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On June 13, 2026, Jason Bateman spoke to Jesse David Fox during a live taping of Vulture’s Good One podcast about advice he once received from Katharine Hepburn
During filming of the CBS television movie This Can’t Be Love, he struggled with a scene where he had to cry on cue and found himself overthinking it
He said Hepburn told him to “stop acting,” and once he relaxed, the scene worked and the lesson stayed with him
Jason Bateman’s early career was shaped in part by a series of television movies that came before his more widely known roles in Arrested Development, Ozark and films like Game Night.
One of those early credits placed him in a CBS-made TV film titled This Can’t Be Love, where he starred as Marion Bennett’s assistant, Grant, alongside screen legends Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Quinn.
Speaking during a live taping of Vulture’s Good One podcast with Jesse David Fox at Vulture Fest, Bateman, 57, looked back on one scene from the movie that has stuck with him for years — not because of the plot itself, but because of what happened between takes.
Jason Bateman and Katharine Hepburn in ‘This Can’t Be Love.’
Credit: Everett
During the conversation, Bateman explained that the moment came during a scene between just him and Hepburn, where his character was supposed to “cry on cue,” which the then-20-something-year-old struggled with at the time.
“It’s hard to cry on cue, and I was really trying. I was really squeezing it, you know,” he told Vulture, recalling the pressure of trying to land such an emotional moment.
Still early in his career and working opposite two of Hollywood’s most respected actors, Bateman found himself pushing too hard, trying to manufacture the emotion rather than just letting it happen. The scene wasn’t working, and the more he tried to force it, the more unnatural it became.
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Jason Bateman and Katharine Hepburn in ‘This Can’t Be Love.’
Credit: Everett
That’s when Hepburn, then in her mid-80s, stepped in with a blunt but simple note that completely shifted his approach to the scene.
“She stopped in the middle of the take, and she said, ‘Oh, stop acting,'” he remembered.
“And I was like, ‘Professionally?'” he continued with a laugh. “She said, ‘No, just say it, you know, stop trying to [force it].’ “
Anthony Quinn and Katharine Hepburn in ‘This Can’t Be Love.’
Credit: Alamy
Bateman said the comment wasn’t about doing less work, but about stopping the habit of over-performing the moment. Instead of trying to show emotion, she was essentially telling him to stop reaching for it and just be in the scene as honestly as possible.
And at first, he admitted, it was “painful to hear at the beginning.” But once he stopped forcing the performance, the scene completely changed. The emotion came through more naturally when he wasn’t trying so hard to control it.
“Once I was being real and stopped trying to manipulate the audience and whatnot…and be kind of raw, it, you know, it flowed,” Bateman revealed. “It worked and so it was a really great piece of advice.”
Bateman, who played Hepburn’s chauffeur and personal assistant in the film, noted that it was one of the legendary actress’s “last jobs” — but her words have lived on with him.
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