#Jim Henson’s studio is looking for its muppet | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

aion-rsa · 4 years ago

Text

What Went Wrong With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze?

https://ift.tt/3cey4oF

The story of how Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles went from underground comic book to the highest grossing independent film of all time is the stuff of Hollywood legend. But ask producer Tom Gray about the sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, and you are likely to hear an altogether different tale. One of a frantically rushed production, censorship backlash and a change of director and direction. Actors were replaced, there were clashes with the comic book creators and a series of strange and unusual characters were added to the mix – including Vanilla Ice.

Gray was head of production at Golden Harvest, the Hong Kong studio behind martial arts classics like Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon, when comedian-turned screenwriter Bobby Herbeck first approached him about a live-action film adaptation of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s cult comics.

It’s fair to say he took some convincing.

“I hated the idea. I thought it was stupid,” Gray tells Den of Geek. Undeterred, Herbeck pestered Gray for months until the Golden Harvest chief had a sudden change of heart.

“I had an epiphany and thought we could just put stunt guys in turtle suits and make all our money in Japan. That was why I was interested; making it low budget. It escalated when Steve Barron came onboard.”

Barron had made his name with groundbreaking music videos for Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and A-Ha’s “Take on Me” and sold Gray and TMNT creators Eastman and Laird on his vision for the movie.

More importantly, he enlisted the late Jim Henson and his legendary Creature Shop to bring the Turtles to life using state-of-the-art animatronics, which came at no small expense.

Even so, Gray found the project was a hard sell when it came to finding a major studio willing to distribute the movie.

“George Lucas’s Howard the Duck had just come out and bombed,” he recalls. “When I went around people would say ‘oh no I’m not going to put my name on the next Howard the Duck. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, how absurd.’ Nobody wanted to step up in the major studios.”

Undaunted by the mass rejection (“Hollywood is always the last to know”) Gray eventually secured a deal with New Line Cinema, then best known for A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The rest, as they say, is history.

That first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie came from nowhere in the spring of 1990 to make an astonishing $135 million, becoming a cultural phenomenon in the process. A sequel was inevitable but the results were anything but.

“It was rushed,” Gray says when asked for his overriding feelings about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. “Once the first film opened, we figured we had to get another one out as quickly as possible because this whole thing could fade away very quickly if we didn’t come back.”

Incredibly, a release date for the sequel was set for almost exactly a year on from the original. That seems crazy to think now, in the era where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is carefully plotted out years in advance, but this was 1990 and New Line Cinema. At this point the production company which was working on its sixth Nightmare on Elm Street Movie in the space of just seven years. The quality of those films had varied wildly but one thing had remained consistent: the quick turnaround.

“New Line wanted it out on pretty much the same date, maybe a week earlier in fact. So, we rushed into the production, got a script together. The overarching thing was speed. We had to get it out,” Gray remembers. “I think that’s probably the reason why it doesn’t top many people’s list of the best Turtles movies.”

A Change in Tone

One of the first challenges facing Gray was a tonal one. While the first TMNT film had garnered praise for maintaining the dark and dangerous feel of the original comics, not everyone was happy.

“We started getting some pressure from parental groups. They felt it was a little too dark and a little too frightening for children,” Gray says.

In the US, there were reports of Turtles toys and merchandise being banned in schools over worries they encouraged aggressive behavior in kids. In the UK, the characters were even rebranded the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles amid concern among censors that the word “ninja” promoted violence. Michelangelo’s nunchucks were also banned. It wasn’t just the censors who expressed concern either.

“The toy company was also telling us that maybe we shouldn’t be too dark,” Gray said. “And then, of course, then there was Jim Henson himself, who died while we were making the first film. His whole thing from the beginning was that he didn’t want to make a really dark film. Steve [Barron] was able to convince him it was the way to go even though it was different from the Muppets and everything he had done before. They had a great relationship. Jim trusted Steve.”

The decision was made to approach the material with a lighter tone, with Todd Langen’s original script undergoing a major rewrite to address the change. Despite the change Gray insists an attempt was made to retain some of the darker elements.

“We tried to get somewhere in between but probably didn’t succeed.”

Ultimately, however, the looming deadline left little room for nuance.

“If you sit down and think about this thing too much, you’re never going to get underway,” he reasons.

A New Director

In another notable shift that fans have questioned down the years, Barron did not return for the sequel.

The Irish filmmaker told Flickering Myth that the shift in sensibilities was the deciding factor.

“[It was] lighter, and all the instructions that had gone on from the first film were coming from the producers about keeping the color and lightness and getting away from the dark edge in number two,” he said. “For me it was poppy, and that wasn’t my sensibility.”

Gray tells Den of Geek Barron didn’t come back “for reasons that I won’t go into” but during the interview paints a picture of difficulties during their work together on the first film.

“I fought with the crew every single day but they did a hell of a job. Budgets were not adhered to but I’ve always given them credit because of their vision,” Gray says.

The producer also revealed that the first film was re-edited from Barron’s original version after his bosses were left unhappy with the director’s cut.

“The studio did edit the film in the end to come up with a different version. It was felt it was cut so you didn’t get to see the roundhouse kicks and fighting which was the hallmark of Golden Harvest. When the bosses saw it in Hong Kong, they complained that they couldn’t tell what the turtles were doing. They wanted to see these guys kicking and fighting. Steve’s style was good but we wanted another look.”

Despite Gray’s diplomatic tone, it’s not difficult to imagine such developments might have created tension. In Barron’s place came American filmmaker Michael Pressman, who Gray knew from his days at United Artists.

