Sometimes, awesomeness needs to be documented.
I really wish I were better at blogging, but I hate blogging stuff that I feel are too insignificant - that's what Facebook statuses are for :)
However, every now and then, I think "I should blog about this", and then I decide halfway through writing it that no one will read it or care, so I have a dozen or so half written blogs saved in Notepad files all over the desktop of my laptop (some of those are entitled "Music", "Perspective", "Blergh", and "Crap" - clearly I need to get better at labeling these things).
But this.. This, I feel is worth blogging about. If not for other people to enjoy, then at least for (Kimmie and) me to remember the awesomeness that transpired until the day we die.
Because this morning, we were on the set of Arrested Development.
WARNING: THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS. BUT, THEY ARE CLEARLY MARKED!
If you're asking yourself what Arrested Development is, then please leave. Now. Okay, just kidding. Just know that Arrested Development is one of the greatest shows. Ever. (I'll explain a little more about it later as I explain how the evening/morning unfolded.. Or, actually, you can always just go read the IMDB or Wikipedia entries on it)
It was about 11:30, and I got a Facebook message from my dear friend, Kimmie - whom I had just left about an hour before from a girls night with some other friends. All the message said was "Kelsey... i may have just found the current arrested development set...." After several exclamation marks, TALKING IN ALL CAPS, and Kimmie doing some awesome super sleuthing.. She asked me "are you feeling crazy?" to which I responded with "always!".. And a quick hair blow dry, three outfits, and 15 minutes later, we were on our way!
Now, how did we know where to go? Let me just tell you that Kimmie is amazing at figuring this stuff out. We're both pretty good at finding our way around the internet, but last night.. She won. And I am perfectly okay with that. When Kimmie got home, she saw that her friend, Luke (more on him later) posted "They are filming Arrested Development down the street from where I live. I am there. It is amazing." on Facebook. Kimmie knew he lived in Long Beach. She then did a quick search on Google for "Arrested Development filming Long Beach" and got to a site that said "Arrested Development is filming at the Aquarium in Long Beach on Saturday". Also, a hashtag search on Twitter for ArrestedDevelopment lead us to another guy that was on the set and posted a picture of Jason Bateman about 5 minutes earlier. So we knew it was happening. Right then.
When we got off the freeway in Long Beach, the next question was "Okay, where exactly by the aquarium are they filming?". This question was almost immediately answered by the giant, bright light right in front of us. We parked the car and ran to the light (I know in movies they always try to run away from the bright light, as that tends to mean death.. But if I were to run into Michael Cera or Jason Bateman on my way to death.. I'm okay with that).
We walked into the round-about by the Long Beach pier, and saw video equipment, a catering cart thing, and some white vans with tinted windows pulling away - so it was safe to assume that they were either filming Arrested Development, or some kidnappers had some high quality ransom videos being made.
It was now 12:30AM, and when we walked up to the pier, there were lights everywhere and tons of props (**SPOILER** there were carnival booths, Mexican flags, and pinatas everywhere! **END SPOILER**). We walked up to the caution taped area, and met a Security Guard - his name was Darryl. Darryl asked us what we were doing there, and Kimmie and I then proceeded to overwhelm him with Arrested Development plots, characters, and opinions, and explained how amazing it was that this show was canceled after three seasons, and now 6 years later they're filming a 4th season AND a movie (personally, I think sixseasonsandamovie is a better catchphrase, but that's for another awesome show in another post). He stood there with his eyes wide. After we finished, we asked him if he'd want to watch the show. Didn't quite get the response we were hoping for (we got an "eh") - Mental Note: Must reign in the fan-girly-ness around non-fans. It was while we were talking, that I spotted the top of the Stair Car behind his head. I pointed at it and said "Oh my gosh, that's the Stair Car". He looked at me like I was crazy, and I then proceeded to explain that the family was really rich, and then lost all their money and lost basically everything - including their airplane, but they got to keep the Stair Car. He then took a few steps backed and peeked around the corner, and seemed a little surprised that yes, I in fact was telling the truth that it was a Stair Car, and I really did recognize it just by the top. At that point Kimmie and I **SPOILER** realized that the top of the Stair Car didn't say "Bluth Company" anymore, but it said "Austero Bluth Company" (photo by Luke) on it - Yes! As in Lucille 2's last name! **END SPOILER** tried to get a good picture of it, but we were too far away, and our (clearly not as close as I thought we were) friend Darryl wouldn't risk his job to get the picture for us. Psh.
At some point during our geeking out over being on the set, Darryl explained that the cast was on a lunch break (yes, at 12:30AM), and that they'll be back in about a half hour. So Kimmie and I decided to see if we could get a better view on the other side of where we were at.
We walked around, and walked right past Mitch Hurwitz talking with some other people (Mitch Hurwitz is the brains behind Arrested Development). I tried to take some pictures while "staying cool" and walking.. But that was a fail. We kept walking and ended up a lot closer to where the (picture might be a **SPOILER**) actual filming was going to resume. Oh. Excitement.
