Jason Bateman has plenty of experience dealing with difficult matriarchs. As Michael Bluth on Arrested Development he found himself going toe to toe with Jessica Walter's Lucille. In the upcoming film This is Where I Leave You Bateman once again finds himself dealing with a dysfunctional family, only this time it's Jane Fonda who is contributing to his grief.
According to Deadline, the veteran actress is now in talks to join the cast of the Shawn Levy-directed comedy, which is also set to star Tina Fey and Corey Stoll. The film is based on Jonathan Tropper’s 2009 novel and is about a family that is forced back together to mourn the death of their father. Should Fonda sign on for the film she will play the "newly widowed Hillary Foxman," the mother of the three aforementioned actors' characters.
Tropper wrote the adaptation himself and Levy is aiming to start production in the late spring. The director has the Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson comedy The Internship coming out this summer and is also attached to the sequel Night At The Museum 3 with Ben Stiller.
Most recently Fonda has been playing a recurring role on Aaron Sorkin's HBO drama The Newsroom, but she's also kept busy on the big screen as well. She co-stars alongside Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, Michelle Monaghan, Ray Liotta and Ben Schwarz in the dark comedy Better Living Through Chemistry, and also has a historical role in Lee Daniels' The Butler, set to play Nancy Reagan opposite Alan Rickman as Ronald. Despite the fact that both films have stellar casts, neither has a set release date yet, but both films have finished production.
