Jason Segel talks The Muppets and his inspiration

[Mupp]

In the lasted "D23's DisneyGeek" video on youtube, the new Muppet film is mentioned. The release date is mentioned as well as writers/director.

According to the video, the plot details and title are being kept "under tight-wraps".

 

[beaker]

Man I'm feeling those butterfly goosebumps just *thinking* about the teaser posters we'll be seeing lining local cinema walls, as well as a teaser trailer.

The fact the film's two main human stars are two big up and comers is insanely cool. All they need to do is add Zach Galafawhathisnamewiththebeard, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Russel Brand, Jesse Eisenberg, and maybe some real big cameos.

I'm glad this movie is being treated like a big ticket flagship title, and not some second or third tier venture meant to fly under the radar(ala MFS in 1999, which admittedly got lost in the huge summer 1999 shuffle) I have a feeling they'll be marketing this to the hip scott pilgrim/get him to the greek college crowd as much as to families and kids.

 

[ZeppoAndFriends]

I have a feeling they'll be marketing this to the hip scott pilgrim/get him to the greek college crowd...

As long as they don't over do it (i.e. overshadow the Muppets with the cameos; try to be 'hip' and fail miserably), I think that'd be a great way to market this movie.

Tell the world that they are back and (hopefully) better than ever!

 

[Mupp]

(ala MFS in 1999, which admittedly got lost in the huge summer 1999 shuffle)

Indeed.

 

[Drtooth]

As long as they don't over do it (i.e. overshadow the Muppets with the cameos; try to be 'hip' and fail miserably), I think that'd be a great way to market this movie.

I'm pretty sure we're talking about people who can agree what we love and hate about Muppet movies. I'm sure whatever cameos will at least be indicative of the writers and director involved and no WWF dudes, no pop stars... none of that stuff.

 

[Duke Remington]

\Then take Pocahontas... the animation was beautiful, but it suffered from a terrible plot, bad writing, bad dialogue, dumb songs, historic revisioning, and even the voice acting was flat. Only person who sounded good was David Ogden Steirs. Mel Gibson was much better in Chicken Run. So yes, story, writing, acting and all that should always come first. But unfortunately, only a handful of people actually care about doing it that way.

Sorry, Dr., but I'm going to have to very strongly disagree with you on Pocahontas, which is one of my favorites and very much underappreciated. IMO, your opinions on it are very overly-negative, hateful, biased and just make me want to cry and feel bad about liking what I like.

In addition to the beautiful animation, the songs and music scores in it are some of the best to ever come out of the Disney Studio ever wrote ("Colors of the Wind" won the Academy Award for Best Song, for one thing) and the writing, acting, voice acting and dialogue ARE wonderful and deserve to be enjoyed for what they are.

Not every animated film has to have constant in-your-face action and suspense all the time.

And forget about all that "historic revision" garbage (an undeserved slant towards this masterpiece--a criticism about it that has always irritated me). After all, it's just a movie!

My advice: Maybe you should re-watch that film more and more and maybe you'll learn to be more appreciative of it.

(sigh) Okay, rant over. Please don't bite my head off...

 

[Mupp]

(sigh) Okay, rant over.

Its alright Duke, we all have topics that we are sensitive about. I'm sure that dr.tooth didn't mean to upset anyone.

Sometimes things that others say will hit a nerve, and one just needs to rant. I understand what you were trying to say.
Its understandable. And I know how you feel, I am a fan of several Disney movies that I feel are constantly under-appreciated.

 

[Kimp the Shrimp]

Amy Adams is in final negotiations to star in Disney’s The Muppets. The deal is not yet closed, but sources tell EW.com that she is nearing a signed agreement to play Jason Segel’s girlfriend who joins him on a road trip to Los Angeles to the Muppet Studios. The film, which reunites the Muppets on the big screen for the first time since 1999′s Muppets From Space, will be directed by James Bobin (co-director of Flight of the Conchords) from a script by Segal and Nick Stoller (director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek).
Production is set to begin in November in Los Angeles and will introduce a new Muppet named Walter. Disney has set Christmas 2011 for its release date.

 

[Drtooth]

My advice: Maybe you should re-watch that film more and more and maybe you'll learn to be more appreciative of it.

No way. The three times I suffered through it were bad enough. That said, a LOT of people agree with me about it. The problem is that was back when they were still hard pressed to get back into Princess type movies (can't see why... Lion King was no where near Princessy and it was one of the greatest things they ever done... it was so good even the DTV sequel was enjoyable). I think it was the first in many missteps (though I really liked Hercules, and Mulan was pretty good too.... Hunchback was good for the Gargoyles). I dunno, maybe if Pokey had some sort of wacky sidekick that talked to her instead of capered about... Maybe if the film had a Genie/Timon and Pumbaa/Tito type character it would have been more fun to watch. But I was really disappointed by that film. That said, I wasn't too thrilled with Tarzan... but that's because I didn't see it big screen.

Sorry if you took that personally, but I just don't see it comparing to anything else they did, past or present favorably. And this is as an honest animation student, cartoon critic wanna be (thanks for filling up the field everyone who managed to get a computer in 2004). It's hardly the glory of the Little Mermaid/Beauty and the Beast/Aladdin/Lion King that made you sing the songs out of the theater, rushing over to the Disney store to buy up anything and everything with the characters on it.

For the record, the only 3 Disney films I ever really disliked were Pocahontas, the Live action 101 Dalmatians movies (offered little else to a classic) and Treasure Planet. I managed to enjoy most of the rest. I never speak about Home on the Range... that confused me.

 

[frogboy4]

No way. The three times I suffered through it were bad enough. That said, a LOT of people agree with me about it. The problem is that was back when they were still hard pressed to get back into Princess type movies (can't see why... Lion King was no where near Princessy and it was one of the greatest things they ever done... it was so good even the DTV sequel was enjoyable). I think it was the first in many missteps (though I really liked Hercules, and Mulan was pretty good too.... Hunchback was good for the Gargoyles). I dunno, maybe if Pokey had some sort of wacky sidekick that talked to her instead of capered about... Maybe if the film had a Genie/Timon and Pumbaa/Tito type character it would have been more fun to watch. But I was really disappointed by that film. That said, I wasn't too thrilled with Tarzan... but that's because I didn't see it big screen.

Sorry if you took that personally, but I just don't see it comparing to anything else they did, past or present favorably. And this is as an honest animation student, cartoon critic wanna be (thanks for filling up the field everyone who managed to get a computer in 2004). It's hardly the glory of the Little Mermaid/Beauty and the Beast/Aladdin/Lion King that made you sing the songs out of the theater, rushing over to the Disney store to buy up anything and everything with the characters on it.

For the record, the only 3 Disney films I ever really disliked were Pocahontas, the Live action 101 Dalmatians movies (offered little else to a classic) and Treasure Planet. I managed to enjoy most of the rest. I never speak about Home on the Range... that confused me.

I can agree with you on Pocahontas. It was historically inaccurate and the story wasn't as strong as other Disney films. I wasn't impressed with the villain either, but it did have some fun supporting animals as usual. I always love those bits. And yeah, it is pretty to look at.

However, I loved Treasure Planet. It wasn't perfect, but it was fun and I felt it honored the source material. It's my second favorite telling of the tale!