than men do.”

Bateman countered with his own prolonged answer that had Aniston literally cackling at the interview table.

“I don’t want to make a horrible generalization,” Bateman said, slowly. “But a lot of the guys I’ve met will sleep with pretty much any girl that they meet. And if they are actually good friends with that girl that’s a home run. How can you resist that?”

The sleeping-with-anyone part is something that you just “cannot shut off,” he added. It can remain temporarily off if one or both parties are in a relationship. But that’s really a holding pattern.

“As soon as both are single, you can just kind of start the clock,” Bateman said. “Then you soak it in booze and things happen.”

The explanation brought the house down during a ‘Switch’ press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Sunday.

Based on the merits of the arguments, it sounds like Bateman carried the day.

[From PopEater]

He’s adorable, right? La Bateman is lovely. Can you imagine how irresistible he was when he was single? Look at those eyes! Sigh… so dreamy.

Also, I mentioned this in the links yesterday, but it’s worth repeating. The long-awaited, dreamed-of and masturbated-to fantasy of an Arrested Development movie is starting to take shape by the day, and in a recent interview, La Bateman discussed a potential role for Aniston. Her? Michael, you are quite the cupid. You can stick an arrow in my buttocks any time! Ah, AD. Seriously, if they try to jam Aniston in there, I will burn my DVDs. At the time, La Bateman said, “Yeah, actually, there’s a real good part for her in the ‘Arrested Development’ movie. There’s no offers on this one. She’s gonna have to sing for her supper. I don’t know, we’ll see if she’s available. She’s busy. She’s pretty famous; I don’t know if you’ve heard of her. She’s pretty backed up. Hopefully the guy who’s in charge will like her for that part because I’m going to suggest her.” Thankfully, Jason later back-tracked a little, writing on Twitter that he was merely “thinking out loud.” Oh, Jason. You’re too pretty to think.

Bateman on August 9, 2010, and with his wife on August 7. Credit: WENN.

Question: is having the new iPhone so important to you that you’d camp outside an Apple store overnight to get one? Yeah, me neither. But there are lots of geeks and people who are obsessed with being the first to own the latest status symbol who would. Actor/hottie Jason Bateman managed to piss a lot of these people off recently by being allowed to hop the long line at his local Apple store in order to get his hands on the new iPhone. Though he says there were no boos, other witnesses say differently.

Deny it all you want, Jason Bateman.

After two sources confirmed to UsMagazine.com the actor, 41, outraged more than 2,000 people by cutting in line for an iPhone 4 last week, he wrote on Twitter, “There wasn’t one boo. Not one hiss. The Apple guy brought me in away from the paparazzi. Period. I was content in line. I wish I’d stayed.”

But more eyewitnesses have come forward to back up Us’ report that he was escorted by employees into the store. And there was, at most, one photographer “who kept a respectful distance,” customer Andrew Hamer tells Us.

“It was so much drama! It was the most surreal experience. People were so pissed because that line was ridiculous,” adds Angela Mayhew, who was one of the first people in line who arrived at 3:30 A.M.

Mayhew tells Us that Bateman arrived to the L.A. Apple store around 4:45 A.M., and initially waited “like everybody else.” But around 10 A.M., he was escorted inside first.

“I heard commotion in the back. I thought someone was fighting,” says Mayhew. “Then he strolls right on by with the Genius Bar guys and suddenly people in my area started to yell, ‘What the hell is going on?’” (Hamer says Community actor Donald Glover saw Bateman getting walked in and “tried to get the same special treatment, but [employees] told him, ‘Nope! Sorry!’”)

Bateman’s pal Keith Olbermann came to his defense on his MSNBC show, saying those in line were booing at paparazzi, but Mayhew insists they were yelling “at him!”

“It was loud, passive-aggressive anger. There was a chorus of boos and then people shouting, ‘What?’ and ‘We’ve been here for hours!’ We were patiently waiting before then [and] that just made everyone’s blood boil,” adds Mayhew. “Plus, people starting yelling at the Apple guys too. They escorted him like he was a pretty big deal.”

Mayhew sat next to Bateman as the Apple employees personally transferred over his contacts to his new phone. “Then when he was done, he was out of there in a flash,” she fumed to Us.

After word of Jason’s “special treatment” got out, he issued an apology on Twitter.

Jason Bateman has issued a mea culpa in the Great iPhone 4 Riot of 2010.

Last week, the actor ticked off a mob of 2000 by cutting in line with an Apple store employee to snag an iPhone 4. Via Twitter, Bateman initially claimed he was simply avoiding paparazzi and didn’t notice any ruckus. (The incident was even a “Hot Topic” on Monday’s The View.)

But late Tuesday — after more eyewitnesses confirmed what really happened to UsMagazine.com — Bateman changed his tune.

“Correction- If there were boos, I didn’t hear them,” the star, 41, Tweeted. “If some were mad, I didn’t see them. I wish I had. If you’re out there, I’m sorry.”

[From Us Weekly]

I think it’s unfair that celebrites get to cut lines, get free stuff, and in general get to operate by a different set of rules than the rest of us. What’s so great about them? But Jason isn’t to blame – I say the Apple store managers are. They’re the ones who offered to let Jason cut the line. Sure, he could have said no – but if you were offered the chance to jump ahead, what would you do? It’s obvious that companies like Apple and many others see celebrities using their products as great PR and free advertising, and they want to encourage it any time they can. It’s the reason why celebs get all these free gift bags at awards shows and things like that. I’m sure Apple wanted to be able to say, “Hey look! Jason Bateman uses our stuff!” But it has clearly backfired. Personally, I don’t get all the hype around the iPhone and why people are such slaves to them. There’s nothing that would get me out of bed at 3:30 in the morning except my house being engulfed in flames.

