Matt Damon Wanted to Be in ‘Arrested Development’ Movie

Jason Bateman remembers the “Arrested Development” film that almost came to be. Bateman said during a recent appearance on the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast, which you can see in the below video, that Matt Damon was interested in the project at one point. The only downside? Now, nobody “gives a shit” about bringing the film to the screen.

“Arrested Development” series ran from 2003 to 2006 on Fox and was later revived by Netflix for two additional seasons between 2013 and 2019. In the series, Bateman played Michael Bluth, who is tasked with running his eccentric family’s real estate empire after his father (Jeffrey Tambor) is arrested. Michael Cera played Bateman’s onscreen son, with Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, and Tony Hale as his siblings. Late actress Jessica Walter iconically played the boozy family matriarch Lucille. David Cross, Alia Shawkat, Henry Winkler, and Liza Minnelli co-starred.

Series creator Mitchell Hurwitz had voiced the possibility of a movie version as early as 2013. That spurred Damon to approach Bateman at a later point.

“I remember Matt Damon coming up to me at — I think it was like a Golden Globes or something — and I was so excited to meet him, and he was a huge fan of ‘Arrested Development,’” Bateman said. “He was saying, ‘You know, I really think I could play, because I hear you guys are doing the movie, I think I could… can I play you?’”

According to Bateman, show creator Hurwitz thought “the story of the ‘Arrested Development’ movie would be that in the show, [where] Hollywood wanted to make a movie about [the Bluth family], and we certainly couldn’t play ourselves, because we’re not actors.”

Damon could have starred as an actor (although it’s unclear if Damon would be playing himself) portraying Bateman’s Michael Bluth in the meta-movie. Bateman added that he, of course, would still be in the film, as his character Michael Bluth would be “on set, watching Matt Damon play Michael Bluth and be so excited.”

Bateman continued that “David Cross would play Tobias in the film as well because he was an actor” in the show. Yet that premise most likely won’t be made: Bateman didn’t mince words about the state of the “Arrested Development” fandom and cast.

“I don’t think anybody gives a shit,” Bateman said when asked if the movie could still get greenlit. “I think it’s done.”

Bateman’s co-star Walters died in 2021. Martin Mull, who also appeared on the series, passed in 2024.