As our Arrested Development Film Tracker™ continues to fill up with "yes" balloons, one very prominent "no" remains as Ann as the nose on plain's face. But could Michael Cera single-handedly delay the movie?
You know what we just noticed? The 'Bernie Madoff Robs Everyone and Alienates His Family' story is kind of similar to that of the Bluth family from the brilliant-but-canceled Arrested Development. Let's do a who's-who comparison!
Sure, the gates of pop culture hell have been flung open today, but we're going to fend off Cerberus (he's been barking outside Defamer HQ all morning, and with three heads, it's a little noisy) until we get our Arrested Development movie, dammit! Today's update comes courtesy of one of the show's stars, who not only confirms involvement in the film but offers word of a start date, marvelously slams a current network series, and gives tentative comments on the Michael Cera imbroglio.
E!'s Kristin Dos Santos brings us more news on the suddenly snowballing Arrested Development movie, including the new information that the film is budgeted at $15 million (around what we'd estimate the theatrical ceiling is for this property, though homevid sales should be killer). However, her most interesting tidbit, divulged to her by a principal cast member wishing to remain anonymous, is what the reaction is to someone (cough Michael Cera cough) who's not so keen on the big screen transfer:
It's time to haul out our favorite "musty old claptrap": Defamer's Arrested Development Film Tracker™! Today, THR says that two important AD contracts have finally been signed, locking down a studio (Fox Searchlight) and paving the way for an actual script to be written. Then, though, the trade throws out a bizarre curveball about just who exactly will be directing the movie:
Now that our fierce election year is over, Americans can turn their attention to more pressing matters like what is the goddamned status of the Arrested Development movie. In that spirit, then, we offer you the brand-new Arrested Development Film Tracker™, which will bring you up-to-the minute cast confirmations, disavowals, and cagey statements of, "I don't understand the question, and I won't respond to it." Today, we have a brand-new development straight from the mouth from one of Arrested's key players. To the banana stand!Inaugurating the AD Film Tracker is Ron Howard, who said this during his junket duties for Frost/Nixon:
The life of an Arrested Development fan is not an easy one. It's ongoing, angina-flaring dice game of will they or won't they—have first-cousin sex? Get a hand-transplant? Get a fourth-season renewal? Or, most recently, make an AD movie. One day it's yes, the next day it's no. That last one was an ouch, as Michael Cera relayed the news via a 25-second rumor-dousing call. (Sweet and sensitive our ass.) But wait—wipe those tears away, for Jeffrey Tambor—quite possibly the most wonderful Bluth of all!—says the movie. Is. Back. ON!. Collider.com reports:
Why, it seems like it was only yesterday (or 2003) that actor Michael Cera was just an unassuming Bluth, content to run the family banana stand and do whatever was asked of him by Jason Bateman with a minimum of protest. Today, however, Cera is a fledgling movie star, with two big hits on his resume (Superbad and Juno) and a romantic comedy (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) yet to come. It's while he was promoting the latter that he broke ranks with Bateman for the first time, shooting down the idea that the Arrested Development movie would film next year and stating that he wouldn't want to be a part of it anyway. Says the National Post:
Here at Defamer HQ, we hope we've made our feelings clear on the new 90210 redo: you can give us all the Shannens and Jennies (but not Toris) you want, but the real reason we'll be watching is because of actress Jessica Walter. Cast as the alcohol-addled 90210 matriarch Tabitha, Walter is practically reprising her role as Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development — and until the big-screen AD movie comes, we'll take whatever we can get. Our ongoing crusade for more Walter footage (hereby known as Bluthwatch '08) has thus far fallen on deaf CW ears, and when we saw the network's new Shannen Doherty promo last week, we knew it was time to take matters into our own hands. With the help of Molly McAleer (and Hulu), we've cut together our own 90210 promo touting the show's real icon. Won't you join us in a chicken dance of anticipation? [The CW]
It's been rumored since the show went off the air two years ago, but it looks the Arrested Development movie is finally a go. While in the UK to promote his upcoming role in the Will Smith vehicle Hancock, costar Jason Bateman let slip that the embattled Bluths are finally reuniting on the big screen:
Every TV nut (well, isn't that all of us here?) has, at one point or another, spent a little time fantasizing about certain fictional characters on their favorite shows. These fantasies tend to be either soft-focus daydreams (say, dreaming up elaborate schemes in which they "bump" into you at a party) or something a bit more hard-core (picturing them while giving your significant other the old in-out). On that note, the clever list-makers over at EW decided to compile a Top 30 reader's choice collection of the small-screen boys and girls who most frequently make cameos in those illicit fantasies. But, with no offense to the site's readers, we have some serious vetoes to charge. After the jump, our picks for who falls under Strongly Agree (the predictable Jim Halpert) and those we brand as a Vehemently Disagree (four words: Bree. Van. De. Camp), as well as the most erroneous, mind-boggling oversight missing from the group:
With news that the much-loved, little-watched Arrested Development might find a second life on Showtime following its Fox cancellation lingering long after the show's series finale, fans really never had a chance to say goodbye. But this weekend, a prop house sale here in L.A. gives them a chance to end the drawn-out grieving process by taking home their own pieces of the Bluth legacy:
• Because it's clearly a matter of national import, Freakonomics tackles the issue of Britney Spears. The conclusion: car seats are kind of bad, but Britney's is downright dangerous. [Freakonomics]
• Master publicist Richard Edelman loves the bloggers. If you're not careful, he might snatch you away. [WSJ]
• For you forlorn fans of Arrested Development, there's a chance for happiness at the Bluth family estate sale. [The Real Estate]
• Former Rolling Stone publisher Steve Deluca has a tattoo on his penis. Do you actually want further details? Didn't think so. [Jossip]
• Desperate to save The Bachelor, ABC casts an inbred as the lead. [Popwatch]
• A brief study of trade mags and lazy art departments. [Fishbowl]
• Work for Jon Voight, if only for the chance to be near the man who helped make Brangelina. [Craigslist]
What's the best way for fans of beloved, perpetually limbo-occupying series Arrested Development to get news about the show's fate? Bump into star Jason Bateman on the street in Toronto and just ask him what the hell is going on with the rumored Showtime-sponsored resurrection.Television Without Pity eminence Glark relates his encounter with Bateman on the site's AD message board:
Today's Page Six chooses to torture mourning Arrested Development fans by tossing off a "We Hear" item reporting Showtime has resurrected the show for 26 (!) episodes. And yesterday, the Better Than Fudge blog updated an earlier item claiming that a cast member indicated that Showtime had picked up the show for 12 episodes. Says Fudge:
Now that we all watched the marathon Arrested Development finale Friday night — or, far more likely, now that we all DVRed the Arrested Development finale Friday night and watched it, hungover, Saturday afternoon — we know that the two hours of Bluthiness contained, like all episodes of the show, lots of densely layered facts and details. It's the perfect opportunity, then, for the Times's talented Ms. Stanley to show off her special skill — the utter inability to get facts and details right — and, to fully appreciate that skill, we really must flash back to her Friday review of the shows and see what she got wrong.
