Alia Shawkat Wishes She Said More During That Trainwreck "Arrested Development" Interview

Alia Shawkat has broken her silence.

A few weeks back, in the lead up to the release of Season Five of Arrested Development, the New York Times had an interview with some of the cast, which could've easily been confused for a dumpster fire.

The steaming mess of an interview derailed after the reporter brought up a previous interview where Jeffrey Tambor (George Bluth Sr.) mentioned that he had a "blowup" with co-star Jessica Walter (Lucille Bluth).

Jason Bateman (Michael Bluth) and Tony Hale (Buster Bluth) chimed in to defend Tambor by saying they, by the way, had all done the same at some point.

Walter was visibly upset as her male co-stars tried to justify Tambor's actions, but she explained she had forgiven Tambor now.

"In like almost 60 years of working, I've never had anybody yell at me like that on a set. And it's hard to deal with, but I'm over it now," she said.

Alia Shawkat, who plays Maeby Fünke in the series, remained quiet for most of the interview but mentioned that their rationalisation of Tambor's actions didn't make it acceptable.

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Shawkat has since admitted to Broadly that she wishes she had spoken up more at the time to defend Walter.

"Afterwards I was scared that I didn't say enough and was kind of upset with myself that I wasn't able to stand my ground more," Shawkat said.

"But once Jessica was upset, that was my main concern. I didn't even want to necessarily talk about the issues any more. I just wanted to make sure she was okay."

She explains that as soon as she got a word in, Walter started to cry and that's when Shawkat realised something.

"I realised we were having a public and private conversation at the same time, which is very unnatural... and it's being recorded," she said.

"They were almost trying to cover themselves up while simultaneously talking, instead of actually listening to each other. The minute Jessica started crying, my instinct was just to go up to her and hug her and be like, 'This interview's over.'"

Shawkat admitted that because she was a child when she first worked with the cast in 2003, they hadn't really seen her speak out about an issue like this as an adult.

"For the first time as a woman, through this awkward scenario, I finally had their ears to say, 'This is how I felt, and this is what I want, and this is what I believe in.' I think they were hurt to realise they had not been aware of that. They were all very sincerely apologetic, as well as surprised."

Shawkat also explained that if she had to do it all over again, she would know that by speaking up, she isn't hurting the crew; she's actually helping them to understand the situation a lot better.

"I wish I was able to gather myself, to not be afraid to speak out more and realise that I wouldn't be hurting anybody—but actually helping," Shawkat explained.

"I know I said a little, but what I wish I had said was, 'Stop talking. Stop. Jessica, go on.'"

Season Five of Arrested Development is out now in Australia on Foxtel.

Photo: Netflix