Jason Bateman enjoys challenge of directing

Actor-director Jason Bateman says though he is most comfortable doing acting, he prefers direction as it is a more interesting aspect of filmmaking.

Bateman, who made his directorial debut with the 2013 black comedy "Bad Words", has since directed and starred in "The Family Fang" and recently, the Netflix crime drama series "Ozark".

"The acting part is less interesting for me only because that's the part that's obviously most familiar and most comfortable.

"So, it is the camera work that is everything to me. I will do a lot of work on my own to create every image that we end up doing," he told Collider.

The actor-filmmaker said he still takes a "long time to figure out" how he must go about setting up a scene.

''I have everything worked out in my head as far as where the actors will walk, where they sit, where they'll talk, or where the cameras are going to be - all the images. (I do this so I can) discover the best way for the visuals to amplify - or the opposite, offset - what the scene is about.

Bateman was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding directing for a drama series in 2019 for "Ozark" and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance.