Arrested Development press interviews

Arrested Development press

Arrested Development has been featured on the covers of multiple magazines, most notably for the series' return on Netflix for Season Four.

2012

Will Arnett, CraveOnline (08/01/12)

→ Read Will Arnett's full CraveOnline interview

The Season Four Filming Schedule
"Currently the plan is to shoot on hiatuses and weekends because we start that in six days, it’s next Tuesday we start. That’s the current plan, Saturdays and stuff. It’s going to be insane. It’s super well organized. I don't know if you’ve met Mitch Hurwitz."

One Character per Episode
"That’s kind of the idea [one character per episode], and then there are bits and pieces of people,” Arnett said after the “Up All Night” panel. “Yeah, it’s going to be interesting. It’s a totally different way to tell the story of these people and these characters and these relationships that we like, so it’s interesting."

Alia Shawkat, Vulture (9/17/12)

→ Read Alia Shawkat's full Vulture interview

On the revival of Arrested Development:
"It's very surreal and awesome, I still feel like a teenager who's insecure when I'm on set around all of the funny adults, trying to talk, but at the same time, everything has changed, and you're trying to catch up."

The shows spirit remains the same:
"It's like the weirdest flashbacks, and it's been six years since we wrapped and it feels like no time has passed, and that's what's even weirder. The scripts keep getting funnier and funnier, and you know, we just get to do some crazy shit. There's been lots of suggestions for 'Call Me Maybe' jokes, but I don't think they'll make it in there."

Mae Whitman, Entertainment Weekly (10/19/12)

→ Read Mae Whitman's full Entertainment Weekly Interview

For those other fans who are wondering if they’ll see her bland Ann Veal join the Bluth clan in the upcoming Netflix run of the beloved show, she wouldn’t say whether the Arrested Development folk have reached out to her, but there does seem to be reason to hope.

Mae Whitman: I absolutely would not let this opportunity go by without doing everything I can to get a slice of Ann in there. I’m a huge fan of Arrested Development. And I still can’t get over the fact that I got to be a part of it.

2013

David Cross, Rollingstone (04/09/13)

→ Read David Cross's full Rollingstone Interview

New Arrested Development episodes start streaming on Netflix in May. Did you miss Tobias?
No, but we were able to get together a few times. I ran into him in Mozambique. I was scuba diving in the Indian Ocean and he popped up. We had lunch, which was brief but still good. Then I saw him in Whistler. I was there picking dippleberries, and ran into him in the lift area. Again, we hung out and had dinner. Actually, I'd say I kind of missed him.

How did the vibe on set differ at Netflix than at Fox?
[Laughs] Oh man. It was as opposite as you can get. When we did the show for Fox, we all felt under-appreciated, and you really got the sense that we were a bit of a burden to them. The fact that we won an Emmy was the worst thing in the world – they would have loved to cancel us. The last season, after the fourth or fifth episode, we were going to work everyday wondering, "Is this the week they're going to cancel us?" We all felt it. But with Netflix, it was just the opposite. They wanted us there. They stayed out of the writer's room. They stayed off the set.

Do you think fans will continue demanding a movie even after they watch the new episodes?
I don't know. I still wonder if a movie will work. For personal, selfish reasons, I would love to do a movie. I would love to keep the character and this family going. I know what the plan is, and I would love an opportunity to get to do it. Whether that happens, I don't know. But I want to work with these people for the rest of my life.

Katie Sparks (Costume Designer), LA Times (05/19/13)

→ Read Katie Sparks's full LA Times Interview

How did you approach dressing the "Arrested Development" cast at the outset?
Mitch gave me pretty free range to explore things, which was really great. For the pilot, I remember him talking to me about the characters — which I like because my [costume] design is very character-driven. I like to ask: What kind of car would they drive? Where in L.A. would they live? What kind of people do they hang out with?

