Jason Bateman is enjoying one of the most successful spells of his career in his 50s, between the revival of “Arrested Development” and his work on “Ozark”. Does the popular star have tattoos?
Jason Bateman has at least one tattoo. He has a tattoo of his daughter’s name, Francesca, which is visible during an episode of “Arrested Development” Season 4. The visible tattoo in this scene was an oversight and later edited out of the show. We can find no obvious evidence of any other tattoos.
For more on Bateman’s tattoo and its unwanted appearance onscreen, as well as a fictional tattoo, read on.
Bateman’s Tattoo
Probably Jason Bateman’s most famous role, Michael Bluth from “Arrested Development” does not have any tattoos. This led to a surprise for eagle-eyed viewers when they spotted a tattoo on Michael’s left inner bicep during a scene from the show.
The incident in question occurs in the season premiere of the fourth season of “Arrested Development”, entitled “Flight of the Phoenix”.
After a break of several years due to the show’s cancellation by Fox, the first episode of the Netflix revival finds Michael Bluth in a low point in his life. He visits his son, George Michael (portrayed by Michael Cera) in his college dormitory and makes a nuisance of himself, going so far as joining his adult son in the shower.
It’s during this shower entry that the viewer can clearly see a tattoo on Jason Bateman’s left inner bicep. The tattoo, in stylized writing, appears to say “Francesca”, the name of Bateman’s daughter.
This can only have been a mistake as there is no obvious reason for Michael Bluth to have the name tattooed onto his body.
Interestingly, the tattoo was not originally visible in the episode, apparently having been digitally edited out during post-production. It became visible years later, long after the series received a very mixed reception from critics and fans.
Series showrunner Mitch Hurwitz decided to revisit the season in 2018, re-editing it essentially from scratch in an attempt to improve the flow of the show. Another reason was, Hurwitz joked, to make the season easier to put into syndication.
Unfortunately, these changes did little to warm the critical response and, in many cases, actually made it worse.
While the season was painstakingly edited into the wordily named “Arrested Development Season 4 Remix: Fateful Consequences”, the volume of editing meant mistakes could be made.
Jason Bateman’s tattoo finding its way into the show was one such mistake. The tattoo was edited out of the following episode’s introductory recap and later edited out of the shower scene itself but the moment has been preserved by fans online.
Dodgeball
Bateman does appear with a tattoo elsewhere, particularly in the 2004 movie “DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story”. His character, Pepper Brooks, has a neck tattoo of a flaming dodgeball.
Adding the tattoo was apparently Bateman’s idea but he stopped short of having it permanently inked onto his body. We can say this with some confidence due to the fact that the tattoo does not make a reappearance in any later looks at Bateman’s neck, of which there are many.
We can’t know whether or not Bateman has more than one tattoo, however, he does have two children. It’s probably fair to speculate that, as he has a tattoo of his first child’s name, he likely has one of his second’s name or is planning to get one, but this is only guesswork.
In any case, Jason Bateman does have a tattoo, we’re just not sure whether or not he has multiple tattoos.