We walked back to where we saw Mr. Hurwitz, and Kimmie spotted Luke (who we first found out about this from - because of his Facebook), and we started talking to him. Conveniently, he was hanging out by his bike, which was about.. 15 feet from Mr. Hurtwitz (who was holding a ukelele or mandolin, which made Kimmie quite excited). Oh, and what? A closer look - he's also standing by Jeffrey Tambor (aka George Bluth)!!!!! I tried to take a few more pictures.. And was depressed by the outcome. Stood there talking to Luke, and he gave us the low down - he'd been there for FOUR HOURS already, and had only seem them film one scene **SPOILER** and it involved Lindsay and Lucille 2 giving speeches of some sort from the top of the Stair Car and throwing candy to the people down below.. And then Michael falling down the stairs of the Stair Car **END SPOILER**. He told us who was on set that he'd seen (obviously Jeffrey Tambor, but also Jason Bateman (Michael Bluth), Portia de Rossi (Linsday Bluth Funke), and Liza Minnelli (Lucille 2/Austero)), and that it looked like Michael Cera (George Michael Bluth), David Cross (Tobias Funke), Alia Shawkat (Maebe Funke), Jessica Walter (Lucille Bluth), and Tony Hale (Buster Bluth) weren't filming tonight. We then saw Mr. Hurwitz and Mr. Tambor head back over to the set, so we followed - from a safe, noncreepy distance.
Got over to (possible **SPOILER** in photo) where they were filming and stood there behind the caution tape. At one point, the caution tape broke, and Kimmie had to tie it back together - she can officially say that she was a part in helping keep back the masses (and by masses, I mean her, Luke, me, and the other random couples and people that would show up throughout the early morning). We started seeing a bunch of extras walk over. All in very 90's/Arrested Development type clothing - many sweater vests and business clothes (almost like workers from the Bluth offices). **SPOILER** Most of them were also wearing sombreros. **END SPOILER**
While we were standing behind the caution tape, this guy walked past and told us that he's "in charge of the truck". I assumed he met a food truck or trailer.. Learned that when he said "truck", he meant "Stair Car".. His job is strictly to take care of the Stair Car. Love it.
We saw Jason Bateman's stunt double way before we saw him. Then we saw Liza Minnelli climbing the Star Car. I decided that she is beautiful - even smoking a cigarette. We watched them do one take of Jason Bateman's stunt double **SPOILER** doing the chicken dance and then falling down the stars of the Stair Car **END SPOILER**.. And when he was done, he left the set walking right under the caution tape (that Kimmie fixed), and I told him "Nice fall!" and he said "Thanks!".
Then Jason Bateman got up there and gave a speech **SPOILER** where he repeatedly said "Sally" (as in Sally Sitwell!?!?) **END SPOILER**. They did quite a few takes of this, and while he was up there, Luke spotted Tony Hale - not doing a scene, but standing with the crew. And then someone said something about doing the next scene over on the pier, and we heard them say "Portia".. And they started moving everyone around.
At this point, Jason Bateman came up to the level where we were standing (there were a few different ground levels over there, and we were up a few steps from where the shots were taking place) and was about 15 feet in front of us. I snapped a picture real quick, and the PA standing by us (who had already warned me once about taking pictures) said "hey friend, I saw that.." and I apologized and said that I just couldn't help myself... I then gave Kimmie my phone to hold, since apparently I have no self control.
After standing around for a little bit longer, we decided to head over by the pier to where they'd be shooting the next scene (which is where we met Darryl earlier in the night/morning). On our way over there, we walked passed a guy in a red shirt and baseball hat, and I didn't think anything of it, until about two seconds later, Luke said "That's Tony Hale!". Kimmie and I turned around, and sure enough - Buster! A few other people were around us, and they ran after him and asked for a picture. He did (it's about 1:50AM at this point). He started walking toward the white van, and I was torn between getting a picture of Tony Hale, and letting him go. I let out a little "Mister Hale??" but he was far away at this point, and snuck into the van and was on his way.
Slightly disappointed, we turned around to keep walking towards the pier, when Luke again said something amazing, "It's Jason Bateman!".. And sure enough, walking right towards us was Jason Bateman! Kimmie and I mumbled back and forth "Should we ask?" "Let's ask.." "Luke, you ask for us!" "Okay.. Let's ask.".. And in unison we were like "Mr. Bateman.. May we get a picture?" And he said sure! He was walking with another guy, who took my phone to take a picture of us. And I know this might not mean as much to anyone else as it does to Kimmie and me, but I was so touched by the fact that the guy took a picture of us, looked at it, noticed that the lighting was all funky, so he repositioned us so that there were no shadows, and he took another one (even though we would have been BEYOND happy with just the first one)! We told Mr. Bateman that we thought he was amazing and thanked him.. And then felt bad because other people saw that he took pictures with us, so they wanted them, too.. And he took them - but you just know he was tired - it was 2 in the morning!
Kimmie and I walked away with that feeling of "Yep. I could die happy right now." It was amazing.
After that, we hung out for another half hour waiting for them to start filming again. There was a sign that says **SPOILER**"Cinco de Quatro"**END SPOILER** hanging over the pier. I have no idea what it means in regards to the episode, but I am so excited. At 2:30, all I could think was "I have to teach Sunday School in almost 7 hours"... So we headed to the car.
BUT, on the way to the car, there was a group of very happy, very intoxicated people that thought that Luke was famous, and asked to take pictures with him. It was so funny. Luke kept saying "Why are we taking pictures?" and they were like "Hahah - you're funny!".. hahaha Maybe they thought he looked like David Cross.. Not sure. But it was funny.
Finally got home around 3AM.
Best. Late. Night. Spontaneous. Adventure. Ever.
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