Post by joethree56 on Jan 6, 2012 15:17:59 GMT -5
The Jim Henson Company studio lot on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles is one of the few remaining original lots in Hollywood. As if to acknowledge its history – it was built in 1917 and was originally the home of Charlie Chaplin's production company – a 12-foot statue of Kermit the Frog dressed as Chaplin's Tramp stands atop the gatehouse, tipping his bowler hat towards the Sunset Strip. Behind Kermit, in the Tudor-style bungalows where Modern Times was filmed, something even more exciting is happening; the unveiling of the first theatrically released Muppets film for more than a decade, since 1999's Muppets from Space.
The Muppets
Production year: 2011
Country: USA
Cast: Alan Arkin, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Zach Galifianakis
More on this film
The new Muppets movie is all about reclaiming past glories. In depicts the titular puppets disbanded and their studio in a state of bad repair, when a felt-and-foam superfan called Walter, from Smalltown, US, resolves to do everything he can to get the old gang back together. In the real world, the Muppets' saviour is Jason Segel, a superfan who is also a key fixture in Judd Apatow's comedy stable. Dismayed to find his heroes sidelined by Pixar and their brand in a state of disrepair, he also resolved to do everything he could to get the old gang back together.
So when, following his success with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Disney gave Segel the opportunity to name his next project, there was one obvious choice. Segel co-wrote and stars in the film alongside Amy Adams and, of course, Gonzo, Rowlf, Scooter and the rest of the gang. "Jason loves the Muppets," says Nicholas Stoller, director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and his co-writer on The Muppets. "He, like, literally has puppets all around his house. It's kind of weird." Segel threw himself into the movie with gusto, and merrily dances alongside his puppet pals in full-scale song-and-dance numbers. Segel is actually quite a Muppety man in person. His humour is self-deprecating, but never sarcastic. It's Fozzie Bear, the hapless, pun-loving standup with whom he most identifies. "Fozzie has a sort of meritless confidence, in that no matter how bad his comedy is going, he just keeps going for it. He's completely undaunted by a lack of response from the audience, which is how I've spent a lot of my career."
A veteran of more than 20 movies, Segel says shooting a Muppet movie made him a showbiz novice all over again. "We were given a little handbook, by the Muppeteers themselves. It was really, really helpful. Things that you really wouldn't think about, like for example, you never use the word 'puppet'. You don't want to break the suspension of disbelief."
Even so, the Muppets set was like any other. It was shot on location in Hollywood, with the real Jim Henson Studios standing in for the dilapidated Muppet Studios; Miss Piggy's costumes are all designer, as any star of her stature might expect, and include a pair of trotter-sized Louboutins. Says Segel: "I think the most surreal moment is when you're having a long conversation with Kermit – and then it's 'cut', and poor Steve Whitmire crawls out from under the couch. You realise there's been a puppeteer under there for, like, two hours and you've been sitting on him the whole time."
The Muppets producer David Hoberman says it's common for entertainers of Segel's generation to feel an affinity with Kermit and the rest of the gang, which made securing cameos from the likes of Jack Black, Sarah Silverman and the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl a breeze. "What you find out is that comics really grew up on the Muppets. The Muppets were really influential in the kind of comedy they do and are really revered by the Hollywood comedy community."
The Muppets were actually born in the late 1950s when college freshman Jim Henson began developing a group of expressive puppets for Sam and Friends, a local TV show in Washington DC. One of Sam's friends was a lizard called Kermit. By 1970, Kermit had evolved to a frog, and the Muppets had become familiar faces on American TV, thanks to Henson's involvement in the nationally syndicated Sesame Street.
Keen not to be considered simply as a children's entertainer, Henson decamped with his team in 1976 to Elstree Studios in London and created The Muppet Show, a lovably shambolic variety show hosted by Henson's alter ego, Kermit. For five years, until 1981, it hosted the likes of Johnny Cash, Debbie Harry and Gene Kelly as guest stars, as well as establishing the characters that would become Henson's legacy. By the time of his death in 1990, the Muppets had made three feature films and numerous television specials. In 2004, the brand was sold to Disney and, save for the odd TV movie, things have been a little quiet on the Muppet front since.
