Wednesday
15Oct2008
Muppets Do Film Noir
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 11:43AM
In my opinion, the Muppets never went away - because
what's truly cool is always cool - but you could argue that
Jim Hensonis back. We learned earlier this year
that a new Muppets movie will be written by
Jason Segel
(Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and this week,
The Hollywood Reporter broke the story that a
Muppet film noir is headed our way.
Yep.
The Happytime Murders "is a comedic film noir murder mystery that will fall under the company's Henson Alternative banner, a division that develops projects not intended for children." How do you convince your kids that these Muppets aren't for them? Simple: The movie features new puppets a la The Dark Crystal and not The Swedish Chef.
Todd Berger wrote the script and Jim Henson's son, Brian, will direct, but I'd much rather see Michael Mann or somebody with film noir experience pulling the strings. Too bad Billy Wilder and Otto Preminger are dead.
The story sounds good, though: In this parallel universe, where puppets are viewed as second-class citizens and the humans rule, the cast members of an old kids' TV show called The Happytime Gang start getting killed, and a puppet private eye with an alcohol problem tries to solve the case.
The Reporter says The Happytime Murders will blend the absurdist bent of Avenue Q with L.A. Confidential and Pulp Fiction. OK then...
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in Film Noir, Muppets | Print Article | Email Article | 2 Comments | Share Article
Reader Comments (2)
Some of the best Jim Henson productions were also the darkest. The Dark Crystal was fantastic and we can only hope that Genndy Tartakovsky doesn't let the world down with the sequel next year. Also, I loved Labrynth with a very young Jenifer Conelly. It was also very dark.
After Jim Henson died the Muppets sort of lost their way and got Disney-fied. What people forget is that though these movies were kid-friendly, they were more in line with the children's tales of old, those told by Grimm and Aesop, L Frank Baum, and the original Pinnochio: Dark, sometimes morbid tales indeed.
When was it exactly that we all decided kids can't handle darker material? I for one am glad that Brian Henson has seen the light, because honestly, I have always blamed him for ruining his father's legacy...
I could've editorialized about Brian Henson in the article, but I'm so in love with the concept that I decided to wait until he undoubtedly ruins it with his bad directing. Or...you know...wait until now.
The sense of humor of The Muppet Show was a lot more satirical than a lot of people might have thought at the time, and when they have good writing, all of the projects are entertaining. Muppet Babies is a great spin-off, but I'm a big Dark Crystal fan, too, so I'm happy they're doing something risky. Even if the son is directing it.