Peter Serafinowicz Has A Part In The (Never-Happening) 'Arrested Development' Movie

by Oliver Lyttelton
February 4, 2011 2:59 AM
4 Comments

Will Now Spend The Rest Of His Life Saying 'It's Still Being Written' In Interviews

If you're not familiar with Peter Serafinowicz, rest assured, he's a very, very funny man. First coming to prominence as the voice of Darth Maul in "The Phantom Menace," the actor spent years cropping up in the best of British comedies like "Spaced," "Black Books" and "Look Around You," as well as a major supporting role in "Shaun of the Dead." In recent years, however, he's gone from strength to strength; with his absurdist sketch show "The Peter Serafinowicz Show" becoming a cult hit (watch a highlight below), he's started to make waves in the US, providing most of the few laughs in the Vince Vaughn/Jon Favreau vehicle "Couples Retreat," and consistently stealing the show in "Running Wilde," the now canceled sitcom from "Arrested Development" creator Mitchell Hurwitz.

He's got more big-screen roles on the way, including the Neil Patrick Harris indie comedy "The Best and the Brightest" and playing Paul McCartney in Robert Zemeckis' mo-cap remake of "Yellow Submarine" (assuming it ever happens, that is), but Serafinowicz is now looking to appear in a project far more anticipated than any of these.

A recent interview with comedy site Splitsider has Serafinowicz revealing that working with Hurwitz and Will Arnett on "Running Wilde" has landed him a part in the much-talked-about "Arrested Development" movie, with the actor telling the site: "Mitch told me is that he's writing me into the Arrested Development movie, which I'm super excited about." The film's been talked about endlessly by the show's cast in interviews, but Serafinowicz confirms that, with "Running Wilde" now officially canceled by Fox, it's firmly back on the agenda: "It's all properly happening. I don't know anything about it other than that he's writing it and it's happening and I'm going to be in it, apparently."

Of course, this is by no means the first time that an actor involved in the project has said that the film was definitely happening -- click here for the long, long, long list of the show's cast members flying the flag for the reunion movie in interviews. We love the show as much as anyone, but considering it was never a commercial behemoth, and the logistics of gathering the cast together again are tricky -- although with one-time hold-out Michael Cera no longer really the prospective A-lister he seemed to be after "Juno" and "Superbad," we suppose it's looking slightly more likely now.

However, with the show's patron and narrator Ron Howard likely to be tied up for the next few years on "The Dark Tower," the major champion of the project may be too busy to fight in its corner, and "Serenity" showed a few years back that sadly-canceled TV shows won't magically become gigantic hits on the big screen. Still, if it ever happens, it'll be good to see Serafinowicz in there, and if it doesn't, people interviewing the actor in years to come now have their final question sorted.

More: Films, Actors, Arrested Development, Peter Serafinowicz

4 Comments

| Reply
geha714 | February 4, 2011 5:16 AMReply

Duane Benzie FTW!
Kevin Jagernauth | February 4, 2011 4:17 AMReply

I hope his never gets made (and it probably won't). At this point any film will only be a total disappointment.
Piotr | February 4, 2011 4:15 AMReply

Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but I get the impression they are not only going to do it, they are going to hit it out of the park. I imagine in my mind's eye that Hurwitz has been taking his sweet time tweaking the script for maximum comedy. They'll also do the whole thing as a big screen doc joke, like how the TV show was a small screen doc joke. Expect the narration to return, would be my guess.
Gordon | February 4, 2011 3:46 AMReply

Best sub-head ever! :)

I don't think the show ever took that much of Ron Howard's time, though. It'd take like one day in a sound booth, y'know? (Besides, I would hope… in part because I generally dislike narration in features, and it was my least favorite part of the show… that his narration would be kept to a minimum in a film.)