The movie was quietly announced back in 2008 and anticipation has been building, stoked by the commissioning of a new TV series and a campaign to get the Muppets to the Oscars. But it was an idiotic tirade by Fox News commentator Eric Bolling, accusing the Muppets of communism, that really got them back into the public consciousness.
The Muppets director James Bobin, veteran of Da Ali G Show and Flight of the Conchords, has a theory as to why the Muppets might strike the right note now. "Everything in culture moves in a cyclical way. In the past 10 to 15 years we've had a lot of observational, The Office-style comedy, which is very reality-based and quite cynical about how the world is and how people interact. The Muppets is really about innocence and charm and sweetness and light and having hope – and stupid gags. It's just a good time for Muppets to come back because that's where comedy is going anyway. And they're the best at doing it."
Bobin, a Brit, is evidence that it's not only in Hollywood that the Muppets are remembered with fond reverence. The long Elstree residency and smattering of British guest stars and writers meant the original Muppet Show always felt almost as British as it did American. As a six-year-old, Bobin would watch the show on Sunday evenings at his grandmother's house in Sunningwell, Oxfordshire. Now living in Los Angeles, he was recruited by Disney to direct the new movie, and brought Conchords collaborator Bret McKenzie with him as music supervisor. Bobin says the match of Conchords and Muppets was a no-brainer. "They're both really nice. I think nice is a very weird word, but it's also an apt word for this. The Muppets are always really positive when they come across adversity and they always have the ability to see the good in people."
One unlikely participant in the Muppet story is now-disgraced actor and writer Chris Langham, who began his career as a writer on The Muppet Show before moving on to Not the Nine O'Clock News and The Thick of It. Langham testifies as to the source of the Muppets' "niceness". "Jim saw the organisation as an extension of his family and, although he was a driven, focused individual, he made extraordinary efforts to act as a loving father to all those aboard his little craft."
Comedy nerds and Shrek-fatigued parents might be sold on the genius of the Muppets, but what of today's children? Reared on CG animation and 3D spectacle, will they turn their noses up at felt puppets and bad puns? Hoberman and his producing partner Todd Lieberman are a little nervous. "I hope not," Hoberman says. "Maybe certain ages, for sure, but the Muppets are so real and so lovable and colourful. I don't know … I think you look at these characters and they come alive and you fall into it." Did they ever consider making it a 3D movie? "For about a minute, but it just didn't make sense. Muppets are Muppets, and I think part of that is just buying into the reality of being in that moment with them."
The Muppets is released on 10 February
www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/05/muppets-foam-here-to-eternity/print
The Muppets
Production year: 2011
Country: USA
Cast: Alan Arkin, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Zach Galifianakis
The new Muppets movie is all about reclaiming past glories. In depicts the titular puppets disbanded and their studio in a state of bad repair, when a felt-and-foam superfan called Walter, from Smalltown, US, resolves to do everything he can to get the old gang back together. In the real world, the Muppets' saviour is Jason Segel, a superfan who is also a key fixture in Judd Apatow's comedy stable. Dismayed to find his heroes sidelined by Pixar and their brand in a state of disrepair, he also resolved to do everything he could to get the old gang back together.
So when, following his success with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Disney gave Segel the opportunity to name his next project, there was one obvious choice. Segel co-wrote and stars in the film alongside Amy Adams and, of course, Gonzo, Rowlf, Scooter and the rest of the gang. "Jason loves the Muppets," says Nicholas Stoller, director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and his co-writer on The Muppets. "He, like, literally has puppets all around his house. It's kind of weird." Segel threw himself into the movie with gusto, and merrily dances alongside his puppet pals in full-scale song-and-dance numbers. Segel is actually quite a Muppety man in person. His humour is self-deprecating, but never sarcastic. It's Fozzie Bear, the hapless, pun-loving standup with whom he most identifies. "Fozzie has a sort of meritless confidence, in that no matter how bad his comedy is going, he just keeps going for it. He's completely undaunted by a lack of response from the audience, which is how I've spent a lot of my career."
A veteran of more than 20 movies, Segel says shooting a Muppet movie made him a showbiz novice all over again. "We were given a little handbook, by the Muppeteers themselves. It was really, really helpful. Things that you really wouldn't think about, like for example, you never use the word 'puppet'. You don't want to break the suspension of disbelief."
