Alia Shawkat talks “The Oranges” and how her Jersey character relates to “Arrested Development”

Posted by Jennifer Vineyard on October 11th

In “The Oranges,” two families live across the street from each other in West Orange, New Jersey. One family, the Ostroffs, have a wayward daughter (played by Leighton Meester) who comes home one Thanksgiving only to hook up with the father (played by Hugh Laurie) of the second family, the Wallings. This of course rains down ruin upon both families — which used to be so close, they were almost one family — and is the occasion for much delightful disdain by our whipsmart narrator, played by Alia Shawkat, whose Vanessa is Meester’s former BFF and Laurie’s daughter, giving her a unique and funny perspective on the proceedings. (“All right! It’s time to kill myself,” Vanessa quips at one key point.)

“Because it’s coming from a person who is very much in her own world,” Shawkat told IFC, “it’s a cool set-up. She’s in this mess, because she’s forced herself to be in it, because she still lives at home. If she had a healthy life and lived on her own, had a good job, and a boyfriend, it would be a very different reaction. But she’s like, ‘What the fuck? This is crazy!'”

Like Shawkat’s beloved character on “Arrested Development,” Vanessa is over it before it even happens — both of them have a “very dry disgust” for the events unfolding in their respective crazy families. The Bluths and the Funkes on “Arrested” “have a completely different moral system,” the actress points out. “‘Family comes first’ is the theme, but it’s really more about how dealing with a fucked-up family can be detrimental, especially to the children, because Maeby just wants to get attention all the time from her parents.”

“But with [the Wallings and the Ostroffs], it really was family first,” she added. “They had a dinner together every Sunday night, and other rituals, and yeah, they were somewhat bored, but it was a close family.” Consequently, Vanessa and Maeby “come from different places,” she said. (Coincidentally, “Arrested Development” takes place in Orange County, and while West Orange, New Jersey and Orange County, California are on opposite sides of the country, the two suburbs are a lot alike.)

Both Vanessa and Maeby, who are “too smart for their own good,” Shawkat said, “but they don’t really know what’s best for them.” If the actress were in either situation in real life, she would move out, she said — pronto. But even though that’s what Vanessa’s mother Paige (Catherine Keener) does, Vanessa stays, at least at first. “She’s not moving or anything,” Shawkat said. “She’s not accomplishing her own dreams. She’s bitter. She’s not feeling good about herself. She doesn’t have the confidence to be on her own.”

When the affair becomes public, hardly anyone reacts rationally, and the audience’s sympathies keep shifting. “You get to decide who you want to root for,” Shawkat. “You don’t know, is Paige crazy? The way she’s reacting, it’s almost comic in the beginning.”

So while some people throw punches, disfigure Christmas cards , stalk and hide in the bushes, and drive cars onto lawns to destroy holiday decorations, the more “it gives Vanessa a reason to be upset in the first place,” Shawkat said. “You know when you’re feeling like crap? You take it out on other people: ‘See? You fucked up. This is crazy.’ But really, it’s just her dealing with her own shit. She doesn’t know how to process that this is putting a mirror to her, in a way. ‘Fuck! This happened, and I’m still at home!'”

Which of course, eventually prompts her to put her own life in order. The solution she comes up with would also work for Maeby, now that she’s older. Will Maeby finally move out of the Bluth residence and strike out on her own? (And not just as a teen movie executive?) “It might be time!” Shawkat laughed. “Maybe she will!”