Frank Oz on NPR's All Things Consd.

[DTWolf]

Sunday, August 12, Frank Oz had an interview on NPR's news show All Things Considered. The main subject was a new movie he directed called Death at a Funeral, but there was also discussion of Miss Piggy and the Muppets. Among other things, he said he didn't mind questions about the Muppets and Yoda as long as they didn't take over an interview or conversation. He also said he doesn't like to discuss the characters casually because they're close to his heart and he really cares about them.

The audio for the interview is available at www.npr.org --click on "All Things Considered" under "programs" in the left-hand column. Right now (10:00 AM Monday) the link is on that page, but once Monday's stories are posted it will move. You can then work back to it by hitting "Previous Show" at the bottom or by going to "Past Sows" at the top of the page.

 

[karamazov80]

Here is a transcript of an interview that Oz did on Aintitcoolnews, discussing similar such things, but where the interview is given by a guy who clear grew up loving Henson-related things:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33610

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I couldn't find it anywhere, So I'm just going to post thew link. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12725846

 

[mb22]

another interview

At http://www.darkhorizons.com/news07/frankoz.php

Question: You still go back to puppeteering.

Oz: No. I haven’t done it for years.

Question: You don’t do the voice of Miss Piggy, that kind of thing?

Oz: No, I haven’t done that for I don't know how many years.

Question: They have released the second season of the Muppets TV show on DVD. Do you ever look back on those early things and say to yourself, Hey, I worked with some amazing people back in the day.

Oz: Listen, no, I don’t look at my work. I move on. But I’m very much aware of how blessed I was to have been in that situation. Very blessed. I worked with extraordinary people. Number one, Jim Henson. But besides that on the Muppets, the other performers, and of course the guest stars.

Time moves on, but kind of sad...

 

[mikebennidict]

I don't quite get that myself. It's good to move on but he says he does not look at his work does sound kind of unfortunate. He also sounded a bit hostile.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Yeah, well obviously it's not entirely what we would like to hear. But you know, he's not looking at it all from a fan's point of view. It's his life. And this was one part of his life, but not all of it. People often don't want to be identified by just one part of their life, especially when it was so long ago and he's tried doing other things.

Also, artists often refuse to look at their past work, I've heard of that before. They hope they've grown and gotten better over time. They hope people appreciate them for the other projects they care about. Rather than staying safe and the same forever. Of course, I can't speak for him, it's just speculation.

He clearly remembers the people he worked with and the job he did fondly. For me, that's what matters.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Oh! Really gert other interview!

 

[dwayne1115]

you know i think that is one muppet person that really just is done with the Muppets and that means he is DONE

 

[Speed Tracer]

Question: You don’t do the voice of Miss Piggy, that kind of thing?

Am I the only one who hates it when the Muppeteers are asked about "doing the voices" of characters, rather than "performing" the characters?

Just a pet peeve, I guess.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Yeah I get what you mean. Puppeteers have a very specific skill, they're not just voice actors (not that there's anything wrong with voice actors).