And you thought you were anxious for the Arrested Development movie to get off the ground. While David Cross waits for the opportunity to play Tobias Funke again, he stays busy with projects both impressive (Human Giant) and embarrassing (Year One). Cross has admitted in the past that his involvement in the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise have been for the paycheck. Now, with this third installment about to hit theaters, Cross comes out and says this most recent one was hell on earth.
"This last film was literally, without question, the most unpleasant experience I’ve ever had in my professional life," Cross tells The Playlist, choosing not to mince words about Chip-Wrecked. "It’s safe to say I won’t be working with some of those people ever again."
Cross, who only was contractually obligated to do three, doesn’t have to come back to the franchise, but he was quick to back-pedal… kind of. "Not the actors. And the director [Mike Mitchell] was great. We got along. There were a couple of people, though…it was just a really awful, unpleasant experience."
Now, I’ve seen Chip-Wrecked. (Don’t dare judge me. I have two young sons.) And Cross, for the most part, had to humiliate himself by wearing a bird suit for the duration of the film. He’s a mascot of a cruise line, and he claims not to have clothes on under the suit, so he stays in it as he and Jason Lee explore an island. But the actor did get to spend a lot of time on a cruise ship and on a tropical island for the benefit of the shoot, so it wasn’t like he was making a Saw movie in some dirty basement somewhere. Still, it sounds like you can count Cross out of any Chipmunks sequels, which might be best for everyone.