What was the biggest challenge in revisiting these characters and their wardrobes after so long?
Basically we had nothing. And since there are flashbacks to things like the final scene [of the final episode] on the boat, we had to duplicate some very specific pieces. Portia de Rossi's dress in that scene, for example, was this pretty royal blue dress with these little bugle beads that I'd bought at Barneys or some place. We had to remake that. And Alia Shawkat's dress in the same scene.

Were there any other specific pieces that had to be duplicated?
In the first couple of seasons, Gob Bluth [played by Will Arnett] wears this vintage black satin robe from the '50s that I'd found at a thrift store or a flea market. … We looked at some costume houses and couldn't find it, so we put the scene up on the screen, looked at the fabric, made a pattern and had a duplicate robe made.

'Arrested Development' Preview The Return Of The Bluths Huffington Post (5/20/2013)

→ Read the full Huffington Post Interviews

Many members of the cast said they never thought this day would come.
Portia de Rossi (Phone Interview): "It depends on when you asked me, when we were canceled back in 2006, I would have never imagined that we would do this revival for Netflix or be a part of this kind of business model where they can release all episodes at the same time ... But a part of me knew because the cast loved the show so much and loved working with each other and we just admire and respect Mitch so much that I kind of figured that we would all get together again at some point to do something."

Michael Cera (Phone Interview): "I thought it was done for good, like most TV shows. It never occurred to me that we'd have this opportunity, I always thought it would be fun to pickup where the story left off because it's such an ongoing story and that figures into that, obviously. Mostly I just wanted to be around these people again."

Tony Hale (Phone Interview): "It was very exciting. It was very surreal ... It was one of those things where you couldn't believe it was happening,"said via phone. Honestly, I think all of us didn't really believe it until we got on set that first day, the first day everyone was together ... It was strange being back on the set again. They had recreated the whole penthouse to look exactly how it was. Being Buster again, hearing the degrading voice of Lucille just brought back so many [memories] ... There are a lot of expectations placed on the show since it stopped airing and getting back into it, you're worried about matching it. Hearing Jessica Walter's voice, just kind of the way she says 'Buster!' -- just that patronizing, abusive tone that she has -- it was so funny and just clicked right in. It was like riding a bike again. It's really, really going to be fun."

Jason Bateman 'Arrested Development gave me a new life', Telegraph (05/22/13)

→ Read Jason Bateman's full Telegraph Interviews

Although he didn’t know it, the show would give Bateman “a new life”: “I mean, my career was not vibrant, not robust, to say the least, And then that show came along and gave me a second chance. If it hadn’t appeared, you know, I may have turned to something else… It was the most important thing I’ve ever done."

His parents to suggest he shift his focus from being a “serious” actor to pursue a career in sitcoms: "I think they spoke to my agent and said, ‘He’s a disruption at school – maybe you should send him up for a TV show."

Tony Hale talks Season 4, Liza Minnelli and Movie Plans - Zap2It (05/22/13)

→ Read Tony Hale's full Zap2It Interview

If Tony Hale is to be believed, his character Buster Bluth has actually regressed in terms of his maturity.
" Buster has not matured. I think the first series he was probably around a 7-year-old maturity. I'd say now he's probably at a 5, he's gone back. Well, he's just gotten worse and worse. I think there's just probably years and years of isolation. I mean, going to the pharmacy's a big day for him, so if he can get out of the house, that's a big day. He's still got his juice addiction. I think he might have some support groups for his juice addiction that we don't know about. But that's his vice, is juice. He goes to it in times of anxiety and pain, which is pretty much every minute of the day."

How to watch Season Four
"I think it's encouraged to watch from the beginning, I think people are encouraged to watch the thing in order -- the series in order -- because it will make a lot more sense, because it is kind of one big puzzle. I think I would say watch it from the beginning and then go back and kind of ... because you'll miss stuff and you can kind of see the pieces of the puzzle really click once you watch it the second time."

