Before the question was even asked, Jeffrey Tambor had the answer ready, on command after years of inquiry.
Yes, the "Arrested Development" movie is going to be made.
"I think what's coming down is, certainly, the negotiation over my trailer is what I think is stopping people," he laughed.
"No, it's all going straight, everyone's on board, I know they're writing, and maybe next time this year we'll be having this conversation."
That means the Bluth family, the motley crew of Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia De Rossi, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, David Cross and Tony Hale will return for the first time since their wildly-maligned cancellation by FOX following the 2006 TV season. A cult classic whose fan base wasn't understood or appreciated by FOX at the time, it's gone on to massive DVD sales and has inspired a consistent internet campaign for a big screen revival.
Tambor's confirmation follows creator/producer Mitch Hurwitz's semi-promise in February, when he tried not to get the show's rabid fans' hopes up too high.
"But I don't like to toy with the affections of our fans," Hurwitz said at the time. "They've been so supportive and we're so grateful, so I kind of hate to answer the question until I can say, 'Yep, we've shot it, it opens next week'. Otherwise it feels like we're toying with people and we do not mean to do that. It has just taken a while to get it going."
Now, fans can get a little bit more hopeful.
Tambor is in the midst of promoting his new film with Colin Hanks, the subversive serial killer romantic comedy, "Lucky," in which he, for once, plays the straight man, a detective working to figure out the mysterious disappearance of a number of young, blonde women from a small city in Iowa. It is a departure from his character on "Arrested," the patriarch George Bluth, whom, now, he'll also portray on the screen.
Classic Arrested Development Clip
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