Actor David Cross has opened up about his deeply unpleasant experience filming the third installment of the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, describing it as "so awful" and vowing never to work with the production team again.
Cross, who played music manager Ian Hawke in the live-action films, revealed the details on the April 17 episode of The Daily Beast's Obsessed podcast. He was contractually obligated to appear in Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011), but says the experience was negative from the start.
"The only negative experience I had was on the third movie, which I was contractually obligated to do," Cross said, "and they were just so s--tty to me from the jump."
The problems began with what Cross called unreasonable scheduling demands. The 62-year-old actor alleged he received only a couple weeks' notice around Christmas that he needed to be in Hawaii by January 3 to begin filming.
"They were like, 'If you're not there, they will sue you,'" he recalled. "It was so crazy."
According to Cross, the situation deteriorated from there. He claims the production team engaged in deliberate mistreatment, including providing him with a substandard trailer that was leaking.
"And it got worse from there. They were doing, like, s--tty things on purpose," he added. "Gave me a s--tty trailer that was leaking, just stuff like that."
The actor made it clear that his grievances are not with the franchise's creative principals. He specifically noted that producers Ross Bagdasarian and Janice Karman—the son and daughter-in-law of original creator Dave Bagdasarian—were "never anything but warm, giving, and gracious" to him throughout all three films.
In a 2012 Facebook statement referenced by The Hollywood Reporter, Cross wrote: "During the shooting of Chipwrecked they went out of their way daily to make sure that (as my negative treatment was well known to everyone involved) I was happy and they understood and appreciated my situation."
Cross indicated that his issues were with an unnamed producer, not with the voice cast that included Justin Long, Jesse McCartney, and Matthew Gray Gubler as the singing chipmunks.
Despite his negative experience on the third film, Cross acknowledged his contribution to the successful franchise, stating, "I think I contributed quite a bit to this billion dollar franchise."
When asked about potential future involvement with the Chipmunks franchise, Cross was unequivocal: "I would never work with any of those people again for the rest of my life."