Changes: The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made!

Revision as of 04:08, 12 September 2009

The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made is an idea for a film that Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl and Frank Oz developed in 1985.

In a 1998 interview,^[1] Jerry Juhl, head writer of the Muppets, discussed the concept of this film on Muppet Central:

“There was a project for a Muppet movie that we kept returning to. Jim and I worked on it and just loved it. It grew out of the fact that Jim was talking about finances and if we did another Muppet movie at the time, it would need to be done inexpensively, since we were using bigger and bigger budgets for all our other projects."
According to Juhl, the idea at the time "being that this was a film that Gonzo directed. Kermit was too busy so when Gonzo asked, Kermit said, 'Sure, go ahead. I can't take on the responsibilities behind the scenes at this time, but I'll perform in it.' So Gonzo wrote this cheesy, terrible plot that made absolutely no sense whatsoever about something being stolen that led to a chase around the world.
Unfortunately Gonzo blows half the movie's budget on the opening titles! So as the film progresses, it gets cheaper and cheaper where they're using a shot of the same street corner for every city in the world! We were still talking about this project in the last meeting I ended up having with Jim.”

New life

In 2000, Frank Oz discussed resurrecting a 15-year old script he worked on with Jerry Juhl and Jim Henson.^[2]

At the D23 expo on September 11, 2009, the Muppets appeared to announce that The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made with a similar plot would be their next film.^[3] Jason Segel, previously announced as writer of The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time!!!, was reported as writing the script.^[4] Whether the 2009-announced Cheapest script is based on Juhl's 1985 treatment, or an update of Segel's Greatest script, is not known.

Sources

↑ Muppet Central by D.W. McKim. July 24, 1998
↑ Interview with Frank Oz by Ken Plume. February 10, 2000
↑ Access Hollywood Sept 11, 2009
↑ Slashfilm by Peter Sciretta. Spet 11, 2009

[1] Muppet Central by D.W. McKim. July 24, 1998

[2] Interview with Frank Oz by Ken Plume. February 10, 2000

[3] Access Hollywood Sept 11, 2009

[4] Slashfilm by Peter Sciretta. Spet 11, 2009

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 '''''The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made''''' is an idea for a film that [[Jim Henson]], [[Jerry Juhl]] and [[Frank Oz]] developed in 1985.
-In a 1998 interview,<ref>[http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/interviews/juhl3.shtml Muppet Central interview with Jerry Juhl]</ref> Jerry Juhl, head writer of the Muppets, discussed the concept of this film on [[Muppet Central (website)|Muppet Central]]:
+In a 1998 interview,<ref>[http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/interviews/juhl3.shtml Muppet Central] by D.W. McKim. July 24, 1998</ref> Jerry Juhl, head writer of the Muppets, discussed the concept of this film on [[Muppet Central (website)|Muppet Central]]:
 {{quote|There was a project for a Muppet movie that we kept returning to. Jim and I worked on it and just loved it. It grew out of the fact that Jim was talking about finances and if we did another Muppet movie at the time, it would need to be done inexpensively, since we were using bigger and bigger budgets for all our other projects.''"