When we spoke to Alia Shawkat about her Sundance Labs experience, we couldn't let her get away without asking her about the two most curious things people are buzzing about: the Arrested Development movie, and that odd, poorly-synched viral video where she sang "Don't Stop Believin'" with her Whip It! costars Ellen Page and Har Mar Superstar. Read on for her thoughts on both.
OK, Alia, you gotta let us know: What was up with the "Don't Stop Believin'" video? Was that viral marketing for Whip it! or what?
I can't believe it's got to this point! Ellen's mother is retiring, so she was having a party in Nova Scotia, but Ellen was working in LA. So Ellen said, "I want to make a video for my mom that they can show at her retirement party," so we were thinking of ideas and we just thought, "Oh, 'Don't Stop Believin'.' We should do a music video!" And literally that day we shot it in my apartment and around the Silver Lake area.
Obviously, it was supposed to be a joke. The synching doesn't match up at all because we used a karaoke version when we filmed it, and then when we edited it, we used a karaoke version. So it's just this thrown-together thing we did in twenty minutes. The only reason it was on YouTube is because Ellen couldn't email it because the format was too big. So she put it up on YouTube and was like, "Go check it out," and I thought she was going to take it down right afterwards but it was too late and it spread.
Also, what's up with the Arrested Development movie? Have you seen any pages? Do you have a start date yet?
They're still writing the script, but supposedly we're going to be shooting in December this year, maybe even September. I'm working on it, so hopefully I'll get a copy soon! But you never know with these kinds of things. It looks good, and it's exciting that so many people care about it, because nobody seemed to when it was on the air. [Laughs] But you never know until you're actually on the set, you know what I mean? ♦