Los Angeles, Jan 25 (IANS): Actor Jason Bateman has combined the roles on 'Ozark' and he's explained the appeal of acting and directing the Netflix crime drama series.

The 53-year-old star, who plays the part of Martin 'Marty' Byrde on 'Ozark', said: "It's more efficient for me to be playing a character in something, because that's one less person I need to direct.

"I don't have to have any sort of creative negotiation with that actor. Especially when I'm the lead character, I can just adjust my own performance to motivate a different performance out of the other actor."

"I can get them to speed up or slow down or trick them by being more emotional."

Despite this, Bateman doesn't consider himself to be a control freak, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

He told the Guardian newspaper: "I had a very fortunate first experience. My first big job, 'Little House on the Prairie', had Michael Landon as the director, actor, producer - and sometimes writer.

"There's this theory that you need to scream at people to get them to work their hardest. I saw by example there that the opposite is true."

Meanwhile, Bateman previously said to being inspired by the UK version of 'The Office'.

The Hollywood star watched the hit comedy series before shooting 'Arrested Development', which also featured the likes of Will Arnett and Portia de Rossi.

Asked whether his English mother exposed him to British comedy, Bateman replied: "Absolutely. That dry, sarcastic sense of humour makes me laugh the most. My favourite is 'The Office'."

"That was something that Will Arnett and I watched a lot while we were filming Arrested Development. I guess we were hoping that something would rub off."