He had me at "Mr. Show with Bob and David" and he cemented his hold on my funny bone in "Arrested Development". David Cross makes me laugh. "Mr. Show with Bob and David" and "Arrested Development" are two of the funniest shows I've ever had the privilege of watching and David Cross played a huge role in both.
David Cross has a pretty big role in "Alvin and the Chipmunks", a movie I saw this afternoon with my son and a bunch of his friends. It would be oh-so easy to say Cross sold out with his role of Ian. It's not a funny role nor a particularly clever role. Without a doubt, Cross did it for the pay cheque, which you'll read in this fantastic blog entry David Cross wrote.
In that entry, Cross defends his choice to play Ian in "Alvin and the Chipmunks". He lists four mitigating factors: the movie is meant for kids, he doesn't care about the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, he hadn't worked in a while and...
I live in NYC for a reason. I enjoy it here. I have numerous creative friends and we share much of the same sensibilities. We rarely, if ever, talk about "the business", which I really like. Something that people constantly talk about in LA, which I really don't like. This comes with a cost of course. It's expensive to live here. I have a pretty modest lifestyle, I live in the same relatively small 1100 sq. foot apartment since I moved here. I don't own a car, don't go out "clubbing", and don't really own anything of much value. I am in no way hurting for money but I guarantee you that I have much, much less than you think. The reason I bring this up is because two years ago I decided that I wanted to get a small place upstate. Nothing fancy, a small cottage on at least a couple of acres near some water where I could get out of here, get some fresh air, buy a smoker, make some b-b-q and hang out with my dog on the porch. I looked informally for a long time but never found anything that I liked in my price range. Then finally, after much disappointed searching, I did. It's a small cottage on 5 1/2 acres in the middle of the woods in Sullivan county. It has a largish stream running through it and best of all it's in the middle of nowhere. No town, no nothing. Two hours outside the city and only about a ten minute drive from the Delaware River. Perfect. It was a little more than I had budgeted for but it was definitely worth it. I asked the owner if he'd take some of my credibility as payment. He looked at me as if I was an alien with A.I.D.S. speaking some intergalactic gobbledy-goo. I had to patiently explain to this country bumpkin about my indie hipster cred, and I would now like to cash it in. This rural rube was so backwards and ignorant that he couldn't even conceive of how financial markets work and simple free market capitalism. I tried again to explain the concept of the value of "credibility" and "artistic integrity" but he refused to take it in exchange for the house. This guy was a fucking idiot! But what could I do? He wouldn't take no for an answer. If I wanted that cottage I would have to pay him money. Sigh. So I used my "Alvin and the Chipmunks" money to pay for the down payment. Seriously, I totally did.
That's great stuff. In the same entry Cross admits to having a Google Alert for himself so he reads all the blog entries and articles about him. That means he'll likely read this one.
David, you owe me no explanation as to why you'd star in a steaming pile of crapola like this. "Mr. Show with Bob and David" and "Arrested Development" earned you a lot credit with me. Just don't appear in an Alvin sequel, k?
