David Cross, who portrayed Tobias Fünke on the acclaimed sitcom, discussed the show and a handful of other topics in a recent interview on The Daily Beast’s The Last Laugh podcast. Cross noted that a lack of scripts, extended shoots, and various tensions made it difficult for the cast and crew to work on the show and repeatedly stated the show would not be coming back. “We didn’t know what we were supposed to do, things weren’t making sense to us,” he says. “And we were doing reshoots on things because somebody thought of a joke three weeks later, so we had to reshoot something for a story thing that we had no concept of what was happening. It was a terrible way for actors to try to do what they do and there were a lot of frustrations early on, the shoot kept extending. And you know, you’re asking a lot of people, and especially older people who just don’t have the physical stamina that some younger cast and crew do. And it led to some tensions and it was a very bad way to work.”
“Arrested Development” ran for five seasons from 2003 to 2019. The show aired on Fox for three seasons before being cancelled in 2006 only to return for a fourth season on Netflix in 2013, followed by a fifth and final season that concluded in 2019. “Arrested Development” enjoyed critical acclaim throughout its run and was recently praised by IndieWire as one of the funniest television comedies of all time. Cross previously discussed the difficult work environment of “Arrested Development” in 2018 following a heated and highly-publicized New York Times interview with the show’s cast where star Jessica Walter was brought to tears while recalling being verbally harassed by co-star Jeffrey Tambor. “Arrested Development” aside, Cross discussed topics such as the results of the 2020 presidential election, the difficulties performing stand-up in the middle of a pandemic, and his future professional goals during the interview on The Last Laugh podcast. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
