Ricky Gervais in Talks to Star in 'Muppets' Sequel

[jvcarroll]

Not Gervais, please not him. I would take Rowan Akinson as Mr. Bean or Johnny English over Gervais. He is so full of himself, there is not any room for anyone else on the screen. Please, please, please not Gervais. Nathan Lane would be great. I liked Jason Segal. I hope he is at least part of the writing team. He did wonderful fan justice to The Muppets.

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It's happening and they're shooting the film at this very moment. Gervais was great with Elmo on Sesame Street while not overshadowing him and he's been positively giddy about doing this movie. I believe the nay-sayers will be pleasantly surprised by his performance with the Muppets.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm going to be the one that has to say this the trillionth time.

Denying a Muppet fan a role in a Muppet movie is not very Muppety behavior. The Muppets have worked with a lot of big names that were standoffish and wooden, and that doesn't suit the celebrity or the Muppets at all. Why would we want that over someone who has a child like excitement to work with them because they don't suit your taste? Even if my least favorite actor in the world worked with the Muppets, was genuinely excited and happy to be there and gave great chemistry, I'd be happy.

Think of it this way. If you had the chance to work with the Muppets, and it's a dream come true, the last thing you'd want to hear is "GAH! I don't like this guy. let's pull his dreams from him because it doesn't suit my narrow tastes."

 

[jvcarroll]

I'm going to be the one that has to say this the trillionth time.

Denying a Muppet fan a role in a Muppet movie is not very Muppety behavior. The Muppets have worked with a lot of big names that were standoffish and wooden, and that doesn't suit the celebrity or the Muppets at all. Why would we want that over someone who has a child like excitement to work with them because they don't suit your taste? Even if my least favorite actor in the world worked with the Muppets, was genuinely excited and happy to be there and gave great chemistry, I'd be happy.

Think of it this way. If you had the chance to work with the Muppets, and it's a dream come true, the last thing you'd want to hear is "GAH! I don't like this guy. let's pull his dreams from him because it doesn't suit my narrow tastes."

I agree. I'm no fan of Garth Brooks or his brand of music, but his is one of the best Muppets Tonight episodes ever. In fact, his closing number is my favorite of the entire series. Prince is also an irritating celebrity who's said a lot of disturbing things, yet his genius and music were much appreciated in his episode of the program too.

The point is that the Muppets have a way or transcending the people they work with beyond their limitations. Sometimes that means bringing out the best in them. Other times it involves them doing something they'd never do anywhere else.

I'm excited for Ricky and audiences! It's sure to be a real treat.

 

[FletchySRF3088]

I'm not very pleased about Ricky Gervais being the human lead either; I've never liked him and he's always grated on me. But it's happening now, I'll have to get used to it and he might actually be likeable in the film. Like jvcarroll said, The Muppets can bring out the best in him and I'll admit, I am little charmed by Ricky Gervais' giddiness at working with the Muppets. I just hope he'll be the kind of human lead that the first three movies had - not driving the movie and having it be driven by and revolve around The Muppets instead of the other way round like MCC, MTI and (arguably) TM.

 

[Drtooth]

Anyone that can make Elmo a funny character can't be bad.

 

[Duke Remington]

I don't see why. Any time in the movie Fozzie didn't sound like Fozzie, you can tell it was ADR. It was always off screen at the worst moments. Plus, it seems that Fozzie was Flanderized ever since MTi, and if he continued down that track, even with Frank, he would have been a blithering idiot instead of the naive comedian that we all know. Fozzie was pretty much his previous self ever since Eric took over. If you don't believe me, check out MFS. He seems particularly dumb in that one. MTI has the excuse he was playing a character.

I fully agree.

The only Frank Oz characters that have been Flanderized under Eric Jacobson (and Jim Lewis and Kirk Thatcher) are Piggy and, to an extent, Sam Eagle.