Frank Oz' Muppet documentary "Muppet Guys Talking" premiering at SXSW on March 12, 2017

minor muppetz

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If this documentary was made (or at least started upon) back when Jerry Nelson was alive, then I'm very surprised that we hadn't known about its development sooner. Especially if it's premiering next month. Maybe if it was just a regular television documentary, but it seems like this is going to be a documentary film (interdependently produced, as far as I know, and likely to have a limited run, but still....).

I wonder if Disney has any involvement with this, in regards to production, distribution, or what (I'm guessing Disney at least approved of this and provided clips, though the Jim Henson Archives has many of the Muppet productions that Disney owns).

I also wonder if this will focus exclusively (or primarily exclusively) on The Muppet Show as the article seems to imply, or if it'll cover other Muppet productions like the movies, specials, The Jim Henson Hour, Muppets Tonight, and various viral videos (and maybe the 2015 series, depending on if any of it was shot after the show premiered). If that's the case, then Bill Barretta isn't so out of place (though there's still limited stuff Fran Brill can talk about, unless this documentary will also have a lot of discussion on Sesame Street and various Henson-retained productions... Or maybe it will have some discussion on The Jim Henson Hour and that's why Brill is included...).

I wonder if Frank Oz will finally do interviews for Tough Pigs or The Muppet Mindset to promote this documentary. I know that one of the Tough Pigs guys happened to meet Frank Oz a few years ago and he turned down an interview request (actually I know that they both met him, at different points, but the second one probably didn't ask for an interview because he knew Oz had turned it down from the first one). From what I remember about the thread about this meeting, and I could be wrong in my wording, when asked about an interview he said he "doesn't do those", which I thought meant interviews, but I have seen a lot of interviews with Oz. Maybe he meant he didn't like to do interviews for fan sites (though he did do an interview for The MuppetCast, but that was in a special Jim Henson tribute show, so maybe that was a special case; in fact when that episode came about, Steve Swanson said in a post that Oz rarely does interviews specifically about himself - I have seen some where he talks about his career, but it seems most of them are either promotion for his latest film or about Jim Henson). But he might want to make an exception to promote this film.

When I first saw the title of this thread (which I think was cut-off before I clicked on it), I assumed it meant that the documentary would be about Frank Oz, as opposed to a general one about Muppets that Oz directed. But a documentary on Frank Oz would be great. I know that in 2009 he told a fan that he'd been thinking about NOT writing his autobiography, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't allow somebody else to write a biography on him.
 

DrGroverFan

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I wonder if any of Jim Henson's children are involved or maybe even Jane Henson. I know that Jane passed away back in 2013 and John in 2014, but it would be nice to hear some classic stories.
 

Beauregard

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*sits around talking about Muppets and drinking tea and wonders if anyone will come film him for a future project*
 

Pig'sSaysAdios

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*sits around talking about Muppets and drinking tea and wonders if anyone will come film him for a future project*
*director walks in to find Beau sipping tea in studio* Dang you Bearuregard, I thought I told you to stop wandering on to my movie sets!
 

Beauregard

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I can't help it if you build your movie sets around my home. Did you bring any biscuits?
 

cjd874

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If this documentary is released on DVD or online, I would love to see it, especially because Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson are going to be in the same room. I'm hoping that there will be quite a bit of rare footage of Jim Henson working with the other puppeteers (anything from Sam and Friends to Muppet-Vision 3D will be okay).

I do wish Steve Whitmire was in this film instead of Bill Barretta because I think he was much closer to Jim, but I'm not calling the shots. So I'll take it as it is.
 
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Phillip

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Who all will be at the premiere of "Muppet Guys Talking" tomorrow in Austin? If you'll be there, let us know!
 
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