Will Arnett Quotations

Well, we were never coming back to Fox... that was clear.

No, Arrested Development was such an amazing experience in every way, and you know it was very unique in that it was a show that received a lot of critical acclaim, and yet we didn't ever achieve the ratings that we wanted.

My first movie was this independent that I did on the Erie Canal in 1995, called Erie, that I don't know if you could even get, actually with Felicity Huffman. And then from that I did this film that was eventually called The Broken Giant later that fall. And then I kind of started getting into doing pilots.

And we... right from moment one, we were always kinda up against the wall a little bit when it came to the future of the show. There were always rumors.

The show had run its course on the Fox network.

This pilot, by far, was the best I ever read - and I hope that insults every other pilot I worked on.

Look, I get it; you come home, you work hard, and you turn on your TV... You kind of want to escape a little bit and be taken away by something. Our show required you to pay attention, and if that's not what you wanted to do, then it wasn't going to be for you, and that's OK.

Theres a lot of lying and these are people who are incredibly flawed, and not in very sort of empathetic ways, either. Some of the things they do are pretty awful and some of the things they do to each other are pretty awful.

It doesn't look great if you cancel the reigning Best Comedy Program, you know, you're gonna take a hit from a... from sort of a public relations standpoint.

Arrested Development opened a lot of doors for me.

Yeah, you know, within the context of TV families, these are pretty unsavory characters.

And I think that at a certain point, after all the time and all the conjecture and everything that had kind of gone on surrounding this show, I think that Mitch just felt like it was time to let it go. It was best for the show.

And then we've got Blades of Glory, and we've got Brothers Solomon, and I've got a script in development with this guy Chuck Martin who used to write on Arrested, and, you know, we have a few things in various stages of development.

But as a result of that, there was, once the show ended, there was this talk for sort of four, five months about what was going to happen, and if we were going to move to Showtime, and if we were going to be bought by ABC or whatever.

I mean, I gotta say one of the greatest victories on that show was when we got picked up for the back nine of the first season, and they made it a full order.

Well, no, I didn't because I didn't even know the nominations were coming out. I gotta say, it wasn't even on my radar. I hadn't... I hadn't even thought about it.

When it sort of finally sets in that you're not going to be doing that anymore... it's disappointing.

Because I think a lot of people felt like, ultimately - and this isn't the first time I've said this, so I'll bore you again with it - but ultimately it was... I think it felt like homework a bit for people.

But since day one, we've always been kinda up against it. So at the end, it's not surprising that we were kind of led along for so many months and didn't know what the fate of the show was gonna be. It was... in a weird way, just kind of that was the way it's always been.

I don't want to make a show about AA because it's a personal experience for anybody who is a part of that. My relationship with it has changed over the years, and I wanted the show to reflect that in a real way.

All jokes aside, it's a very difficult job playing the straight man. Jason is potentially the most brilliant straight man that ever was because he's also really funny while doing it, which is even harder. I've always seen myself playing characters who are flawed. We use comedy in our lives to obscure the drama.

The idea of the straight man is very important. But I'd rather it be somebody else, because it's not as fun. And when I say somebody else, of course I mean Jason Bateman. He's born to play boring characters because he's such a bore. He's one of the most boring human beings.

I've always maintained that I don't think comedy should be reviewed. I think it's un-reviewable, because it is so subjective.

That's kind of the nature of the profession I'm in. It's frustrating. Things don't go your way, and I was no exception, in that I spent many years struggling to get work, and there are a lot of people more talented than myself who got jobs before me. And I finally, after years and years and years, got lucky.

When you're young, you kind of take yourself seriously, and you think, like, "People need to see what I can do." And it's so laughable, especially with actors.

Because we have this whole other human being we have to think about other than ourselves. We had the luxury before of being totally self-centered.

You've got to rely on people that you trust and you love.

Even if you make a mistake, you can go back and do the right thing.

You don't always have to run. Take good time to watch first, then decide.

I want my son to wear a helmet 24 hours a day.

Arrested Development was such an amazing experience in every way, and you know it was very unique in that it was a show that received a lot of critical acclaim, and yet we didn't ever achieve the ratings that we wanted.

Arrested Development opened a lot of doors for me, and once I sort of became, I guess what you'd say "available," there was a lot of opportunity out there, and it's been nice; a lot of people have found it in their hearts to offer me movie parts.

Yeah, I don't think you can live anywhere else -- it's such a great city [New York]. L.A. is kind of a necessary evil, but man, I love going back to New York.

Everybody has some good in them and they can be relied on.

I want my son to wear a helmet 24 hours a day. If it was socially acceptable I'd be the first one to have my kid in a full helmet and like a cage across his face mask.

(On his Emmy nomination) I am humbled by the nomination. I got to work with a cast and writers made up of geniuses. The good news is I can finally realize my life long dream and buy my wife a solid gold speed boat.

It's very rare that people are exactly who they appear to be. Venice has a lot of that too, but the face of it is quite beautiful, interesting, and textured.

(on Blades of Glory) Playing the assholes in the movie is fun.

I often get, 'Oh, you always play the asshole.' An asshole is somebody who knows that they're doing it, but continues to behave a certain way. The one sort of common thread to me has always been that these are imperfect people.

Everything's not black and white. We choose to make bad decisions or not. I wanted to explore that and shine a light on it. Chip is trying to be a better person and lead a better life. His methods are just super flawed.

I never really spent time being jealous. Maybe I should have.

When all of your friends are getting pregnant, you start thinking about it. But for Amy and I, show business is our baby.

I remember asking my dad, "Why didn't you ever move to the States? You probably could have made a lot more money." My dad said, "Because I have an obligation to give back." I always admired him for that.

If you have a character that doesn't have anything wrong with him, there's nothing funny about it.

When I was in my 20s, I wanted to go after dramatic roles, and I didn't have a tremendous amount of success with that.

I probably suffered from ADHD, but they weren't so quick to diagnose it back then. For PE, they'd drop you in the woods with a compass and a pack of matches. It gave you confidence that you could rely on yourself.