 | Arrested Development: Encyclopedia II - Arrested Development - Characters
Arrested Development - Characters
Main articles: Characters from Arrested Development, and [[]], and [[]], and [[]], and [[]]
The plot for Arrested Development revolves around the members of the Bluth family, who generally lead excessive lifestyles. At the center of the show is the relatively honorable Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman), who strives to do the right thing and keep his family together, despite their materialism, selfishness and manipulation. His teenage son, George Michael (Michael Cera), has the same qualities of decency, but feels a constant pressure to live up to his father's expectations, and is reluctantly willing to follow his father's plans, even if they sometimes conflict with his own.
Michael's father George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor), the patriarch of the family, is the founder of the Bluth Company, whose primary operations are building and marketing mini-mansions. At times dictatorial, George Sr. goes to considerable lengths to manipulate and control his family. His wife, and Michael's mother, Lucille (Jessica Walter), is equally manipulative, as well as materialistic, and hypercritical of every member of her family. In particular, she has a tight grip on her youngest son, Byron "Buster" Bluth (Tony Hale), who, as a result of his mother's dominance and sheltering, is unstable, socially inept and prone to panic attacks.
Michael's older brother GOB (George Oscar Bluth; pronounced /dʒoʊb/ "Jobe"), played by Will Arnett, is an unsuccessful professional magician whose business and personal schemes usually fail. He primarily uses a Segway for transportation, and sometimes converses with others from it while stationary, as if it were a pulpit. GOB is used by his father to undermine Michael's control of the family business. Michael's twin sister Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) is a self-proclaimed activist, who is flamboyant and materialistic, continually desiring to be the center of attention. She enjoys being objectified, but also protests it. She is married to Tobias Fünke (David Cross), a discredited psychiatrist, aspiring actor, and "never-nude", whose language and behavior often have homosexual connotations. Their attention-starved daughter Mae "Maeby" Fünke (Alia Shawkat) is the polar opposite of her cousin George Michael — skipping school, cheating on homework, and stealing money from the family's banana-stand business. The ever-rebellious teen, Maeby finds her chief motivation in going against her parents' wishes.
Several other characters regularly appear in minor roles. George Sr.'s identical twin brother Oscar (also played by Jeffrey Tambor) is a lethargic ex-hippie seeking the affection of George's wife Lucille. Lucille Austero, or "Lucille 2", played by Liza Minnelli, is Lucille's rival and Buster's love interest. Carl Weathers plays a parody of himself, as an unemployed, ultra-cheapskate actor.
Other notable characters include: Annyong (Justin Lee), Lucille's adopted Korean child and Buster's rival; Kitty Sanchez (Judy Greer), George Sr.'s former secretary; Barry Zuckerkorn (Henry Winkler), the family attorney; Ann Veal (Mae Whitman), George Michael's deeply religious girlfriend; Steve Holt (Justin Grant Wade), GOB's illegitimate son. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Charlize Theron, Amy Poehler, Ben Stiller and Scott Baio also play recurring characters.
Arrested Development - Casting
The most difficult part for casting the series involved finding people who would be believable as a family. Alia Shawkat was the first person cast. Michael Cera, Tony Hale, and Jessica Walter were cast from video tapes and flown in to audition for Fox. Jason Bateman and Portia de Rossi both read and auditioned for the network, and were immediately chosen. The character of GOB was the most challenging to cast. When Will Arnett auditioned, he depicted the character in an interesting way, different from expectations; he was chosen immediately. The characters of Tobias and George Sr. were originally going to have minor roles, but David Cross's and Jeffrey Tambor's portrayals mixed well with the rest of the characters, and they were given more significant parts.[2]
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 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Characters", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
