That’s right, everyone. The boys are back.
In the upcoming “Horrible Bosses 2,” Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day reprise their roles as the quirky and dysfunctional friends Nick, Kurt and Dale. They want audiences to know, however, that the sequel will bring a lot more to the table than the first.
“New Line and Warner Brothers wanted to do another one, and we were certainly open to it because we had such a good time doing the first one. What we didn’t want to do was make a film that wasn’t at least as good as the first film, and we worked really hard to attempt to do that,” Bateman told The Daily Free Press via conference call on Nov. 10. “I’m pretty fair about being objective, and I really enjoyed the first one as a viewer. I watched this one with that same perspective, and I genuinely liked it even more than the first.”
In the sequel, the three friends are back together and trying to create their own company. They run into financial troubles with scheming investors, however, and end up on a path to get back at their brand new “horrible boss.”
Bateman, Sudeikis and Day agreed that a lot of hard work went into achieving the result they did with the second film. After a successful run with “Horrible Bosses,” they felt they had a lot to live up to.
“We certainly felt pressure amongst ourselves and then on behalf of the fans of the movie,” Sudeikis said. “But the pressure gets released the second you start working, and we just had a good time making each other laugh.”
Bateman agreed with this, but shared that sometimes, they had to try to keep the mood a bit more serious on set.
“We were all chuckled out, so we didn’t have to try and keep it light,” he said. “You know, sometimes you get practical jokes when there’s a sense that you need to sort of lighten the mood on set. But we were actually trying to do the opposite and simmer things down a bit, be serious and get some work done.”
“Horrible Bosses 2” is different than most comedies, in that the cast is made up of a wide array of actors. Joining the three leads on screen are Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Aniston, all of whom reprised their roles from the first film. But “Horrible Bosses 2” also brought in a couple more big-name actors this time around. Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine joined the cast, playing a tricky father-son duo that leaves Nick, Kurt and Dale a whopping $500,000 in debt after stealing the design of their invention, The Shower Buddy.
“It’s pretty cool getting to work with these actors,” Bateman said. “It’s a big, silly studio comedy, and when you can class it up with Oscar winners, it becomes a really nice and balanced cocktail. Everyone loves a properly mixed cocktail, am I right? Everyone really seemed to get what we were making, and it made for a good time.”
In addition to the cast changes, Sudeikis said he enjoyed the plot developments from the first movie to its sequel.
“Actually, every scene together was something that we didn’t get to do before,” he said. “In the first movie, we spent the first thirty minutes each in our own little movie with our own horrible boss. In this one, right off the bat, we’re all sitting next to each other on the couch.”
Bateman said “Horrible Bosses 2” also has additional movie effects that the actors didn’t have the chance to work with in the production of the first film.
“We also got to do a little bit of green screen work,” Bateman said. “So that was kind of an interesting part of the filmmaking process that we didn’t get to do on the first one. That’s work that’s usually relegated to big effects movies, so that was neat to see as part of the process.”
Many of the changes brought to the film were the result of a new director. “Horrible Bosses” director Seth Gordon was replaced with Sean Anders, whom Bateman, Sudeikis and Day had nothing but praise for.
“Sean Anders was great. He and his writing partner, John Morris, are some of the best comedy scriptwriters in Hollywood right now,” Sudeikis said. “They did a great job with ‘We’re the Millers,’ and definitely with this film. It was like having two more writers on set with us… and they added all these visual elements to it. Even the stuff with us starting the business; it’s like a Fincher movie. It’s like something out of ‘Fight Club.’”
The three actors agreed that they are confident “Horrible Bosses 2” will appeal to most members of the audience.
“I’m actually feeling kind of bullish,” Bateman said. “It’s every bit as funny, and the pace, the action, the way it looks, the plot twists… it’s even more than it needs to be. So I’m feeling good. If people see it the way I see it, they’re going to be very happy with this one.”
“Horrible Bosses 2” will be released in theaters everywhere on Nov. 26.