His first day back
"I think all of us probably wish we got a lot more time with each other because scheduling was very difficult, but the times we did get together were very special. My first day back was the first day that everybody was on set, and we were all in the penthouse, everybody was in wardrobe, and they recreated the penthouse down to every detail so it was a very surreal moment, I think Portia [de Rossi] said it was kind of like a time warp. It had been seven years, and there we are sitting on those couches again. That was pretty awesome to be back there."

On Liza Minnelli
"My girlfriend's back! I love Liza Minnelli. I love that woman. My favorite part, and I've said this a few times, but my favorite part of working with Liza is I just loved sitting and kind of hearing her stories of her life, and her stories weren't coming from a place of ego. It just came from a place of 'listen to my life.' And so I literally could sit there all day long and just listen to her stories and, you know, she's an icon, but she's also a gracious, kind person and that combination sometimes you don't find. So I really, really love working with her."

Arrested Development Cast on Fox's 2006 Cancellation, Radio Times (05/24/13)

→ Read Arrested Development Cast's full Radio Times Interview

In the lead up to their fourth series première on Netflix this Sunday, the cast of Arrested Development have spoken out about their initial cancellation by Fox in 2006 - Radio Times

David Cross

"Outside of the first season, it didn't feel warmly received," he added. "The worst thing that happened to Fox was Arrested winning the Emmy, 'cos they had to keep it on. [Fox] didn't have any real guts… but it's a business [and] they're not in the business of putting out great TV, they're in the business of making as much money as they possibly can for Rupert Murdoch."

 

Alia Shawkat

“My mother was furious because I did this one interview where I said Fox was shit and didn't advertise it all and my mother said 'Alia! You will never get hired by Fox!' And I haven't since... Netflix have been so overwhelmingly gracious and supportive, though. The boss came to set a lot and there was such good energy, laughing and jokes. But with Fox, it was like, 'The boss is here... Everyone be cool.'”  

Jeffrey Tambor

“Here's the deal: [Fox] did put us on the air and they're also behind this thing and hopefully we'll have a film. Everything has a timing and our timing was way off. They never knew what they had, we never knew what we had and now everything is in its proper place.”  

'Arrested Development' reopens on Netflix, LA Times (5/25/13)

→ Read Arrested Development's full LA Times

Emmy Wins and Ratings
"At the time, it was felt, possibly correctly, that the density of the show was what kept an audience from finding it. There was a constant debate about whether we should really simplify this. My feeling was, I'm just going to lose the people I have now if we simplify the show." - Mitchell Hurwitz

"Arrested Development" reunion:
"For many, many years I've been asked what was happening with the show, but that's just so great. I mean, how many TV shows have this kind of second chance or this life to them that people actually want to see more, want to check in with the Bluths to see what they're doing?" - Portia de Rossi

The Season Four timeline:
"They're independent stories but … I started embracing this idea, people are going to see this all at once, so really it's all about the detail, I started really getting into that idea of putting as much connective tissue as possible in these discrete episodes." - Mitchell Hurwitz

The Entire Bluth Family Only Shot together for two days during Six Months of Production:
"I was gawking at everybody, going, 'Oh my God, there's Lucille, there's Buster,' and then I'd realize I had a line to say. It felt surreal because it felt like no time had passed at all, maybe a couple of months, not seven years." - Portia de Rossi

Arrested Development Cast Interview, DailyMail UK (5/27/13)

→ Read Arrested Development's full DailyMail UK Interview

On the Netflix revival: The much-loved cult comedy Arrested Development returns after a seven-year gap on Netlfix at 3am on 26 May. Thanks to the all-new episodes being released at the same time on the service, fans of the show can 'binge-watch' the entire series, which features the same cast as before.
Portia de Rossi: "When we were canceled back in 2006, I would have never imagined that we would do this rival for Netflix or be a part of this kind of business model where they can release all the episodes at the same time."

A much loved cast and crew:
Ellen Degeneres: "A part of me knew because the cast loved the show much and loved working with each other... that I kind of figured that we would all get together again at some point to do something."

