Jonah Hill In 'Arrested Development' Movie? Mitch Hurwitz Reveals He Could Have Played George Michael In Elaborate Hoax

How He Almost Replaced Michael Cera In 'Arrested Development'

"Superbad" pals Jonah Hill and Michael Cera reunite onscreen in "This Is The End," but the duo almost got back together prior to the apocalypse comedy. Sort of.

According to "Arrested Development" creator Mitch Hurwitz, there was thought that Hill could play Cera's character, George Michael Bluth, in the "Arrested Development" movie. Here's how that would have worked, from Hurwitz's recent interview with Kim Masters on KCRW's The Business:

We started to sort of do this Andy Kaufman-esque thing that Michael Cera wasn't willing to come back to do the show or the movie. It was like, 'Well, who was the most absurd person who'd tell us all to go to hell?' [...] Very quickly, that got around a little too fast and it was like a wild fire. It got out there. I started saying, 'Go to hell, Michael Cera! We hate Michael Cera.' It was like, 'All right. Let's dial this one back.' We were even thinking, 'Well, maybe there's a way to do the movie and make people think he's not in it.' I think at the time, 'Changeling' had just come out and we thought it would be really fun to have a different guy play George-Michael. Maybe it's Jonah Hill, and everybody was just embracing him and Michael kept saying, 'That's not George-Michael.' [...] Then, at some point, we'd bring Michael Cera in. It was just too much of a public hoax to get away with.

Alas. As for Cera, it might be hard to remember now, but the actor went all-in on his heel role for "Arrested Development" fans clammoring for a reunion movie. Here's what he told the National Post in Canada (via The Playlist): "I don't think I would want to see a movie of the series if I was a fan, anyway. And I don't really see a need for it if you can get the three seasons on DVD."

"Arrested Development" Season 4

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