A Big Fuck Off to the Men of Arrested Development

There is a lengthy Q&A in the New York Times with the cast of Arrested Development ahead of the show’s fifth season premiering at the end of May. Because the show still includes Jeffrey Tambor, recently fired from Transparent after sexual harassment allegations, the conversation eventually turns to Tambor’s behavior on the set of Arrested Development. Reportedly, there was an incident on set in which Tambor yelled at his co-star Jessica Walter (the delightful Lucille Bluth), and all of the men on the show seem disturbingly interested in brushing it off.

Here are some select passages.

I have to address the elephant in the room, which is the allegations from the “Transparent” set. The “Arrested Development” cast has been publicly supportive. Jeffrey, if there’s another season, do you expect to be a part of it?

TAMBOR: I surely hope so.

BATEMAN: Well, I won’t do it without you. I can tell you that.

To which I say: FUCK OFF!

From the Hollywood Reporter interview, you talked about how you yelled at directors, assistant directors, the “Transparent” creator Jill Soloway. You even said at one point you lashed out at —

WALTER: Jessica Walter.

[LAUGHTER]

BATEMAN: Which we’ve all done, by the way.

WALTER: Oh! You’ve never yelled at me.

BATEMAN: Not to belittle what happened.

WALTER: You’ve never yelled at me like that.

BATEMAN: But this is a family and families, you know, have love, laughter, arguments — again, not to belittle it, but a lot of stuff happens in 15 years. I know nothing about “Transparent” but I do know a lot about “Arrested Development.” And I can say that no matter what anybody in this room has ever done — and we’ve all done a lot, with each other, for each other, against each other — I wouldn’t trade it for the world and I have zero complaints.

FUCK OFF!

CROSS: You know, one thing that Jeffrey has said a number of times that I think is important, that you don’t often hear from somebody in his position, is that he learned from the experience and he’s listening and learning and growing. That’s important to remember.

FUCK OFF!

If someone approached you and said, “O.K., here’s an actor that admits he routinely yells at directors, at assistant directors, at co-workers, assistants,” would you hire that person?

TAMBOR: I would hire that person if that person said, you know, “I’ve reckoned with this.”

YOUR ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION DOESN’T MATTER AND ALSO, FUCK OFF!

BATEMAN: Again, not to belittle it or excuse it or anything, but in the entertainment industry it is incredibly common to have people who are, in quotes, “difficult.” And when you’re in a privileged position to hire people, or have an influence in who does get hired, you make phone calls. And you say, “Hey, so I’ve heard X about person Y, tell me about that.” And what you learn is context. And you learn about character and you learn about work habits, work ethics, and you start to understand. Because it’s a very amorphous process, this sort of [expletive] that we do, you know, making up fake life. It’s a weird thing, and it is a breeding ground for atypical behavior and certain people have certain processes.

THIS IS NOT SIMPLY “DIFFICULT” BEHAVIOR, FUCK OFF!

HALE: But I will say, to Jason’s point, we can be honest about the fact that — and not to build a thing — we’ve all had moments.

WALTER: But not like that, not like that. That was bad.

HALE: Not like that. But I’m saying we’ve worked together 15 years, there has been other points of anger coming out.

FUCK OFF!

CROSS: I agree with everybody. And I think it’s important to note — and it hasn’t been noted — that this kind of behavior that’s being described, it didn’t just come out of the blue. It wasn’t zero to 60. There is a cumulative effect sometimes.

BATEMAN: You have different people’s processes that converge and collide at times. So Jeffrey is not just popping off, coming out of his car and some unhinged guy.