Doubts about a new season:
Michael Cera: "I thought it was done for good, like most TV shows. It never occurred to me that we'd have this opportunity. I always thought it would be fun to pickup where the story left off because it's such an ongoing story and that figures into that obviously. Mostly I just wanted to be around these people again."

The 2013 Reunion: Michael added that the Arrested Development family reunion was 'incredible' saying: 'It's one thing to see people every now and then all apart, but to actually be getting to work with these people under the same, more or less, circumstances... I never thought I could even hope for it.

Michael Cera: "It's one thing to see people every now and then all apart, but to actually be getting to work with these people under the same, more or less, circumstances... I never thought I could even hope for it."

The Process of Season Four: Tony Hale who plays Bluster Bluth on the show, remains upbeat about the return.

Tony Hale: "The truth of it is, I would read the script and I would have no clue what was going on. That is such a testament to the faith that we have in Mitch Hurwitz"

Portia de Rossi, Crave Online (5/27/13)

→ Read Portia de Rossi's full Crave Online Interview

CraveOnline: How is Lindsay’s marriage to Tobias these days? Portia De Rossi: Oh, it’s just as good as ever. It’s just as solid. Lindsay and Tobias are such poor, pathetic creatures. It’s actually quite funny because when I got the script, I was like, “Wait, we’re still together?” I couldn’t remember where it actually left off, but I think that’s the point. We kind of tried to branch out, we get really scared and we just come back together out of fear rather than love.

How is her relationship with Maeby now?
Uh, who? [Laughs] Yeah. I mean, it’s kind of hilarious that I play a mother on this show and there’s not one parental instinct that this woman has, nothing that would resemble caring for her child. She’s just a hands off mother as I put it.

I almost didn’t ask that because I thought am I just being silly talking about hair?
No, it was a huge, huge thing. It was a big thing. Because I showed up with short hair, Mitch of course had to make something of it that was extremely complicated. Couldn’t just be like oh, Lindsay got her haircut.

Were there any moments where you really thought this would never happen for “Arrested?”
Nope. Not really. This particular structure, Netflix, I could never have seen that a few years ago but I always knew we’d get back together again because we love it so much.

Jessica Walter, Crave Online (6/3/13)

→ Read Jessica Walter's full Crave Online Interview

CraveOnline: Is Lucille still drinking?
Jessica Walter: Yeah, where’s the poster? You’ll see it’s right in the poster. She’s drinking and she has an ankle bracelet on so you know she’s being surveilled in her home. She’s drinking.

I always wonder when you have to drink fake drinks. Obviously vodka can be water, but when it’s other drinks, what do they give you?
Well, Chardonnay is apple juice. Red wine is grape juice. Scotch is tea. Look how I knew all that so fast.

Did you ever think about young Lucille when you were playing her on the series? Did you ever think about what she was like as a young mother?
Yeah, I did think about it. I did think about it and of course young Lucille in these episodes is 40. So young, young Lucille as a young mother would’ve been like 25. Big difference. But I thought about Lucille as a human being from the day she was born, on.

When you thought about her early life, how did that inform the character we saw?
Well, I gave her backstory. We always give our characters a backstory. We make it up so that we can relate to it. I figured that the way she was written was really a cover for a very insecure person who had her own problems with her own mother. Her mother probably put her down all the time. The only way she could feel important was by having total control over everything she was involved with. That kind of thing. Extensive research, when she was born, where she was born, you know what I mean? I do that with all my characters. I take them very seriously.

Michael Cera, ScreenRant (1/22/2013)

→ Read Michael Cera's full ScreenRant Interview

Working in the Writers room
“Mitch mentioned to me coming in one day, and I was very excited that he had invited me. I went in, and he said, ‘Come back tomorrow,’ and I kept coming back because I really wanted to stick around until I integrated with them.

