Muppets Most Wanted Goes Global

By Erin

*I attended a media/press event for the purposes of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Ever since I was a child, I loved waking up, turning on the TV and watching the Muppets. Fast forward many years later, and when I received the opportunity now to actually MEET, In PERSON (or in Muppet?) Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy I could not turn that down. I could not wait to hear what the whole gang had to say about their new movie, Muppets Most Wanted, about life and other odds and ends. The movie is set to hit theaters this Friday, March 21st,  and sends the entire Muppets gang on a global tour through many of Europe’s most sought after destinations. It doesn’t take long until they find themselves entangled in an international crime caper….. lets see what the gang has to share with us.

 Filmmakers: Todd Lieberman (Producer), James Bobin (Director), Bret McKenzie (Music Supervisor)

One of the first things that caught my interest was that the movie was originally going to be called “The Muppets Again.“

 Bret McKenzie made some remarks on this, “The first song we’re doing a sequel ends with the Muppets all singing “it’s the Muppets again,” because we’d thought it be great to, you know, the song to have the title of the movie in it but then well after we’d filmed it all, uh, Marketing decided to change the name of the movie  and so, we tried going “it’s the Muppets Most Wanted and, it really didn’t sit very well on the mouths of the Muppets, so we did okay.”

Another interesting bit about the film is that you will see many cameos throughout it. I enjoyed seeing so many familiar faces, the cameos made the film that more enjoyable to me. Here’s a little on what was said about the cameos.

Todd Lieberman, “A lot of the cameos, we have a list of people who want to be in the movie and then as we kinda go through, as these guys go through writing the movie, we gather other intel of fans and people we like and people that like us and then we kinda do this grid..

Bret chimed in, “intel meaning, just Google them. Google celebrity and Muppet.”

When asked if it was attempted to get anyone from the royal family to be a cameo in the movie, James Bobin replied, “That’s a good question.  We tried to get the young prince to be one of the babies. But, they never—they never responded.”

What about the music? The Muppets are known for some great songs, including the Oscar winning Man or Muppet. Did Bret feel an added pressure because of this?

Bret, “Yeah, but what can you do? You know there’s a little bit of pressure and, on my piano at home I have the Oscar. It sits on my piano and so occasionally I’ll be working around looking at, oh, that’s not good enough. But then I moved to LA to work on the songs and we hired a space in—on Hollywood Boulevard, an old—an old shop and I put a piano in there.  It was like this sorta dusty old shop to hide away and work on these songs and these guys came and visited, to listen to the demos and it was quite a funny scene because people would be walking by hearing this, me hitting on, you know, playing the piano and occasionally—occasionally they’d walk in and they’d say, “is there music lessons going on here?” Or what is this?  Is this some sort of art installation?”

Talent: Tina Fey (Nadya), Kermit, Ricky Gervais (Dominic Badguy),  Constantine, Ty Burrell (Jean Pierre Napoleon), Sam Eagle, and Miss Piggy? Ummm Where’s Miss Piggy??

 

Next, the talent entered the room. It was time to meet Kermit, the World’s  Number One Criminal, Constantine and the rest. I just hope Miss Piggy will show up soon! 

Here are some interesting tid-bits you might be wondering about the film and the characters.

*Why didn’t Kermit play both his part and Constantine’s part? It surely would have enhanced his acting credits, right?

Kermit had this to say about that, “Well, you know it didn’t make sense for me to play Constantine ‘cause we do have a few scenes together and I don’t really work on green screen  so we couldn’t really make that work.  But plus, listen Constantine is actually a—a distant cousin, from Russia.”

*Does Constantine plan to leave behind the criminal life and become part of the Muppets family?

Constantine, “Well, this is good question.  I am actually thinking about doing new Netflix original programming. I will call it House of Toads.  I will executive produce and show run. So let’s take meeting yes?”

*What will kids like most about this movie?

Tina Fey took this one and replied, “I think they’re—they’re gonna like how funny the movie is because, you know, I think there’s a lot of jokes in the movie and kids who are like 8, 9, 10 years old they take a lot of pride in getting the jokes.”

Ty Burrell also shared with us, “I have an IQ of a seven-year-old and I loved this movie so much.”

I think its safe to say, that folks of all ages will enjoy this movie. 😉

*What was Kermit most proud of in making Muppets Most Wanted?

Kermit, “Well, you—you may be surprised to hear this but there—there—there, I’m actually stretching myself quite a lot as a—as a dramatic actor in this thing.  I did many many scenes with Tina.  One particular scene stands out to me.  It was a closed set.  It was the scene where she licks me. We—we, but I—I just wanna clear it up right here with the press that Tina is happily married.  Jeff was there during the shooting.”

Tina Fey and Kermit having an intimate conversation about their roles in the movie and working together. Good thing Miss Piggy wasn’t here yet! 😉

Sadly Sam Eagle Needs to make his exit a little early. He stated, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.  I’m going to have to leave now. I’m—I’m doing double duty here both promoting this film and also working in hotel security.”

Miss Piggy making her grand entrance, fashionably late of course! I wouldn’t expect anything less of her. 😉 Kermit had actually told us earlier that she insisted upon being fashionably late.

*How did Miss Piggy like working with Celine Dion?

Miss Piggy , “Well, working with Celine Dion it was a pleasure.  It was a joy for her naturally. Yes, I’m—I’m only too happy to let her ride my coat tails up to the Oscar stage.  Yes, it was a joy.  We only spent a little time together but—but it was very meaningful to her.”

Oh Miss Piggy!

*What was Miss Piggy wearing and how did she like Vivienne Westwood’s Wedding Gown?

Miss Piggy, always the fashion queen states, “Oh, well, well first of all this is—this is an original Stefano from Hoboken.  Vivvy, she made moi a beautiful gown.  Yes, made out of recycled plastic bottles. Took a little while to get over that but you know, as they say something, something old, something new, something recycled, something..”

Now, for something extra special….

As a fun extra, we also got a peek into PARTY CENTRAL  with a pitch presentation and Q&A with director Kelsey Mann. You will not want to miss this short film at the start of Muppets Most Wanted. Mike and Sulley make their return to Monsters University for a weekend of fun with their Oozma Kappa fraternity brothers. The boys are throwing their first party but unfortunately no one is showing up. That does not stop Mike and Sulley from coming up with a brilliant plan to ensure that “Party Central” becomes known as the most epic party to ever grace campus at Monsters University.