VARIETY

Posted: Thurs., Feb. 5, 2009, 6:00pm PTAniston, Bateman to star in 'Baster'
'Blades of Glory' team will direct comedy
By TATIANA SIEGEL

Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman have signed on to star in the fertility-themed comedy "Baster" for Mandate Pictures.

Will Speck and Josh Gordon, who previously teamed for the comedy "Blades of Glory," will helm "The Baster" from a screenplay by Allan Loeb ("21"). Film is based on Jeffrey Eugenides' short story "Baster," which was first published in The New Yorker.

"The Baster" centers on a neurotic and insecure man (Bateman) who finds out his best friend (Aniston) wants to have a child through artificial insemination. He surreptitiously replaces her donor's semen with his own and is then forced to live with the secret that he is the child's real father.

Bona Fide Prods.' Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, the team behind "Election" and "Little Miss Sunshine," are set to produce. Mandate prexy Nathan Kahane is exec producing alongside Aniston and her Echo Films partner Kristen Hahn.

Film will begin shooting in the spring.

Project marks the second artificial insemination laffer to get the green light in recent weeks. CBS Films is moving forward with the Jennifer Lopez starrer "Plan B." Last year's comedy "Baby Mama," also about a fertility-challenged woman, proved to be a box-office success for Universal Pictures, earning $64.3 million worldwide.

Aniston's most recent film, "He's Just Not that Into You," opens Friday. She will also star in "Management" with Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson, bowing in May, and "Traveling" with Aaron Eckhart, which will be released in the fall.

Bateman, who co-starred in Mandate's "Juno," is also producing and will star in Universal Pictures' "The Remarkable Fellows," which is based on his original idea. His upcoming films include the political thriller "State of Play" for Universal and the Mike Judge-directed comedy "Extract." He recently wrapped production in a supporting role in the Ricky Gervais comedy "This Side of the Truth."

According to this article from NBC Los Angeles, Jen's character is named Kassie and Jason's character is named Wally:

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/entertainment/Jennifer_Aniston_Set_To_Be_Jason_Bateman_s_Baby_Mama.html

Short story about a forty-year-old unmarried woman named Tomasina who decides to become pregnant by inseminating herself using a turkey baster and the sperm from a married friend named Roland. The story is narrated by Wally Mars, who many years before dated Tomasina and conceived a child with her, which she aborted.

Tomasina had to give up the idea of meeting someone she could spend her life with. Instead, she had to give birth to someone who would spend life with her. Once she made her decision, she began to see men as walking spermatozoa. Wally suggests that she go to a sperm bank. �I don't just want smart. Brains aren't everything. I want the whole package.� It was becoming clear to me what my status was in the state of nature: it was low. It was somewhere around hyena. . .

Tomasina invites him to a party on the day she plans to inseminate herself. There were a lot of people, maybe as many as seventy-five. Nobody was young. The men looked the way men have generally looked: uncomfortable yet agreeable. They looked like me. . .

Mars meets the designated sperm donor, Roland, who showed up early and deposited his sperm in a cup hidden in the bathroom. At the party, Mars talks to Tomasina, who says, �This is depressing, Wally. This isn't how I wanted to have a baby. I thought this party would make it fun, but it's just depressing.� �Do you ever think about you and me?� �Wally, don't.� �Do you ever think about our kid?� �That was a long time ago.� Later in the evening, Mars goes into the bathroom and replaces Roland's sperm with his own. Ten months later, when the baby is born, Mars goes to see him and notices his own potato nose and buggy eyes.

Wait, so Jen and Jason's characters used to be a couple and now they're just great friends? But, apparently, Jason's character still loves her somehow..?

'who decides to become pregnant by inseminating herself using a turkey baster'

Wait, so Jen and Jason's characters used to be a couple and now they're just great friends? But, apparently, Jason's character still loves her somehow..?

Hmm no I understood it as, Tomasina and a character called Wally used to date. The other guy, Jason's character, is called Roland.

^ But according to Erin (who has the information from here), Jason's character is called Wally and that would mean his name isn't Roland. Means he's the other guy, right?

I think Jennifer has been making terrific decisions about her choice of films. So I say we wait and see-I love her and Bateman so I think this will be good.

I think Jennifer has been making terrific decisions about her choice of films. So I say we wait and see-I love her and Bateman so I think this will be good.