Season Four is his favourite Season
“I think I’m pretty biased, but it feels like one of my favorite seasons. I love it, and I think Mitch is really good at living up to expectations. He set out to do this really ambitious thing. It’s structured in a very ambitious way. I think he pulled it off. It was really impressive to watch, and he kept it together the whole time.”

Arrested Development on the big screen
“I not sure if Mitch is thinking of it like that. It’s open-ended in a way. There are a lot of things set up that could be paid off later on, so in that way, I think it’s sort of suggesting that he wants to do more of them.”

Troy Miller, The Hollywood Reporter (06/18/13)

→ Read Troy Miller's full The Hollywood Reporter Interview

The decision to make this season in 4K resolution and what might be ahead for the Bluth family.
Troy Miller: “It was one of the best sets ever; it was improvisational filmmaking from top to bottom,” said Miller, who also served as an executive producer. “Mitch would often rewrite as we go. … You’d decide live, shot to shot, how to best tell that joke or story point, which is really unusual.”

Working with director of photography Peter Lyons Collister, Miller operated the Steadicam perched on a Handsfree Segway transport device that the operator steers with his or her legs. Miller says the rig is not uncommon to see on a feature set but isn’t frequently used in television, particularly half-hour sitcoms.
"This was [used for] Arrested Development to allow very fast dolly moves that kept the handheld look [of the series]. We often used a three-camera configuration where we were able to do our cross shooting and also add this new life."

Mitch Hurwitz, Vulture (10/22/13)

→ Read Mitch Hurwitz's full Vulture Interview

Did you think about the binge-watching aspect?
"Well, it’s funny — I did end up embracing this idea. At the time, it wasn’t clear that they were all going to be delivered at the same time, and that’s the Netflix model, to put them all out there at the same time. Netflix has consistently looked at this stuff with fresh eyes. They were looking at it and saying that this is how people watch Arrested Development, they watch it back-to-back. And I tried to be forward thinking, and I love playing with the form and messing with it. But I was thinking: “But don’t you want them looking forward to it every week?” and all these old thoughts. Once I understood that it was all going to come out at the same time, it did again change the storytelling opportunity that I had tried to take advantage of."

Are we going to see in the next year or two, reports that the movie’s being made?
"I’d like to start some reports tonight. So, this is the thing about the movie. I’ll tell you the whole thing. Most recently, I was talking to a reporter at Rolling Stone … we have a friend who works at Rolling Stone, and I was talking to a reporter there, and they were talking about something else, like favorite shows, and I was talking about the Bill Maher show. And then he said, “What’s going on with the movie?” And I said, “Well, the one thing we want to avoid is that there’s any press on this, because it got out of control, last time.” Like, people who’d say, “Maybe the movie’s coming,” and then there would be press, and it really just served to piss off the audience because it seemed like we were just teasing them. [But I told the guy at Rolling Stone] “But yeah, I definitely want to do the movie,” and then that was, like, the headline. “Movie’s Coming …” and it was like, “Argh, I’ve done it!"

2014

Tony Hale, LA Magazine (4/1/14)

→ Read Tony Hale's full LA Magazine Interview

On his Arrested Development Auditon in LA:
"I flew to Los Angeles to audition for Arrested Development in 2003. At the time I had never been on a studio lot, and as I stepped onto the Fox lot in Century City, I saw this massive mural of Marilyn Monroe and thought, “What the hell am I doing here? Someone has made a mistake.” It was an emotional roller coaster. I stayed at a hotel on Avenue of the Stars, and during some downtime I walked to the Westfield shopping center. I’m from the suburbs of Florida, so I love a good mall, and it made me so happy."

On Shooting Arrested Development:
"While shooting Arrested, my wife and I lived on the Westside—first in Santa Monica, then in Playa del Rey. We moved here from New York, so every day we’d walk the 3rd Street Promenade and just look at the water. I remember beach culture. There were a lot of tight bicycle shorts. There were also a lot of bodies that make you feel ugly. I’d be in Santa Monica surrounded by people who look like they’re on their way to a photo shoot. Keep in mind I’m playing Buster, the most emasculated being ever. It was like, “Excuse me while I go put on my knee-high socks and Buster Brown shoes. I’m going to go feel completely horrible now—I’ll be right back.”

