2011 New Yorker Festival Reunion

2011 New Yorker Festival Reunion

Cast and Crew in Attendance (Left to Right): Jeffrey Tambor, Portia de Rossi, Mitch Hurwitz, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat and Ron Howard (via telephone)

About

On the evening of October 2, 2011 the cast of Arrested Development, Mitch Hurwitz and Ron Howard (via telephone) were in attendance at the New Yorker Festival for a panel discussing the upcoming fourth season and movie, as suggested by a fan, at the end of the panel the cast performed the Chicken Dance.

Netflix Announcement

On May 26th, a new season of “Arrested Development” will be released on Netflix, allowing fans of the cult sitcom (which went off the air in 2006) to finally catch up with the nefarious House of Bluth. The new episodes were first announced at the 2011 New Yorker Festival, where the cast reunited for a sold-out panel discussion moderated by Nancy Franklin - The New Yorker

Fun Facts

• The fake teasers at the end of each episode began, as Hurwitz put it, as “a craven way to get the pilot picked up. Anything to create that promise of ‘You’ve got to come back!’”
• Hurwitz and executives at Fox were reluctant to cast Jason Bateman because of his sitcom past, but were instantly won over by his audition.
• When asked about the Bluth family’s ambiguous religious identity, Hurwitz said they were originally based on his wife’s family: “It started, it had a real Gentile vibe to it, but it got more Jewish.”
• “Arrested Development” was cancelled before Nielsen began measuring DVR viewership, which Bateman thinks was the show’s natural format. “I think people quickly realized, ‘Well, I’m better served to watch this show after I’ve recorded it,’” he said.
• Alia Shawkat shared her first kiss onscreen with Michael Cera. “It’s changed me for the rest of my life,” she joked.
• According to Will Arnett, nobody made other cast members “break” (i.e. crack up in the middle of a take) more than Tony Hale.
• The character of Oscar Bluth was born one day “on the fly” when Jeffrey Tambor walked into the writer’s room wearing a wig. “The next day, Oscar was born,” he said.
• David Cross had to fight for the mustache worn by his character, Tobias Funke, because Fox executive Gail Berman had a standing rule for men in comedies: no hats, no mustaches, no fluffy shirts.
• The pilot scripts came with a cover letter which warned cast members that there would be no fancy trailers and no tolerance for diva-like behavior

2011 New Yorker Festival Party

→ See 8 pictures from 2011 New Yorker Festival Party at Images from 2011 New Yorker Festival Party.

Arrested Development Reunion Panel

→ See 38 pictures from 2011 New Yorker Reunion at Images from 2011 New Yorker Reunion.

Quotes

The First Three Seasons of Arrested Development

"There was a cover letter that came with the script that basically said, pretty much, no diva type behaviour, it’s going to be shot from the hip, we’re not really going to have fancy trailers … I remember reading that and then came the “What are we getting ourselves into?”  

 Portia de Rossi on the first Script

"The camera was still shooting on Jeffrey in that sequence when he gets arrested [in the pilot] … and he’s calling his secretary to say ‘clean everything out,’ and then Jeffrey threw in, “Why are you crying?!” That moment [for me] was like, “This is great.”  

 Will Arnett on ad-libbing

"As I remember it … you guys were having a real tough time casting GOB. You guys had seen a lot of people and [said] ‘Would I look at GOB, also Buster?’… I immediately got the sense of Tobias and knew exactly what I wanted it to be. But I had to fight for the moustache. That was a big fight with Fox."  

 David Cross on keeping Tobias' moustache

"When it started, it had a real gentile vibe to it and then it kind of got more Jewish. And I think the name Bluth … my wife [who suggested the name] was the one saying we’ve got to find a name that's Jewish but not too Jewish, ’cause you want to have that freedom comedically."  

 Mitch Hurwitz The Bluths were Jewish:

I knew that when they test pilots, one question they ask is, “Would you want to see another episode?” So it really did come from that. It was like, “Well, let me just put some teaser on the episode” … It’s a pilot, of course it’s not [already going to have] a next episode … Then it was a great thing because you always end on a big joke."  

 Mitch Hurwitz on the next Arrested Development:

Videos

“Arrested Development” cast reunion - The New Yorker Festival - The New Yorker

External links

• "Video: Bluth family reunion - New Yorker
• Arrested Development New Yorker Festival Reunion - Getty Images
• The 2011 New Yorker Festival: "Arrested Development" Panel - Zimbio
• 2011 New Yorker Festival Party Hosted By David Remnick - Zimbio
• Arrested Development: Filming starts on new series - BBC UK
• Arrested Developmentrevived by Netflix - BBC UK
• Chris Colfer & Portia de Rossi: New Yorker Festival! - JustJared
• 2011 New Yorker Festival Arrested Development - WireImage
• On the Scene at the first 'Arrested Development' reunion - EW.com
• Arrested Development Cast Does The Chicken Dance At New Yorker Festival Reunion - Huffington Post
• The New Yorker Festival 2011: 'Arrested Development' Cast - Huffington Post
• It's Official! Arrested Development Is Getting A New Season AND A Movie - Business Insider
• Photos: “Arrested Development” Cast Reunion - according2g