Jason Bateman Talks Arrested Development Movie

The cult show's star dishes to us about what to expect in the big-screen adaptation

By Becky Bain Aug 31, 2009 12:09 PMTags
Jason BatemanJeffrey Mayer/Getty Images

We know not every single one of you out there is head-over-heels for Robert Pattinson—maybe you're more into the less obvious hotties running around H'wood? Well, we've had our own geek crush on the totally adorable Jason Bateman ever since he starred on canceled cult fave Arrested Development, and we were lucky to make fluttery eyes at the funnyguy at the premiere of his latest flick, Extract.

Jase was a good sport about yakking to us about his famous costars Ben Affleck and Jen Garner, but we couldn't let a dish session go by without asking about the eagerly anticipated big-screen follow-up to his hilarious show. So is Batman as excited as we are about the Arrested Development movie?

"It's gonna be a miniseries first," deadpans J.B.

So how's A.D. gonna get the big-screen treatment? Pregnancies? Deaths? High-speed car chases? Celebrity cameos? Michael Bluth himself fills us in:

"S--t is gonna blow up!" promised Bateman. "It'll be longer! Pictures will be bigger!" Oh, you're such a tease, Jase!

So is the show's superquick humor gonna work on the big-screen?

Said J.B.: "I think it's a little bit more appropriate than [watching from] your couch where you can get distracted. Hopefully being in a dark theater where you're somewhere locked in will be helpful in appreciating the density of [creator] Mitch Hurwitz's writing. If you miss just a little bit of what he's saying or doing, you might miss about twelve jokes."

Gotta ask, since A.D. got booted off the boob tube, you and Michael Cera both starred in megahit Juno. Does the A.D. movie have to have an indie hipster soundtrack now that you're associated with that flick?

Batman shrugged, but added, "I imagine there will be at least one ukulele."

Since Jason's either left out of creative meetings or is just playing coy with us, we'll tell ya what we really want in the A.D. movie: celebrity cameos, duh!

Don't tell me Portia di Rossi can't get Ellen to swing by the set, or David Cross won't bring his GF, Amber Tamblyn, by for a guest spot.

In fact, Ron Howard's producing the damn thing—can he get his daughter Bryce Dallas Howard to invite some Twilight babes over for walk-on? Would sure be nice to see the angsty lot of 'em smile in a comedy for once!