Mitch Hurwitz, Variety (04/21/14)

→ Read Mitch Hurwitz's full Variety Interview

“We are lucky to be in business with Mitch Hurwitz, a true genius with one of the most distinctive voices in comedy today, Mitch’s inventive approach to ‘Arrested Development’ — one of the top TV comedies of this generation — was ahead of its time, and we’re fortunate to have him on our team.” said Ted Sarandos, Netflix Chief Content Officer.

Producing for Netflix: it is incredibly inspiring to get to produce for Netflix, a company that not only doesn’t resist change, but is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone in forging it

2015

Portia de Rossi - Elle Magazine (19/02/15)

→ Read Portia de Rossi's full Elle Magazine Interview

You've gotten lucky with your TV characters over the years.
Is it luck, though? Here's the thing: For me, it's really important to be part of something that I'm going to be proud of and that I feel moves the needle a little bit. That people are excited by. I look for projects over characters. That's why I've done these TV shows, and they're few and far between. I just want to be available for when that next Arrested Development shows up. I just want to be part of really great TV. I choose whom I work with because I have to love them.

Will there be more Arrested Development?
I have heard that they are working out how to do something more for Netflix, whether it's going to be another season or a movie. I'm not sure how it's going to take shape. I know there is interest in doing more. I'm hoping we become the Boyhood of TV where we keep going over a span of time and our children will have children. The Bluth family should never go away. We should keep popping up every few years.

Portia de Rossi as Elizabeth North in Scandal

2016

Jeffrey Tambor, Variety (02/02/16)

→ Read Jeffrey Tambor's full Variety Interview

When asked by Variety at the SAG Awards about “Arrested Development” coming back, Tambor teased “First of all, we’re always coming back and there’s always that, but I’m going to go to my [“Transparent”] set on Thursday and start filming this.” Alluding to his award presenter of the night, he continued: “I think it’s prophetic that Jason Bateman handed me the award tonight and said, ‘Come on up, Dad.'”

As for the upcoming season of “Transparent,” Tambor promises the new episodes will even surpass the past two seasons. “All of us are going to up the ante with our characters and care more,” he said on Saturday night. “I know my character is going to investigate even more of her femininity and what it means to be a woman.”

Jason Bateman, Collider (06/20/17)

→ Read Jason Bateman's full Collider Interview

Collider: I’m also happy to hear that Arrested Development is a go for Season 5, and that you’re set to start shooting in the beginning of August. Will it be the same structure, where each episode focuses mainly on one character?
Jason Bateman: No, it definitely won’t be that again. I don’t know if learned our lesson is the right phrase, but I think it’s pretty obvious that the other structure was better, with the structure from the Fox episodes. The reasons that we had to go into that structure on the Netflix episodes were for things that just don’t exist now, so we can go back to the Fox structure, where everybody is in every episode. And we can’t wait. We start in a couple of weeks.

Alia Shawkat, Vulture (08/10/17)

→ Read Alia Shawkat's full Vulture Interview

Alia Shawkat: “They somehow were able to figure it out so it’s a lot of us in the house again together, it’s what the family is doing now that they’re back together again, and where they came from. A lot more penthouse group hangs, which will be fun.”

Mitch Hurwitz, Entertainment Weekly Interview (05/17/18)

→ Read Mitch Hurwitz's full Vulture Interview

Mitch Hurwitz: “You can’t believe how many things you can put in a show after it’s shot. A lot of the people that have come across this process have totally looked at me like I was crazy. As they should. It is crazy…. It’s obsessiveness, and it’s just feeling really bad until it’s funny. These people are not as bad as they seem, they don’t necessarily have good hearts, but a lot of their other organs are just top-notch.”