Even so, the Muppets set was like any other. It was shot on location in Hollywood, with the real Jim Henson Studios standing in for the dilapidated Muppet Studios; Miss Piggy's costumes are all designer, as any star of her stature might expect, and include a pair of trotter-sized Louboutins. Says Segel: "I think the most surreal moment is when you're having a long conversation with Kermit – and then it's 'cut', and poor Steve Whitmire crawls out from under the couch. You realise there's been a puppeteer under there for, like, two hours and you've been sitting on him the whole time."
The Muppets producer David Hoberman says it's common for entertainers of Segel's generation to feel an affinity with Kermit and the rest of the gang, which made securing cameos from the likes of Jack Black, Sarah Silverman and the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl a breeze. "What you find out is that comics really grew up on the Muppets. The Muppets were really influential in the kind of comedy they do and are really revered by the Hollywood comedy community."
The Muppets were actually born in the late 1950s when college freshman Jim Henson began developing a group of expressive puppets for Sam and Friends, a local TV show in Washington DC. One of Sam's friends was a lizard called Kermit. By 1970, Kermit had evolved to a frog, and the Muppets had become familiar faces on American TV, thanks to Henson's involvement in the nationally syndicated Sesame Street.
Keen not to be considered simply as a children's entertainer, Henson decamped with his team in 1976 to Elstree Studios in London and created The Muppet Show, a lovably shambolic variety show hosted by Henson's alter ego, Kermit. For five years, until 1981, it hosted the likes of Johnny Cash, Debbie Harry and Gene Kelly as guest stars, as well as establishing the characters that would become Henson's legacy. By the time of his death in 1990, the Muppets had made three feature films and numerous television specials. In 2004, the brand was sold to Disney and, save for the odd TV movie, things have been a little quiet on the Muppet front since.
The movie was quietly announced back in 2008 and anticipation has been building, stoked by the commissioning of a new TV series and a campaign to get the Muppets to the Oscars. But it was an idiotic tirade by Fox News commentator Eric Bolling, accusing the Muppets of communism, that really got them back into the public consciousness.
The Muppets director James Bobin, veteran of Da Ali G Show and Flight of the Conchords, has a theory as to why the Muppets might strike the right note now. "Everything in culture moves in a cyclical way. In the past 10 to 15 years we've had a lot of observational, The Office-style comedy, which is very reality-based and quite cynical about how the world is and how people interact. The Muppets is really about innocence and charm and sweetness and light and having hope – and stupid gags. It's just a good time for Muppets to come back because that's where comedy is going anyway. And they're the best at doing it."
Bobin, a Brit, is evidence that it's not only in Hollywood that the Muppets are remembered with fond reverence. The long Elstree residency and smattering of British guest stars and writers meant the original Muppet Show always felt almost as British as it did American. As a six-year-old, Bobin would watch the show on Sunday evenings at his grandmother's house in Sunningwell, Oxfordshire. Now living in Los Angeles, he was recruited by Disney to direct the new movie, and brought Conchords collaborator Bret McKenzie with him as music supervisor. Bobin says the match of Conchords and Muppets was a no-brainer. "They're both really nice. I think nice is a very weird word, but it's also an apt word for this. The Muppets are always really positive when they come across adversity and they always have the ability to see the good in people."
One unlikely participant in the Muppet story is now-disgraced actor and writer Chris Langham, who began his career as a writer on The Muppet Show before moving on to Not the Nine O'Clock News and The Thick of It. Langham testifies as to the source of the Muppets' "niceness". "Jim saw the organisation as an extension of his family and, although he was a driven, focused individual, he made extraordinary efforts to act as a loving father to all those aboard his little craft."
Comedy nerds and Shrek-fatigued parents might be sold on the genius of the Muppets, but what of today's children? Reared on CG animation and 3D spectacle, will they turn their noses up at felt puppets and bad puns? Hoberman and his producing partner Todd Lieberman are a little nervous. "I hope not," Hoberman says. "Maybe certain ages, for sure, but the Muppets are so real and so lovable and colourful. I don't know … I think you look at these characters and they come alive and you fall into it." Did they ever consider making it a 3D movie? "For about a minute, but it just didn't make sense. Muppets are Muppets, and I think part of that is just buying into the reality of being in that moment with them."
The Muppets is released on 10 February
www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/05/muppets-foam-here-to-eternity/print
