Jim Henson Co. Goes Noir?!
Muppet fever is in the air these days. Jason Segel got The Jim Henson Co. to help him whip up those awesome puppets for Forgetting Sarah Marshall. That led to the funny man getting the honor of making a new Muppet movie. And now we're getting more Hensonesque film awesomeness. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the company is going to the adult world of film noir.Oh yes -- they've whipped up a murder mystery called The Happytime Murders (written by Todd Berger from a story created with Dee Austin Robertson), and Brian Henson will direct it. In this tale of adult puppet goodness, there's an alternate world where puppets and humans co-exist -- but not exactly peacefully -- the puppets are considered second-class citizens. The murder comes in when "the puppet cast of an '80s children's TV show called 'The Happytime Gang' begins to get murdered one by one, [and] a disgraced puppet LAPD detective turned private eye -- with a drinking problem, no less -- takes on the case."
Awesome. I can only hope there some Nick and Nora noir swank to this whole deal, but I do wonder: HOW adult will they get? The piece references Avenue Q, which is a big ol' raunch fest, but that might be too racy? However adult it gets, this sounds good. Do you agree?
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(Page 1)2. Awesome.
Posted at 2:20PM on Oct 15th 2008 by Tim
3. Ummm... isn't that the plot to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Even so, sounds intriguing. Kind of like Meet the Feebles meets Roger Rabbit with some Greg the Bunny thrown in.
Posted at 2:33PM on Oct 15th 2008 by pAT
4. Exactly what i was thinking.
Sounds exactly like Roger Rabbit. Doesn't mean it can't be good, and i think Henson Co is at its best when it gets a little dark (see: Labyrinth, MirrorMask, etc) but this doesn't sound dark so much as "adult". I've never like raunchy puppets. Just doesn't do it for me.
Posted at 2:42PM on Oct 15th 2008 by Paul Nicholson
5. Thought the same thing and came to post that. So glad it's not just me. Must everything be recycled? Maybe this is only a problem to the old who can remember the past?
Posted at 4:27PM on Oct 15th 2008 by njbeetle
6. Same here, but I'm definitely intrigued. I love muppets.
Posted at 5:31PM on Oct 15th 2008 by mezzanine
7. Yeah . . . I just can't think of "puppets" and "adult" without thinking Meet the Feebles. I'm still disturbed.
Posted at 5:44PM on Oct 15th 2008 by myvelocity
8. Sounds awesome. The Henson clan are due for a new direction. They still have great work in them - the creature shops puppet work in Hitchhiker's Guide was great. Just hope the script's solid.
Posted at 3:06PM on Oct 15th 2008 by Tom
9. Brian Henson directed the fantastic Battleground for the Nightmares and Dreamscapes miniseries. Very mature, kinda violent, and totally awesome. I trust that he has the chops to pull this concept off successfully.
Posted at 3:11PM on Oct 15th 2008 by automagV
10. eh no thanks. I prefer the original Muppets. Plus, I'd rather see Who Framed Roger Rabbit than a puppet reworking of it. not to sound weird but i think we need more general audience/kid type comedies like the Muppets these days. there are too many adult oriented raunchy comedies out there.
Posted at 5:12PM on Oct 15th 2008 by vegimorph
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1. Uh.... what kind of puppet action is happening on the right side of the picture??!?!
That looks waaaaay too adult for me :)
Posted at 2:11PM on Oct 15th 2008 by Shaun