Before Tony Hale landed the role of Buster Bluth on Arrested Development in 2003, he was a largely unknown actor best remembered for dancing to Styxs Mr. Roboto in a 1999 Volkswagen commercial.He more than held his own in the shows large ensemble of veteran actors, though, and since the show went off the air in 2006, he has worked on such shows as Chuck and Numb3rs. Over the past two years, hes played the vice presidents personal aide Gary Walsh on HBOs Veep, and he took time last year to revisit Buster in the forthcoming new season of Arrested Development.
Rolling Stone spoke to Hale about bringing Buster Bluth back to life and why the kid is still terrified of everything. (Come back tomorrow for a Q&A with the only member of the Arrested Development team whose sitcom experience goes back to 1960.)
Start by telling me how Arrested Development changed your life.
I was mainly doing commercials and theater in New York when the show started in 2003. I was living in New York and about to get married. I auditioned on tape and it was sent off to New York. You kind of realize that even getting called back is a long shot, so when I got called back to L.A., I was just flipping out. It was incredibly surreal. I remember going out there to shoot the pilot. I didnt have any underwear, so I had to go to Old Navy and buy some. At the time I didnt realize I was going there to shoot the pilot, which was crazy fun.
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Then, days before I got married, the show got picked up. My wife was working as a makeup artist on Saturday Night Live. Shed been there for eight years and she had to sacrifice her job so we could move to Los Angeles. It was fantastic and surreal. We were newly married and it was just a wild time
The show struggled from the very beginning to reach a wide audience. Why do you think that was?
I think there was just an adjustment period because it was such a new style. Nowadays thats more common, but it was very new then. Also, after the show ended, people told me they first saw it on DVD. People were circulating those DVDs and they adjusted to the style and they saw the depth of all the inside jokes and the callbacks to previous episodes. People could binge-watch and that helped them really appreciate it.
Cartoons like Family Guy and Futurama have come back from the dead, but its quite rare for a live-action show.
Youre right. Its rare. Also, youre dealing with nine cast members that have done so many different things. But its a testament to the writing, because every single person on the cast, when they heard it was happening, were like, Yes. We all have tremendous respect for [creator] Mitch Hurwitz. We know its gonna be full of surprises, and thats an absolute dream. They totally think outside the box. You know its gonna be a roller-coaster ride.
Was the scheduling tough for you because of Veep?
It was a little challenging, but I had finished most of my stuff on Arrested before we started Veep. But there was a couple of weekends I had to fly back, but it was pretty minimal. I was very grateful it all worked out so well.
Tell me about walking back on the set again and seeing everything rebuilt just like it was 10 years ago.
It was nuts. As Portia [de Rossi] said, it really felt like a time warp. Youre in the same costume. All of a sudden, Im putting on Busters argyle socks and his saddle shoes, and all his pastels and the glasses and the hook. You never think youll slip back into that again. Theres a little mourning process when you leave a show. You know it was a fantastic time, but you say goodbye to the character. To be able to reunite with the character was nuts.
I will say, and Ive said this before, I was a little intimidated because there had been this wave of expectation. People are really excited and have gotten really into the show. You think, Oh crap, can I match that? But there was something about Jessica Walters voice. She plays my mother. Shes a comic genius and her timing. . . but hearing her voice and the way she talks to Buster, it just all clicked in. Its this codependent, ridiculously unhealthy relationship, her demeaning, abusive tone. . . It was, like, Pavlovian. I was like, Im in. And then it all came back and it was like riding a bike again.
How many total weeks did you work on the show?
It was off and on, but Id see maybe two and a half total.
And you filmed out of sequence, too.
Yeah. Thats another thing. You come in and youre reading a script and youre like, I dont Each episode is based on one character. Youre kind of like, I dont know anything thats happening. But we trust Mitch. Its like, I just know hes gonna work this out and its gonna be a fantastic matrix of comedy. Id be doing stuff and have no idea how it works in the broader picture, but I trust the whole science experiment thats happening in Mitchs head. Im excited to see how it works out.
Whats happened to Buster since weve last seen him?
I can honestly say that the unhealthy relationship with his mother lives on. The thought of him leaving his mothers side is just emotional suicide. Its hard to even narrow it down. Buster is just one of those characters, almost like Forrest Gump, just way weirder. He places himself in these situations and he doesnt know whats happening. He doesnt even know how he got there, and all of a sudden, things are happening around him and he just goes with the flow.
People have obviously asked me whats going to happen in the series, but I almost dont want to share anything because I want people to have that surprise. I remember when I was watching Lost, which I loved. I didnt know what was going on, but I still loved it. I remember reading one word in the press: flash-forward. I had not seen the future episodes and I was like, Crap! I wish I hadnt seen that.
I want people to ride that wave of surprise, because the way Mitch is doing it is like a big game of Clue. Maybe thats not the best example, but its kind of a big puzzle. . . Im probability the worst person to ask because I dont have any idea whats going on.
I saw the first episode, and its clear Buster didnt mature much in the past seven years.
Oh, God no. Honestly, I think theres no maturity. Theres regression. Theyve fallen off. Some people watch this show because it makes any family in the world look amazing. People watch the Kardashians and go, Yeah, were not them. They watch the Bluths and they go, Oh, thank God we arent them.
It has to be some of the worst parenting on TV.
Oh, there is no parenting. [laughs] Theres just, like, Fend for yourself. Everybody is so self-involved. If they were in a room together, it would probably take them five minutes to realize that other people were in the room. Theyre just constantly thinking about themselves. Buster lives in a state of complete fear, so all hes thinking about is anxiety and fear. Everybody is in their own little world, and they just happen to put all these incredibly self-involved, isolated people together and they just stare at each other and pick each other apart.
I love all your scenes with Liza Minnelli. She has such great comedic timing.
Shes the best. I just love being with her and hearing her stories. She took my wife and I out to lunch once when we were shooting the first series. . . When she came on set, I would just sit there and listen to her stories. They dont come at all from a place of ego or listen to my life. She was raised on the MGM lot and she told one story after another. In this one story, she was in London with her mother and Vivian Leigh and youre just like, What? Shes had such a colorful life. I never wanted her to stop talking. I could listen to her all day long.
What was it like during the brief period when the entire cast was on set together last year?
I think it was back in August when we were all in the penthouse together. It was surreal. You look around and Michael Cera is older. Alia [Shawkat] is older. Weve all had babies. . . They recreated the penthouse to look exactly how it was and Im looking over at Jessicas room. . . It was just very surreal and awesome at the same time.