Q&A: David Cross on Brunch, Bonnaroo and ‘Arrested Development’ Movie Hopes
In It’s a Disaster, out this Friday, David Cross plays Glenn, a teacher who finds himself at brunch on the morning of the apocalypse. Cross spoke with Rolling Stone about late-morning meals, reuniting with Tobias Fünke, and the long-rumored Arrested Development movie (spoiler alert: there’s a plan).
It’s a Disaster is set at a couple’s brunch. What’s your position on late-morning meals?
I shift between second and shortstop. Think of me as a middle infield, utility guy.
So . . . you’re not against brunch as a concept?
No, why would I be? That’s retarded.
Well, there’s a lot of anti-brunch sentiment out there.
Those people are just trying to find something to be, you know, opinionated about.
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Your character, Glenn, goes on a terrible third date. Have you ever had a similar experience?
Oh God, yes. This is going to sound crass, but if I’m being honest, it’s usually when you’ve had a one-night stand, but it turns into a sort of reluctant relationship, when it was never meant to be anything. It’s usually the third date when it gets like, “OK, well, anyway, um, it was, I’ll call you.” By then it’s pretty obvious.
You’ll be at Bonnaroo for the comedy lineup this summer. Are you planning anything special?
That’s not the place to try new stuff or something that might include different forms of media. They’re always fun, but it’s just a different type of atmosphere. That’s not to say I won’t do something they’ve never heard before, but I don’t think there will be some of the stuff I occasionally do, like a fake person in the audience.
So no David Cross hologram?
We have the technology, but limited funds. Unless – can you get a David Cross hologram for under a hundred bucks?
New Arrested Development episodes start streaming on Netflix in May. Did you miss Tobias?
No, but we were able to get together a few times. I ran into him in Mozambique. I was scuba diving in the Indian Ocean and he popped up. We had lunch, which was brief but still good. Then I saw him in Whistler. I was there picking dippleberries, and ran into him in the lift area. Again, we hung out and had dinner. Actually, I’d say I kind of missed him.
And what has he been up to?
I don’t pry into his personal life, because he’s a fictional character, so really what’s the point? It’s all based on a wobbly foundation of lies. I don’t want to be the guy to call Jenga on that.
There will be a whole episode devoted to him this season. Was there anything you wanted to do in particular?
I definitely had my hopes of things that might happen, which were less about what the character might do and more about who he’d interact with. My one regret about Tobias is that he interacts more with the other characters than he does with the rest of the Bluth family. I had zero interaction with George Sr. or George Michael. And in a selfish way, I just wanted to work with those actors.
How did the vibe on set differ at Netflix than at Fox?
[Laughs] Oh man. It was as opposite as you can get. When we did the show for Fox, we all felt under-appreciated, and you really got the sense that we were a bit of a burden to them. The fact that we won an Emmy was the worst thing in the world – they would have loved to cancel us. The last season, after the fourth or fifth episode, we were going to work everyday wondering, “Is this the week they’re going to cancel us?” We all felt it. But with Netflix, it was just the opposite. They wanted us there. They stayed out of the writer’s room. They stayed off the set.
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Do you think fans will continue demanding a movie even after they watch the new episodes?
I don’t know. I still wonder if a movie will work. For personal, selfish reasons, I would love to do a movie. I would love to keep the character and this family going. I know what the plan is, and I would love an opportunity to get to do it. Whether that happens, I don’t know. But I want to work with these people for the rest of my life.
You’re just not sure if it will work, or you’re just not sure it will happen?
Both. I think it will work. But the idea of going into a theater and watching the Bluth family on a massive screen, I’m not sure if that experience will work. I think it would be weird and unsettling, but who knows. But there is a plan?
There is certainly an idea that’s flushed out and ready to be written. But I can’t say what it is.
But you’d be into it if it were an option.
Absolutely.