'Beavis and Butthead' creator chats about his new film 'Extract'

Mike Judge is an unassuming guy responsible, say some, for the ultimate dumbing-down of the American entertainment world. He created those animated characters "Beavis and Butthead."

Since then, Judge has written and directed the cult comedy "Office Space" (1999), the underrated futuristic comedy "Idiocracy" (2006) and his current comedy "Extract," starring Jason Bateman as a put-upon owner of a small extract factory.

I sat down to chat with Judge about his new film, studio bosses and being a physics major in college.

Q. The guy in "Extract" seems custom-made for Bateman. Did you write the character with him in mind?

A. I had started writing it a long time ago and put it on the shelf. Then, I'd seen Jason Bateman while he was doing "Arrested Development," so when I was doing a rewrite, I was imagining him. Otherwise, I wasn't imagining any particular actor for the characters.

Q. Have you ever been leaned on by studio execs to change something to make your movie friendlier, more marketable or more commercial?

A. Oooooooh, yeah! Look, I want it to be friendly and marketable and commercial, too. I'm not looking to make some crazy thing that no one wants to see. On "Office Space," they didn't like the gangster rap stuff, which the audience came to love. For a long time, they campaigned so hard for me to cut down Milton in the movie. Now there's Milton T-shirts, Milton figurines.

Q. Casting Gary Cole, who's from Chicagoland, as the office supervisor in "Office Space" was genius.

A. When he came in and read, that tipped the scales for me. If nothing else, if I can get this guy on film doing that, it'll all be worth it. He's such an amazing actor. When you get a guy like him who can seem so real and hit all the beats, you don't see the guy acting. It's just so great.

Q. You've got another excellent comic performance in "Extract" with J.K. Simmons as the factory manager.

A. He is amazing. You come to appreciate an actor like him when you come into the casting process. The really good ones make it look easy. There are so many beats you have to hit in that dialogue or otherwise it doesn't work.

He comes in, hits all the beats, makes it look easy and is funny. I looked on his resume and saw that he was in "Spider-man." Who did he play in "Spider-man"? Then I remembered (newspaper editor J.J. Jameson) and thought, "That can't be the same guy who just did this and this." He's amazing!

Q. You recently were invited to deliver a commencement address at your alma mater, the University of California at San Diego. How did that go?

A. I had a love-hate relationship with college that was about 80-percent hate. But the other side is that there's something really great about a college environment. It was a great experience. I'm glad I did it.

Q. Did being a physics major ever help you as a filmmaker?

A. I hardly ever think about physics. Every now and then it comes in handy. Once I was with some Fox people after a test screening. They do scores and numbers, statistics on those things. One executive was saying something not very accurate using statistics to make his point. I was able to shoot down his argument very quickly.

That was kind of nice. I don't think they expected that coming from the Beavis and Butthead guy.