Nearly four years ago, alternative comedy fans got their alternative knickers in a twist over David Cross’ role in Alvin And The Chipmunks, a film that seemed to represent all the most hollow, soulless, and calculating aspects of the movie industry, at least until The Squeakquel came out. Words were exchanged, faux-heated confrontations emerged between Cross and Patton Oswalt—giving us the now-classic line, “I threw the script across the room… guess you picked it up”—and in the end, everyone’s bruised assumptions about Cross’ credibility were soothed with the salve of knowing that at least he’d made a lot of money and bought a house, so whatever. But with the upcoming debut of Chipwrecked—of all three Alvin And The Chipmunks movies, unquestionably the third—Cross is now free of his contractual obligations and can speak slightly more candidly, which he did during a press conference for the returning The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret.


After offering the umpteenth confirmation/admonition about the Arrested Development movie (there’s still no script, nor contract with the actors beyond the verbal commitment) and revealing that, when first approached for the show, he could have possibly played one of the Bluth brothers, had the role of Tobias not spoken to him, Cross got down to the news you care much less about. “This last film was literally, without question, the most unpleasant experience I’ve ever had in my professional life,” Cross said of Chipwrecked, keeping in mind that he played a guy in a wheelchair who sucked his own dick in Scary Movie 2. “It’s safe to say I won’t be working with some of those people ever again. Not the actors. And the director was great. We got along. There were a couple of people, though… It was just a really awful, unpleasant experience.” Cross declined to name names or further elaborate, so we’ll leave it to you to comb the list of boom operators, wardrobe people, camera technicians, or (more likely) writers and producers on the movie’s IMDb page to figure out who made working on a third Alvin And The Chipmunks film something less than a joyful expression of artistic bonhomie.