The Shift in Jason Bateman’s Direction: Reasons Behind Stepping Away from Directing Clue – Top

In an exclusive interview with Collider, Jason Bateman, who was initially announced to be directing Clue (as well as starring in it with Ryan Reynolds), explained why he had to step back from the role, which is largely due to his schedule for the Netflix TV series Ozark.

The actor said that the movie was “something that [they] were getting very close to starting, but as it turned out something of that size takes much, much longer to do than what the seasonal hiatus [of Ozark] was able to accommodate. It would have pushed back the start of this season too far. So unfortunately [he] had to step off of that.”

Bateman is the star, executive producer as well as director of Ozark, so we can see why commitments to this project would trump everything else. He did mention that if Clue is still in development once Ozark is done, he’d be more than happy to return to the project. Currently, James Bobin, director of Alice Through the Looking Glass, is in talks to take over as director.

Bobin’s last movie was Dora and the Lost City of Gold, an adaptation of Dora the Explorer, and was generally well-received by critics, scoring 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. It would seem that Bobin has experience in directing adaptations, and would be well-suited to take on Clue (which is an adaptation of the popular boardgame), but it remains to be seen who eventually gets to sit in the director’s chair.