With the hiring of Flight Of The Conchords co-creator/director James Bobin to oversee the next Muppet movie, the progress of Kermit and co back to the big screen took another big step. And now more details about Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller’s script for the film have arrived.
According to The Playlist, the title has changed from The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made to The Greatest Muppet Movie Of All Time (confident, boys?)
Segel and Stoller, who co-wrote Forgetting Sarah Marshall (which Segel starred in and Stoller directed), have concocted a story about the Muppet gang getting back together to save their old telly haunt. That part we’d heard about, but now we have more details: a couple of humans ("Gary and Mary") and a puppet friend named Walter banding together to save the TV studio that the original show was shot in. A villain, Tex Richman, bent on drilling for oil underneath the studio, is due to take over the studio in weeks and the only way to stop him? Putting on a show that draws ten million viewers. You know what that means, right? Time to put on makeup and dress up right.
While the blog’s source isn’t completely sold on the script’s ability to deliver on the concept, they do describe it as boasting a “fresh, younger approach” and that the writers “are aware of what made the Muppet early years so great (winks to the audience, friendly musical numbers, single gag repetition, friendship and togetherness being the answer to everything), and hit the mark 65% of the time.” Oooh… Specific!
We have a little more faith in Segel and Stoller’s ability and, quite frankly, are looking forward to this one with frothy, fuzzy anticipation.
And talking of the Muppets, we leave you with this little piece of genius from the gang’s latest viral video offering…