I imagine Jason Segel is having the time of his life right now gearing up production on a brand new Muppets movie at Disney which he got commissioned on the back of this hand-made puppet inspired third act of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Segel, a life long Jim Henson obsessive has not only co-written the franchise reboot but will star in the picture alongside Amy Adams, Rashida Jones and Chris Cooper.Flight of the Concords helmer James Bobin directs and the above still is a first look at the crazy gang as revealed by EW last week. And yes, the eagle eyed amongst you will have no doubt spotted a brand new Muppet character. His name is Walter (HINT: he's the one with the iPhone, declaring that he must be new), and he is described as a sweet, slightly naive twenty-something Everypuppet who, in the movie, is the best friend and roommate of Segels character, Gary. Both Gary and Walter are die-hard Muppet fans. Segel told EW recently;
Walter has a little bit of a self-confidence issue because hes the only person like him that hes seen aside from the Muppets. His dream is to meet the Muppets and be around people who are like him.
Awww, isn't that sweet? I'm liking this emotional/outsider Muppet-concept. The new movie will have a 30 Rock style setting where The Muppets must band together for one final show to save their studio from a villainous oil baron (Cooper) who wants to use the foundations to dig for oil. Segel is the lead, Adams his girlfriend, Jones an ABC exec. The Muppets has a Christmas Day 2011 release date. The other Muppet related story is also quite interesting as Liongate's recent acquisition of Happytime Murders means that anti-muppet movie I told you about two years ago is excitedly back in the works. The premise is that of a film noir but with muppet characters (think the noir/cartoon mix of Who Framed Roger Rabbit) and it'll mark the directorial debut of Brian Henson, son of Jim and CEO of The Jim Henson Company. Production begins in January but obviously there will be no Kermit The Frog or Miss Piggy etc as those classic characters were sold to Disney in 2004. Vulture have the blurb;
Featuring the well-known Henson style of irreverence and parody, and taking its cues from such films as Pulp Fiction and LA Confidential, Happytime Murders presents a twist on the film noir genre. In a world where puppets are a minority race amongst humans, a puppet detective is forced to solve a string of murders around The Happytime Gang, the cast of a beloved childrens show, that is being picked off by a mysterious villain.
It's been reported than an offer is out to Cameron Diaz to play a role, the Jessica Rabbit style femme fatale. That's all it is an offer and from the sounds of things she hasn't yet read the script that is being described as 'definitely not a PG-13 movie' and that
One scene has a character opening the wrong door at the "Puppet Pleasureland," and finding a cow puppet on a massage table having all of its teats milked by an octopus puppet. Reads the stage direction: "The cow MOOS in ecstasy. MILK is just SQUIRTING EVERYWHERE."
So maybe she'll pass on something that edgy. Just like Charles Dickens could only be improved by adding Muppets to A Christmas Carol... so to the injection of these creatures into film noir I'd say.