Okay, I was really not expecting this. From what I remember of the plot synopsis for The Baster (which is now being called The Switch), the film was supposed to revolve around Jennifer Aniston’s character…? But this trailer is very Jason Bateman-heavy. Which thrills me to no end, because The Bateman is a God Amongst Mortals. Now, even though I love him and he’s beautiful and funny and maybe one of the best, most effective comedic “straight men” working today, this film looks like a turd.

First, let’s go the minor stuff. Why switch the name from The Baster to The Switch? The Baster was surprisingly catchy. The Switch sounds like it’s going to be one of those Freaky Friday type movies, where father and son “switch” bodies. What else? The costuming looks like it’s straight out of Friends. Like, nice, upwardly mobile yuppie clothes that compliment Aniston’s figure and you’re supposed to rush out to Banana Republic and get the same outfit. I get tired of boring sitcom-y styling and costumes. It makes all of these films blend together. “Oh, this is the film where Jennifer Aniston wears a blue scarf.” Eh.

Now, for a major plot point that struck me as I was watching this trailer – both Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston have blue eyes in this film. Her “son” has brown eyes. Now, while I’ve read that two blue-eyed parents can have a brown-eyed kid, and it totally happens all the time, apparently, doesn’t it seem weird that they wouldn’t have given the child actor colored contacts so that he would look more like a little mini-Aniston/Bateman? Am I the only one who noticed that? Or are we supposed to instinctively know that Jennifer Aniston really has brown eyes?

Here’s a little more Bateman love, for the ladies:

There are few people I love more than Jason Bateman. My love for him grew like a beautiful, delicate flower through the three years of Arrested Development, and my DVD collection of that show has sustained my love for Jason/Michael Bluth for years to come. Whenever I see him I give a little sigh of adoration. It’s not just his looks – though he is a cutie – but his dry, droll delivery and impeccable comedic timing. If I ever see that monstrous-looking Jennifer Aniston romantic-comedy The Baster, it will only be because of Jason Bateman.

Anyhoodle, Jason is the cover boy for the August issue of Details. Though Jason is normally my beautiful, delicate flower, he’s looking a little rough on the cover. Still pretty, but like he was rode hard and put away wet, as we say in the South. The interview is just as rough – Jason is talking about his early years in Hollywood (the era was Teen Wolf Too, I believe) when he was definitely a party boy. Jason is such a creature of the eighties that he references those years as “like Risky Business”. Or, as we say in the South, “like Risky Bidniss”:

In a new interview with Details, actor Jason Bateman reveals that his rampant drug and alcohol use almost cost him his marriage. Bateman, now 40, rose to fame as a child actor on Silver Spoons and The Hogan Family. Wild partying soon followed.

“It was like Risky Business for 10 years,” he says of the nineties. “My parents were out of town, they left me a bunch of money, the car, and the house, and I didn’t know when they were coming home. I’d worked so hard that by the time I was 20, I wanted to play hard. And I did that really well.”

“I was never at a place where rehab would have been appropriate,” he says of his drug use. “Booze was what would make me want to stay out all night and do some blow or smoke a joint or whatever, so shutting that off was key. It’s like ketchup and French fries—I don’t want one without the other.”

He went on to wed actress Amanda Anka, whom he’d known since he was 18. But his partying didn’t stop.

After coming home late one night, his wife finally gave him an ultimatum: Quit partying.
But he didn’t entirely stop. Things got so bad that she even took a planned holiday in Mexico without him. It was then, alone on a rainy Christmas morning, that he decided to go to an AA meeting.

Looking back, Bateman tells Details, “Do you want to continue being great at being in your twenties, or do you want to step up and graduate into adulthood?”

He and his wife welcomed their first daughter, Francesca, in October 2006.

Jennifer Aniston – Bateman’s costar in the upcoming comedy The Baster (out next spring) – met him 15 years ago on a group ski trip to Aspen. She said she is proud at how far he’s come.

“He should be here, he’s meant to be here, and for whatever reason, it’s taken until now,” she says. “There’s no bull**** with him. Even though he was pretty wild in those days, something about those dimples and that sweet face made you go, ‘Oh, it’s okay that you just drove up the street backwards in a Range Rover with the door wide open.’ I don’t know what was happening there. You feel instantly safe in his company.”

[From US Weekly]

Oh, get off his jock, Aniston. Coke habits are not cute. But still, I’m glad he cleaned up his act and his looks and career weren’t ravaged in the long haul. Speaking of the long haul, Arrested Development fans are going to have sit tight for a little while longer. According to reports from June, the script for the AD film isn’t even finished yet, and several of the major cast members haven’t even confirmed if they want to be a part of an AD film. Michael Cera finally sounds like he’s coming around, but now it looks like Jeffrey Tambor might be holding out! But what about Nellie?

Jason Bateman is shown with his daughter, Francesca, two and a half and wife of eight years, Amanda Anka, on 5/13/09 in New York. He is also shown with Amanda at the premiere of The Hangover on 6/2/09. Credit: WENN.com. Details cover via CoverAwards.