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Tag Archives: James Bobin
Muppets Movie Loading Up on Star Power
Alan Arkin, Jack Black, Billy Crystal, Zach Galifianakis and Jean-Claude Van Damme are being recruited to make guest appearances in the new feature.
The film is currently shooting around Los Angeles under the direction of James Bobin.
The biggest hurdle facing the film is not getting actors to say yes to appear in the movie. Rather, it’s figuring out scheduling.
The story sees Jason Segel, who also co-wrote the script, as the human lead who helps those wacky Muppets reunite to put on a show in order to save a movie studio.
Amy Adams, Chris Cooper and Rashida Jones are among the human actors in key roles.
Arkin is a tour guide while Black will play a kidnap victim. Galifianakis plays a hobo. Details for others were not divulged.
It was reported that Jane Lynch would be appearing in the “Muppets” movie, but the “Glee” star denied being attached to the film.
Related articles
- Jane Lynch NOT Attached to THE MUPPETS Movie (collider.com)
First Look: The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made
We have a Muppets News Flash! The first official image from next year’s ‘The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made’ has been released.
Here is the official word about the movie.
The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made’ is about Gary (Segel), Mary (Amy Adams), and Walter (a man, his girlfriend, and the man’s life-long nondescript, brown puppet best friend) getting the old Muppet gang – now retired entertainers known for the same Muppet show we know them from – together to save the TV studio that the original show was shot in. A villain, Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), bent on drilling for oil underneath the studio, is due to take over the studio in weeks, and the only way to stop him? Putting on a show that draws ten million viewers.
It is in theaters December of 2011. Stay tuned for more Muppets News and Views.
Disney Picks Pixar’s Brains for Muppets Movie
The Muppets are getting Pixar-lated.
Principals involved with Disney’s upcoming live-action picture starring Jason Segel flew to Pixar headquarters in Emeryville, Calif., on Wednesday for a table read of the project.
This is the second recent example of the animation house assisting its Disney parent with a live-action feature after it helped shape reshoots for the upcoming sci-fi tentpole “Tron Legacy.”
Some of the members of the so-called “Pixar Brain Trust” — filmmakers John Lasseter, Brad Bird , Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Michael Arndt, Bob Peterson and president Ed Catmull — were there for the consultations. On the Disney side, Muppets director James Bobin and producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman were likely in the room along with Segel. Neither Pixar nor Disney would comment.
Beyond whatever advice might have come down for the project at hand, the fact that Pixar has its fingers in the Muppets pie suggests that Disney, under the new regime of Rich Ross and Sean Bailey, is intent on taking advantage of its subsidiary’s storytelling abilities.
Pixar still is batting 1.000 with critics and commercially, with “Toy Story 3″ being its 11th hit in a row. The film has grossed $366.9 million since its June 18 release, becoming the top domestic grosser of the year, surpassing the $334.2 million collected by Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland.” (Worldwide, “Alice” still is far ahead with $1.02 billion in grosses; the global tally for “Toy” stands at $634.4 million as its international rollout continues.)
At the same time, the new Disney regime has been hampered by a string of underperformers — “When in Rome,” “The Last Song,” “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” and the just-opened misfire “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” — that it inherited from the studio’s previous administration.
Despite his success at the Disney Channels, Ross has no feature filmmaking experience, and Bailey, though seasoned as a producer, is new to top studio management. The new Disney team is eager to avail itself of Pixar’s expertise — and the filmmakers involved don’t appear to harbor any reluctance about taking advice from Pixar, either.
Click here to keep reading this article from ABC News.
