The actor will make his feature directorial debut on Darko Entertainment, Aggregate Films and MXN Entertainment’s comedy.

Darko Entertainment is financing Bad Words, which is produced by Aggregate’s Bateman, MXN’s Mason Novick and Darko Entertainment’s Sean McKittrick and Jeff Culotta.

Darko’s Ted Hamm, Aggregate’s Jim Garavente and Darren Demetre serve as executive producers

Bateman will direct from Andrew Dodge’s Black List screenplay and star as a high school drop-out who enters a spelling bee and forges a strong friendship with a young competitor.

The cast includes Allison Janney, Kathryn Hahn, Ben Falcone, Philip Baker Hall and Rohan Chandz. The film will shoot entirely on location in Los Angeles.