Why did Jason Segel, best known for raunchy comedies like “Knocked Up,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Bad Teacher,” want to star in, co-write and produce “The Muppets?”
Although some people associated with the late Jim Henson’s Muppet empire were adamantly opposed to Segel’s involvement, whose ringing endorsement made all the negative talk turn positive?
And what exactly is the difference between a Muppet and a puppet?
These are the questions we wanted to know when we met with Segel inside his Beverly Hills hotel suite, and he obliged our inquiries.
He also told us how his mother started his love of Muppets, why he’s not crazy about ventriloquists and their dummies and, most important, why he never seems to mock the Muppet craziness going on around him in the new movie musical, even though he makes his living mocking such things?
The movie, which opens today, stars Segel as a young man from a small town who grows up with a brother who is different. He’s different because he’s actually a Muppet, but nobody knows he’s a Muppet, although there are clues that everybody misses – like his lifelong admiration for Kermit the Frog.
While on vacation in Los Angeles, where Segel, his brother Walter and Segel’s girlfriend Amy Adams tour the old Muppet Studios, they discover that an evil oilman (Chris Cooper) plans to level the studio and turn it into a Pinkberry (I made up that last part).
Anyway, the Muppet gang are pulled out of retirement, and pulled into a scheme to thwart the evil oilman.
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: Describe the weird, life-changing moment when you first fell in love with puppets?
JASON SEGEL: There are two answers to that. The first was when I fell in love with the Muppets, and that was because of my mom, who is a comedy nerd like me. She made me watch “Harold and Maude” when I was 10. She had taped all the episodes of the Muppets TV show for the specific purpose to show them to me when I was old enough. That was a very special memory for me; watching the tapes of the Muppets show with my mom.
Q: What about puppets in general?
A. I fell in love with puppetry because I came of age creatively at about the same time Apple had their digital revolution. You could shoot and edit your own films but I had no actor friends so I’d write these short films and all I could think of was to go to the toy store and buy puppets to do the scenes with them. It was just to learn how to edit movies, and I realized I loved working with the puppets. I could play all the characters, they never talked back and they would do anything I wanted.
Q. Did “Magic” and those other creepy ventriloquist movies mean anything to you as a kid?
A. It was more the Jim Henson movies like “Labyrinth” and the Tim Burton movies that really got me.
Q. Do you think there is something strange about people who like puppets?
A. No. Maybe. I don’t know. There doesn’t have to be a negative connotation to the word strange. I think puppets offer us a glimpse into a fantasy world that we wish we could live in. At least some of us. I want to live in those worlds.
Q. When did you first think about getting involved in a Muppet movie?
A. It was when I met the Hensons, who did my puppets for “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”
Q. Were you already a fan?
A. If you ask any of my friends, I had Muppet paraphernalia in my one-bedroom apartment when I was 20. Seth Rogen and I were writing partners, and he would always make fun of me for being a grown man with Muppet figurines.
Q. Why do you love the Muppets so much? Does it have to do with the memories with your mother?
A. That’s part of it, but for a lot of guys, the Muppets are the gateway to sketch comedy. You get to know the Muppets, and maybe that moves you to Monty Python. They certainly formed my comedic background.
Q. I’m sorry, but I interrupted you. You were telling me how you got started on this project?
A. Right. I met the Hensons, and I asked them if I could see the current Miss Piggy, and they said that all the Muppets were over at Disney. That’s when I realized what had happened to the Muppets. They had become a property. When they started out, before they got famous, they were a ragtag group of puppeteers in a garage somewhere. They were just dreamers. Without that singular vision, nobody knew what to do with them. When you’re thinking of them as plush toys and rides, you’re missing the spirit of the Muppets.
Q. Which is what?
A. They’re kind of subversive. They’re counter-culture.
Q. Having heard all this, I’m surprised that Disney ever let you anywhere near the franchise?
A. Yeah, I was surprised, too (laughs). But I wasn’t saying they ruined the Muppets. I was saying that they weren’t realizing the full potential of the Muppets. Family fare has become synonymous with kid-fare, and that was never what the Muppets were about. They were intended to be on the edge; to feel dangerous to a kid. It was controlled chaos. And that’s what I wanted to bring back to the Muppets.
Q. So you went to Disney and pitched your idea?
A. Me and Nick Stoller, my writing partner.
Q. And Disney said, “Aren’t you the guy who was naked in ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall?'”
A. They thought I was joking at first. Then they were concerned that I would do it with a sense of irony. I’d be doing the Muppets with a wink.
Q. How did you convince Disney?
A. It doesn’t take long to understand that I’m a purist. So they gave the go-ahead to work on a script, and it took four years to get the tone right.
Q. I’ll be honest with you. I watched the movie and saw you dancing and singing your way down the street with the Muppets, and I kept looking for some ironic smile. That’s what I’m used to with you, but I never saw it. You really took this seriously, didn’t you?
A. Honestly, I was wide-eyed throughout the whole thing, I was a spectator through some it, watching my childhood idols doing their thing.
Q. You’re also seeing the man behind the curtain. How is that not spoiling it for you?
A. I have done plenty of puppeteering myself, so I knew what was behind the curtain. To see masters of their craft left me more awe-struck than ever.
Q. I would be remiss in not mentioning the published reports that some of the pioneers in the Muppets empire were not happy with your involvement. How did you feel when you read that?
A. People were nervous. I understand that. I am the step-parent. No matter how nice the step-parents are, the kids resist them and don’t trust them. They hadn’t seen the film yet when they made those comments.
Q. Was it hurtful?
A. It hurt my feelings. To be honest, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. But I had confidence that I knew what I was doing.
Q. Do you think the doubters will be satisfied?
A. I do. Lisa Henson put it best when she said, “There’s no way of watching this movie without seeing it as a love letter to the Muppets.”
Q. Isn’t her opinion worth more than anyone else’s?
A. Of course it is. But the audience’s opinion means even more.
Q. Was it hard to act next to the Muppets?
A. The suspension of disbelief kicks in immediately. Something crazy happens to you. Even though the puppeteer is in plain view, you’re talking directly to Kermit within two minutes. It’s what separates the Muppets from CGI (computer effects). There is something visceral about the Muppets. They exist. You can touch Kermit. You’ll never meet Shrek. He lives in a computer.
Q. What’s the difference between Muppets and puppets?
A. I appreciate puppets and ventriloquists, but that’s strictly an entertainment act. You’re meant to be aware that there is a puppeteer. With Muppets, the puppeteer is invisible. The Muppets live.
Contact the writer: 714-796-5051, ext. 1110, or bkoltnow@ocregister.com
