Elliott

Arrested Development Movie Plans Are In Motion - Film School Rejects


Arrested Development Movie Plans Are In Motion
Posted on February 2, 2008
by Rob Hunter

Just moments ago I hopped online to search for ‘Cheeseburger in a Can’ and noticed an email in my inbox. The subject line was “don’t wet yourself”, which I immediately did because it could only mean one thing. Well, one of three things.

A) DNA tests have revealed that I in fact am Jessica Alba’s baby’s daddy.

B) Kevin Costner was coming to Berkeley to perform his one-man play, I Am Costner.

C) Arrested Development, the best half-hour television show of all time, is returning in the form of a full-length feature film.

Well luckily for all involved, the subject line referred to a Page Six report that plans are most definitely in motion to bring Arrested Development to the big screen! Apparently Jeffrey Tambor had a recent chat with the show’s executive producer, Ron Howard, and Howard asked if he’d be up for a movie reunion. He said “there’s a push to get the movie made” and plans to start pre-production after the writer’s strike ends. Yes this news puts an Arrested Development movie in pre-pre-production, but that’s still one step above rumor. Best news I’ve heard in months. At least until I hear back from Jessica or Kevin anyway…

__________________

Elliott

Watch with Kristin - Exclusive! Jason Bateman Confirms <i>Arrested Development</i> Movie Talks

This just might be the best news we Arrested fans have heard in a very long time.

Jason Bateman has just confirmed to me that the creative minds behind Arrested Development (Mitch Hurwitz and Ron Howard) have put the wheels in motion toward a major motion picture of the Fox TV comedy so many of us adore. I'm told by insiders that Jason and other Bluth family members have received calls from producers (Hurwitz and Howard) asking if they would be willing to shoot a movie.

"I can confirm that a round of sniffing has started," Bateman says. "Any talk is targeting a poststrike situation, of course. I think, as always, that it's a question of whether the people with the money are willing to give our leader, Mitch Hurwitz, what he deserves for his participation. And I can speak for the cast when I say our fingers are crossed."



Talks of a potential movie featuring the dysfunctional Bluth family first started even before the show's finale aired. However, nothing really officially had been done about it until recently. This past week, rumors of an Arrested Development feature movie have resumed but, this time, it is the cast talking!

Kristin Dos Santos from E! Online confirms that the cast members were asked by the show's producers if they would be willing to star in the motion picture. AD's leading man, Jason Bateman, confirmed to the gossip columnist that preliminary talks had begun. Elsewhere, Jeffrey Tambor admitted on the Ron and Fez Show on XM Radio that he was approached by Ron Howard to see if he was willing to reprise his role(s).
Dos Santos' sources also revealed that no script has been written yet but that creator Mitch Hurwitz has a good idea of what he wants the movie to be like. Supposedly, Universal is interested in the feature and all cast members seem to have agreed to reprise their roles.

Being a huge fan of Arrested Development, I sure hope this movie happens. This one-of-a-kind comedy not only featured an amazing cast but also was cleverly written and contained tons of easter eggs. I hope the movie includes and/or mentions the Alliance of Magicians, Charlie Brown, Dr. Fünke's 100% Natural Good-Time Family-Band Solution, Steve Holt, "no touching," never nudes, Hot Cops, etc.

Rest assured that TV Squad will keep you updated on the movie's development and, if/when it starts shooting, spoilers.


Jeffrey Tambor also revealed on XM Radio's the Ron and Fez Show that he has been approached by Ron Howard to see if he's willing to do an Arrested film. (You can hear that interview below.)

For the record, both Jason and Jeffrey's answers were: Hells yeah. And I hear from other sources that other castmembers were called and that everyone seems to be very much on board and excited by the prospect.

Insiders also tell me that while creator Mitch Hurwitz does not yet have a script, he has a good, solid understanding of what he'd like to do for the movie, and Universal is very much interested.

And so it seems that a few good—wait, no, outrageously amazing—things just might come out of this unfortunate writers' strike, as the creative minds in this town have had time to pause, regroup and think about their dream projects.

And an Arrested movie is a pretty great dream, is it not?

So, let's join our crossed fingers with the rest of the cast, shall we? And how about a little support in the Comments section below?

__________________

Elliott

Bring Back Arrested Development

Sign the petition

__________________

Jaded

That is awesome. I. love. that. show.

I am a little bummed about Costner though, truth be told.

Sean

Awesome!

__________________

Elliott

Please, Mitchell Hurwitz, Pack the ‘Arrested Development’ Movie With Jokes Only We Understand

Courtesy of Fox
From the big-time Arrested Development fans at E! and "Page Six" (who knew?) comes word that Jason Bateman and Jeffrey Tambor have been contacted, by either Mitchell Hurwitz or Ron Howard, about possibly appearing in an Arrested Development movie. One imagines such a film could be helped through development by former AD cast member Michael Cera's prominence in Oscar-nominated moneymaker Juno (not to mention a certain critically acclaimed box-office smash that makes There Will Be Blood look like Meet the Spartans).

Could this exciting news just be the setup for a financially disastrous, casual-viewer-alienating excursion into a world of obscure tropes that can only be fully understood by those who've watched all three seasons of Arrested Development multiple times? Good God, we hope so! After the jump, our list of the ten inside jokes we hope most to see carried over in an Arrested Development film — presented, of course, without explanation.

10. "Spicy club sauce."

9. "I don't understand the question, and I won't respond to it." (Also in this category: "If I wanted something your thumb touched, I would have ordered the inside of your ear.")

8. Risky/Don't Buy/Triple Sell

7. "Has anyone in this family even seen a chicken?"

6. "But where did the lighter fluid come from?"

5. "I'm afraid he's gone." ("Why couldn't he have said, 'He escaped' or 'The room is empty'?")

4. Private detective Gene Parmesan.

Man with balloons: "Uh, I've got some bad news. I'm … Gene Parmesan! How you doing?
Lucille: "AAAH! He got me again!"

Gene Parmesan: "But I did overhear that he's bleeding internally."
3. "Her?" (also: "Ann-Hog," "Plant," "Egg," "Plain.")

2. Tobias, homosexual.

Tobias Fünke as Mrs. Featherbottom: "O-kay, who'd like a banger in the mouth?"
[confused stares]

"Right, I forgot, here in the States, you call it a sausage in the mouth."

Michael: "We just call it a sausage."
1. Lessons.

Michael: "You mean you taught me a lesson not to teach lessons?"
George Sr.: "It was my last lesson."

—Ben Mathis-Lilley

__________________