Arrested Development has gained its cult following for good reason. Whether or not you are a fan of the mockumentary genre, this Mitchell Hurwitz creation is for those who have elite taste in comedy.
From understanding never-nudes to the iconic Jessica Walter’s Lucille Bluth, this show is a comedy gift that keeps on giving. When the much-anticipated and now often ignored season five was about to premiere on Netflix, the cast and creator spoke with Entertainment Weekly. They shared their favourite moments from the show. These hilarious anecdotes not only provide insight into the behind-the-scenes fun but also offer a delightful walk down memory lane for fans of the series.
The late Walter chose a rather disturbingly funny moment as her favourite, very much in line with the tone-deaf Lucille. She recalled a scene from season two, “I remember this from like season 2: I don’t know why I found this so funny, but Lucille had a rape horn, and one day it went missing. Buster took it, and I went to Michael and said, ‘Buster took my rape horn.’ And Buster said, ‘Yeah, like anyone would ever want to R her!’ That’s like my favourite line in the whole show.”
But she had one more, “I do have one more. Something very sad happened, and Lucille says, ‘I’d like to cry, but I can’t spare the moisture.’ With writing like that, who wouldn’t want to be on this show until they are in the grave?”
Tony Hale, who plays Buster Bluth, reminisced, “I will say one of my favourites was last season when Lucille was on house arrest, and she couldn’t smoke, so I had to cup her mouth and inhale smoke from my mother, and then I had to exhale on the patio. And I have asthma, so that was a rough day [laughs]. But watching it, it was really fun.”
Portia de Rossi recalled a particularly howl-worthy scene involving her character, Lindsay Bluth. “I have to say visiting my father in jail wearing the ‘SLUT’ T-shirt will just be a fond memory for life.”
David Cross, who plays the never-nude icon Tobias Fünke, recalled his favourite scene, “My fondest memories are when the whole cast is together, usually in Lucille’s condo. You can spend a day shooting a scene that is shot from different angles, and that’s five, eight pages long, and those are the most fun. We make each other laugh a lot, and it’s less about, ‘Oh, I got to do this thing, and I was in this outfit’ or ‘That scene was funny.’ I’ll see some and go, ‘Man, we had a really fun time doing that.'”
Jason Bateman, who portrays Michael Bluth, couldn’t come up with one specific moment but also professed his love for the ensemble scenes, “If you gave me a few minutes, I’d come up with a dozen [scenes]. It is always fun when the big group is together because if they’re like me, they find themselves just kind of watching what everyone is doing.”
Hurwitz chose a season five moment because that was the freshest in his mind, “There is a special moment in this season that I love where Michael and Gob are together, and they are talking about feeling sorry for George Michael because if you think about it, the only mother figure he ever had was Lucille. And they feel very bad for him, and then they realise, “Oh s—, we had Lucille.” [Laughs].”
Maybe it’s time for another Arrested Development binge-a-thon, which you can do on Netflix.
