Jason Segel's involvement with Cheapest

[terrimonster]

I know one thing. I'd have the biggest smile on my face and a tear on my eye to see the credits read: Written by Jerry Juhl.

I can't imagine he wouldn't receive a "Story by" or "From an idea by" billing. (If for no other reason than too many people would cry foul if he didn't - that's been a fact covered in just about all the news accounts of the script)

The WGA has strict rules on the credits "written by," "screenplay by" and "story by." If Henson/Juhl didn't have an actual script out there, they basically couldn't get one of those credits. But I imagine the producers would come up with some sort of credit like, "based on an original concept by," or "inspired by."

Of course, that's assuming this is actually going with the same story idea. Do we know that to be the case? It's not uncommon to resurrect a title that is meaningful to fans without actually using the story that went with it. It's possible that the title is a tip of the cap but the story is Segel/Stoller's (or someone else's) original.

 

[dwmckim]

Of course, that's assuming this is actually going with the same story idea. Do we know that to be the case? It's not uncommon to resurrect a title that is meaningful to fans without actually using the story that went with it. It's possible that the title is a tip of the cap but the story is Segel/Stoller's (or someone else's) original.

Given the recent Segel quote that he's still involved, at this point it's anyone's guess. Since the announcement at D23 that the next movie would be called "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made", there's been NO info about what it would be about - the only news that was given WAS the title. So this could still be Segel's original idea (after further drafts), Henson/Juhl's idea, a combination of the two, or as you suggest they may have used that title just to get fans talking and generating buzz (especially since a lot of the original script's plots/gags/elements were leaked and now they're trying to do some kind of damage control by getting everyone thinking it's going to be a different concept).

I still have this feeling deep down that the "Cheapest" announcement may just be part of a marketing strategy where there'll be a later press conference where the Muppets announce "We were all set to make 'The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made' but Disney thought that wouldn't sound quite right so they gave us the funding to instead make what will be 'THE GREATEST MUPPET MOVIE OF ALL TIME!"

 

[Drtooth]

At this stage, everything sounds completely speculative. We don't have enough solid news to support either one, and every so often we get something that hints at one or the other. I really wonder where the leaked internet script comes into play.... they could have easily abandoned one and went for another... or just completely changed the working script to accommodate something else.

To me, "Cheapest Muppet Movie" has an element of Monty Python style nonsequitor to the concept. It feels to me the film could easily interrupt itself with something weird, or get consecutively worse as the story goes on (similar to how Holy Grail ended, with the situation completely deteriorating giving us an abrupt ending that only they could pull off). And it really seems it could be pulled off well enough... but the way it sounds might just drive more causal movie goers off.

Then again, "Greatest Muppet Movie Ever" has the stigmata of yhaving fans go in and say "The Heck it is!"

 

[hoopless]

I just saw this at an interview that Jason Segel did promoting the recent 100th episode of How I Met Your Mother. I'll include the link below, but here is the very relevant Muppet part!

PW: And from everything I've been hearing you put those songwriting skills to good use in your upcoming Muppets reboot, right?

Jason: Oh yeah! It's very exciting! We're getting closer and closer to getting the movie made. It's such a big complicated franchise to relaunch, so it takes a while. But we're getting there.

PW: Now, I'm straight out of the "Muppets Take Manhattan" school -- what about you?

Jason: Well, I think those three movies are of the same pantheon -- "The Muppet Movie," "The Great Muppet Caper," "Muppets Take Manhattan." Those are the ones that I love together. They were made in the span of three or four years, and while the ones after that are pretty good too, those are the great ones.

PW: Sounds like we can expect your version to hew more closely to the format of those then?

Jason: Yeah, I don't think there's any reason to approach something so beautiful with a sense of irony. I think that's one of the things I was afraid of, I know that I come from this Judd group -- and I emphasized this to the studio when I pitched it. This isn't going to be an ironic venture for me. This is coming out of pure love, so don't expect the Muppets to be dirty!


Sounds great!

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/popwrap/jason_segel_dOqMssBI12YRreGcKeS7AL

Thanks for this. It makes me really happy, and hopefully it means he's still involved. After watch Forgetting Sarah Marshall bonus features and seeing how much he loves puppets (not just Muppets) and seeing him with the Henson made Dracula The Musical puppets, I think they would be in safe hands.