Frank Oz Interview with EW

[Pinkflower7783]

I actually enjoyed reading this interview...I think and this is just my personal opinion maybe it's more Frank has an issue with Disney rather then The Muppets themselves? I mean I do think some of what he said might be reffering to the "fart shoes" but I know he wasn't the only one that disapproved of that scene I know the other veteran muppeteers also felt the same. Because they felt that was cheap humor and something Jim and the team never stooped to. The truth is we don't know exactly what went on behind the scenes and we probably will never get the full story. But it's obvious various things happened. I still love Frank and respect his views. But as they say change is a hard thing. It also makes you wonder did Frank have any kind of falling out with Jim's children over them selling The Muppets to Disney? There's a lot of questions that left to be unanswered.

I have no doubt there was some kind of tension on the set. I mean here you have the muppteers who have been doing this 40+ years who know the ins and outs of the muppets from working with Jim and Frank and then you have people who have no experience of working with the muppets probably saying "were gonna do it our way whether you like it or not." So I definitely think it wasn't all fun and games on the set. Like I said hopefully the next movie now will just shift back to good old muppet humor but also of course keeping it current. It's hard to believe it's only Frank left. God knows that's gonna be like Jim Henson passing away when we loose Frank.

 

[MrBloogarFoobly]

Well, I just remember reading "Street Gang," where the Muppet performers referred to working for Disney as working in "Mousekavitz." The Muppet performers are used to working in a fun environment; Disney is fully a corporate entity, time is money, so on and so forth. That might be where the rub is.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Plus if I remember correctly Jim was the type of person he sort of gave you the freedom to create and do what you wanted where as Disney like the above poster said is more of a business so you probably don't have as much say.

 

[minor muppetz]

Plus if I remember correctly Jim was the type of person he sort of gave you the freedom to create and do what you wanted where as Disney like the above poster said is more of a business so you probably don't have as much say.

I get the feeling that The Jim Henson Company was run more like a business after Jim's passing. Don't know for sure, but I get that feeling. I also feel like Sesame Workshop has always been treated a bit more like a business, though obviously not a big corporate business like Disney.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Whatever reasons we will probably never fully know.

 

[bandit]

Thanks for sharing that, Borples. It was interesting to see his perspective on things. If you ask me, I think his polite reticence sort of says -a lot.- There is obviously dissension there behind the scenes and at what level that is, we can only imagine. I do agree that with a huge company like Disney behind it, there is likely to be a difference in philosophy.
I think Jim Henson had a very clear vision of how he wanted to do things and the Disney franchise has become like a respirator, pumping air and life into something that was starting to weaken. NOW we can only hope, this works the way a respirator is supposed to. It does breathe life into the body until the body is strong enough to take off on its own.
We can hope the Muppets find their stride again without the extra push from Disney.

 

[minor muppetz]

On the subject of whether the Muppet performers are allowed to be interviewed anymore, I remember when Tough Pigs did the video interview with Whitmire, Jacobson, and Vogel Steve Whitmire said he wanted to discuss the movie but couldn't until after it came out. Well, it's come out.

But it could be possible that some of the performers enjoyed working on the movie and some didn't. Considering Oz's statements, I wonder if maybe the newer performers enjoyed it more than the ones who worked with Oz.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I mean here you have the muppteers who have been doing this 40+ years who know the ins and outs of the muppets from working with Jim and Frank and then you have people who have no experience of working with the muppets probably saying "were gonna do it our way whether you like it or not."

Of course we don't know the whole story here, but sometimes that is just the way it goes. The first Star Trek movie was not successful and the blame (in part justifiably) was put on the series creator Roddenberry. As a result the following Star Trek films were instead made by new people who weren't familiar with the show, but managed to do an excellent job. To their credit they did their homework and learned what made the show successful in the first place.

It feels right in theory to say creators should get preference, but even creators can run out of ideas (look at George Lucas, heh). Sometimes you need a fresh perspective, as long as it's not a complete 180 (which I don't think The Muppets (2011) was).

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Of course we don't know the whole story here, but sometimes that is just the way it goes. The first Star Trek movie was not successful and the blame (in part justifiably) was put on the series creator Roddenberry. As a result the following Star Trek films were instead made by new people who weren't familiar with the show, but managed to do an excellent job. To their credit they did their homework and learned what made the show successful in the first place.

It feels right in theory to say creators should get preference, but even creators can run out of ideas (look at George Lucas, heh). Sometimes you need a fresh perspective, as long as it's not a complete 180 (which I don't think The Muppets (2011) was).

I'll agree with this. I still respect Frank a great deal though and his views. I'm sure obviously there's many reasons why he didnt fully like the movie. I still think its more his views on Disney then the muppets themselves. Because he does occasionally come do things for sesame street.

 

[minor muppetz]

One thing I've noticed is that in The Muppets while Frank's vocals are heard in "Mahna Mahna" the beginning when Muppet Show clips are shown do not feature any known performances by Frank Oz, outside of the opening. I'd like to think Disney wouldn't need permission from Oz to include clips of his performances (over vocals), but then again, that sequence included a redone "Mahna Mahna" clip as opposed to the original, and it's weird that that sequence didn't feature any clips focusing on Fozzie, Miss Piggy, or Animal (but we got clips with Bunsen and Beaker and The Swedish Chef?).

I might just be over-thinking this, but it is something I noticed about the movie.