Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

[Beauregard]

I have high hopes that the next Muppet Movie after this one will be one penned (or DIRECTED) by Frank Oz. His comments failed to damage this movie at all, and he sure knows his stuff (Miss Piggy has never been better than when improvised by Frank.)

 

[mupcollector1]

(Miss Piggy has never been better than when improvised by Frank.)

Especially on The Tonight Show back in the 1990s. LOL Risky and wonderfully funny. LOL

Has anyone ever seen the one where Miss Piggy is rubbing Jay Leno's legs and she asks if it was his knee and he says no, Piggy looks shocked at the camera "GOOD LORD" and the audience was roaring with laughter. LOL
That was diffidently one of Franks top funniest performances of Miss Piggy in my opinion.

I know that Eric Jacobson can do the voice well, but he's not as funny as Frank. Not even close. Eric is more modern Britney Spears Pop Star Deva and Frank is much more deep with the character. Frank said that Piggy comes from pain and she has no talent and she hides most of her real personal life with either lies like Kermit is her husband or with aggression aka karate chop. LOL In my opinion, Eric doesn't have that part of the personality, just the modern Deva thing.

 

[Beauregard]

My two all time fav Piggy interview situations were on Regis and Kelly and on Martha Stewart, where people were cooking and she was insulting them and then she was having a go at them for just plowing on through the cookery section and ignoring her.

Some of her insults are really hurtful, though, to be fair.

But her bit with Martha was BRILLIANT. Martha just ignores her, and Piggy does her own little thing.

Eric is my HERO for bringing Piggy back to life, but he could be a little braver and a little sweeter while being a little meaner.

 

[dwayne1115]

to be honest If Frank is going to try and hurt the credit of the new movie then he should not really be tring to write a new script. Because it will be everything that this movie is not.

 

[JJandJanice]

You know I have to ask, why are people making such a big deal of Frank's opinion of this movie? I mean of course he one of the original master minds behind what made the Muppets so successful in the day and NO I'm not saying no one should have listened to him if he was indeed giving advice on what should be done with the movie, which I'm sure they would have. But come on, Oz appoved and worked on all the Muppet movies from the 90s: Chirstmas Carol, Treasure Island and Muppets From Space and in my humble opinion, as I just saw the new Muppets movie late last night, I thought it blew all those three TOTALLY OUT OF THE WATER.

Don't get me wrong, needless to say I have a lot of respect for Frank Oz both what he did within the Muppets and outside the Muppets, but he's opinion on the new Muppets movie hasn't effect my view on it in the least, I totally loved it.

 

[RedPiggy]

I just don't know if we'd get the Piggy we see in this movie if Frank were still involved. The argument in Paris is what the GMC duck pond one would have been if it weren't played for laughs. That scene alone deserves an Oscar, and not the Grouch. I think this movie cures any criticism that Eric's Piggy isn't as deep. This is actually the deepest it's ever been in recent memory.

 

[JJandJanice]

You know RedPiggy, I do have to agree with you on that. Plus (I don't want to give away too much here) but in this movie, it was the first time I've ever seen Animal have a little character development, EVER.

 

[matleo]

I think we've kind of established that Frank's comments were based on an early version of the script. We know what some, if not most, of those changes were and we know that they were NOT true to the character. And I for one feel that were Jerry Juhl still alive he most likely would have been brought in as a consultant on the film (which would have solved some of the problems the final film ultimately has).

Personally, I would love to see Frank come back and write/direct the next film. I know one of the things he wanted when he pitched the idea to Henson back before MFS was to finally pass the torch to the new class. And as good as a job as they've all done, that's the next step the franchise needs, not just for the performers but more for the creative team. Wether Frank would want to perform or not is a conversation for him, Eric Jacobson and the PTB. I would be equally happy with whatever the outcome. Though I hope he would at leat take on a few minor characters or something. I also especially LOVE the "Cheapest Muppet Movie" idea and would enjoy seeing it come together.

 

[Drtooth]

to be honest If Frank is going to try and hurt the credit of the new movie then he should not really be tring to write a new script. Because it will be everything that this movie is not.

It's not that he was trying to hurt the film... that's what no one takes away... the "I don't want to be a grouch and ruin the movie." He just didn't like the initial direction... that's it. The quote has been taken too far out of context when it was Monday Morning Quarterbacked by everyone. Plus, no one seems to take away the fact that the film's writers went to him first... or one of the first.

Personally, I would love to see Frank come back and write/direct the next film. I know one of the things he wanted when he pitched the idea to Henson back before MFS was to finally pass the torch to the new class. And as good as a job as they've all done, that's the next step the franchise needs, not just for the performers but more for the creative team. Wether Frank would want to perform or not is a conversation for him, Eric Jacobson and the PTB. I would be equally happy with whatever the outcome. Though I hope he would at leat take on a few minor characters or something. I also especially LOVE the "Cheapest Muppet Movie" idea and would enjoy seeing it come together.

If the next movie is a completely different direction and Frank DID write a script, I'd like to see that. I'd rather have something as emotional and deep as this turned out to be than another MFS with a constantly in smileface Kermit, a caricatured Piggy, and the only good Muppet/Human interaction's between a tertiary character and the Human star. or another Classic retelling... Jerry Juhl was the ONLY reason MCC and MTI were as good as they were... they could have turned into the loud, garish MuppetOz without his clever handling... though I still think the comic books of Muppet Peter Pan, Muppet King Arthur, and Muppet Snow White blew those out of the water.

 

[Epictetus]

It's nice to read some discussion of the film from folks who know more about Muppets history and context. I had an extremely negative reaction to the new film and was, frankly (pun intended), relieved to find that Frank Oz and, apparently, some of the other folks from Henson studios, had criticisms of the script.

For me, the script felt like a shallow recreation of someone who had tremendous affection for, but not deep understanding of, the characters in the Muppets. The screen time devoted to the human characters was probably the worst part, as it was not sufficient (nor was the script resourceful enough) to make it anything more than an incredibly superficial cliché, but it was enough screen time to reduce the breadth of story allotted to the Muppets themselves considerably.

But for me, the saddest thing was just how few decent jokes there were. Great jokes are hard to write, obviously, and the Muppet show (like almost any show) has plenty of misses, too. The other Muppets films have ups and downs (Muppets Christmas Carol is a masterpiece, the product of skill, luck, and divine inspiration, while Treasure Island is a more mixed bag), but I've never seen an entire film so filled with wet sacks of dead-on-arrival attempts at humor. Most of the movie's meta jokes function mostly as preventative apologies for the script's half-assedness.

Whether Oz saw the final script or not, I'd be surprised if his lack of enthusiasm wasn't related to the utter lack of vitality of the characters themselves, something that - in my opinion - was certainly not resolved in the final script.