Empire acquires rights to Jim Henson screenplay

[Beauregard]

Hmm...I never liked that screenplay. It depressed me for weeks after reading it...Didn't seem to have any heart. Still, it would be nice for them to make a bio movie...maybe not that one though.

 

[Drtooth]

I said it before and I 'll say it again... I HATE biopics. Though I still want to see Man on the Moon... but they're always so... icky. they exaggerate stuff to push one agenda or another (making them look extremely good or extremely bad)... plus, when it comes down to it, I'd rather see a documentary of anything either way. At least with a documentary, it's all real. You interview people who really knew them, people who were there.... It's the same reason I don't watch too many historical movies.

Honestly, I just really don't think I wanna see this movie ever, even if it got made. Among other things, who the heck can play Jim and puppeteer and do an approximate enough voice for him?

 

[zns]

I think it is best to say that the only way that this movie can succeed in theaters is as long as Jim's family is directly involved 100%. Because they knew him better than anyone else, they can give the most for this picture if it ever happens.

 

[Davina]

my biggest problem when reading about this was the fact the the guy who wrote it apparently didn't ever even talk to anyone directly related to Jim and his work and basically just made the whole thing up.. and wasn't too pleased with some of the stuff he wanted the muppets to be doing for that matter... if i'm gonna watch a movie about jim's life, i would like to see actual family members and friends involved in the research and making of...

 

[beaker]

I said it before and I 'll say it again... I HATE biopics.

Dude...have you seen Frida, Ray, Capote or Chaplin? Heck I think think of at least a dozen or so biopics that were nothing less than amazing.

 

[Beauregard]

Yeah, but have you read the screenplay for this one?

 

[dabauckham]

Sorry if this was already mentioned, but how can one view a copy of the screenplay? I agree, I'm a bit on the fence about a Jim Henson biopic. It doesn't mean that it couldn't be done, but the numbe of amazingly BAD biopics greatly outnumber the outstanding ones. (I LOVED Frida, but not everyone is Julie Taymor - if the project were in her hands, for example, I'd feel a lot more confident, though even she isn't without some flaws in some of her works)

But in the end, a well-written script is absolutely essential. Which is why I am curious to view a draft, if that's even possible.

 

[unclematt]

From what I have read the beginning of the script needs some work but the ending is spectacular. I also heard that unless Disney opts to make the film they probably won't be able to use any of the Muppets.

 

[dabauckham]

Here's an Interesting article (and subsequent comments) about the Muppet Man script. Word to the wise - there is some cursing in the comments (not the main article), in case anyone is sensitive. Unfortunately, the link to the script appears to have been removed...

Link to article:
http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/2009/09/muppet-man.html

 

[dwmckim]

I was going to post a friendly reminder that there are TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT Henson biopic scripts (by two different people) that have been in the news the last couple of years: the first was named "Henson" by Robert D. Slane which was acquired by Empire in 2008 and was seeming to go into preproduction (though many questioned if it would end up getting made due to the unlikelihood of both Henson Co and Muppets giving approval) and which this here thread is about.

Then there's a whole DIFFERENT script that gained buzz this year - The Muppet Man by Christopher Weekes - that got a lot of attention (so much so that it just made news again for its placement of #1 on a list of unproduced screenplays) by industry people...but does not look like its been picked up or actually being realistically considered by anyone (this is the one that is kind of a "Dreamchild"-ization of Jim Henson with aged Muppets talking to him throughout)

I was going to point out and link to a seperate thread that's about Muppet Man to avoid confusion with Henson which this thread is about but it appears someone made a foolish decision to merge that thread with this one proving once again how we apparently have a moderator who has a dangerous addiction to merging/deleting threads. I urge everyone to stage an intervention and get this poor soul the help he needs to kick this habit once and for all before he endangers the entire forum to become some sick variation of Newspeak from George Orwell's "1984". SLOOOOOWLY back away from the keyboard....call Merger's Anonymous....say aloud "My name is () and I am a Senseless Merger..."