“What I liked about Michael was that he was a disciplined director. Having gone through the problems with the first picture I wanted someone who shot fast and stayed on budget. That was my main motivation,” the producer says.

A capable director who has gone on to enjoy a long and varied career in television, little of the blame for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2’s failing can fall at Pressman’s feet though it’s undeniable that some of the creative spark of the first film was lost with Barron’s exit.

So was much of the original’s violence, with the Turtles rarely shown using their weapons in the finished film while the action set pieces were also significantly watered down.

Eastman and Laird

Despite the criticism levelled at the sequel for failing to retain the tone of the comics, all of what went into the movie was greenlit by the TMNT creators. Part of the deal inked by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman saw them retain final approval on anything in the film. But that created other issues both at script and production level, as Gray recalls.

“Kevin was certainly more malleable with going along with things because of the budget but Peter was very difficult to get things by because he would say ‘Oh, well Michelangelo would never say that’. So, it was very hard from the point of view of the writer trying to figure it all out.”

Culture

The Best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Songs

By Lisa Granshaw

Movies

Best Martial Arts Movies on Netflix Right Now

By Gene Ching

With Barron no longer around to mediate and sell them on the plans and with time ticking on, the pair’s reluctance to sign off on ideas led to increased tensions.

“We argued a little bit,” Gray says. “These things are never sweet or nice. It gets down to what we can do and, in the time provided. It’s about compromise. In the end they approved Langren’s changed script. Maybe it was reluctantly but we weren’t going to meet the demand and get this out if they kept changing things.”

Tokka and Rahzar

One of the most noted criticisms of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 concerned the decision to introduce two new sidekicks alongside returning villain Shredder, rather than draw on the wild array of mutant animals that had featured in the comics and TV series.

Many fans had expected to see Bebop and Rocksteady, the mutant warthog and rhinoceros supervillains made famous in the cartoon, feature. However, that cartoon outing proved both a blessing and a curse.

“I didn’t want them in any of the movies,” Laird later revealed on his personal blog. “It’s not so much that I disliked the characters so intensely, but more that I found their constant one-note shtick in the first animated series to be extremely annoying and silly to the point of being stupid.”

Gray’s version of events differs slightly.

“We wanted new villains because we would get a piece of the royalty, which we didn’t have with the first movie. We figured if we created something they didn’t come up with we would get a piece of the pie. It was a business decision.”

Together with the creatives at Henson’s Creature Shop, they “threw together” Tokka and Rahzar, a mutant Alligator Snapping Turtle and wolf respectively, based on pretty much whatever was available.

“Those things were basically the Henson Creature Shop’s ideas, because they had to figure out, technically, what they could do, how big they were going to be and how they could move,” Gray says. “They had to design all this stuff, put someone in the suit and then wire them up or get the animatronics going to make it work. So, we just went to them and said we need a couple of villains.”

Indeed, the resulting animatronics proved less complex and less compelling than the heroes in a half shell – and it showed on screen.

“They were just big models,” Gray admits. “We cut corners, there’s no question about it.”

Sweaty and Claustrophobic

Meanwhile, the turtle suits themselves had undergone little in the way of upgrades since the first film, when the actors playing the four leads experienced any number of issues. Not the least of which being the claustrophobia and sweating that comes with wearing up to 70lbs worth of turtle suit.

The animatronics also, despite being state-of-the-art, continued to suffer their fair share of glitches.

“We knew what the difficulties were and they were unbelievable,” Gray says. “There were days when we couldn’t even get these things set up. We were filming right near the Wilmington Airport. We set up a shot and when it came time for action the Turtles would not speak. We realized they were on the same frequency as the airport.”

Gray blames the lack of a major upgrade, in part, on the lack of additional budget.

“The budget didn’t exponentially go through the roof, because of the speed,” he explains. “I have read things saying it was $20 million. It wasn’t, it was $16.5 million.”

A New April O’Neil

Away from the animatronic issues, the human cast of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 proved a mixed bag. Corey Feldman didn’t return to voice Donatello after pleading no contest to a drug possession charge while, more notably still, Judith Hoag was replaced by Paige Turco as April O’Neil.

Hoag later told Variety she was never approached about the sequel, claiming her omission was a result of the fact she complained about the level of violence in the first movie and the six-days-a-week shooting schedule.

“Everybody was beating everybody up,” Hoag said. “I thought the movie suffered because of that. It was something I spoke to the producers about, I think they thought I was too demanding, and moved on.”

Not that Gray felt the production suffered as a result of either changes.

“No, not at all,” he says. “Certainly not with Corey Feldman because it’s a voice. Remember when you play that movie around the world it will be in 40 or 50 different languages and subtitled anyway. It makes no difference and nobody overseas even knew Corey Feldman was doing a voice…With Judith, we thought it might be of concern but then again it’s all about the Turtles. People aren’t showing up for Judith – though she did a fabulous job – it was really all about the Turtles.”

Elias Koteas also failed to return as the ice hockey stick-wielding vigilante and ally Casey Jones – though that was more down to the film’s shift away from adult themes and one of the more violent human characters.

“Casey was discussed but the reason he dropped out – and I don’t think this was a major issue – was the direction we wanted to take the film,” Gray says. “We wanted to go lighter. That was part of cleaning up the act.”

In his place came Ernie Reyes Jr, a rising martial arts star who had served as a stuntman on the first film and was introduced as Keno, a pizza delivery boy who befriends the turtles. It was a stark departure from Koteas’s character but, once again, it was one Gray says came with the backing of the TMNT hierarchy.

“If Peter and Kevin had wanted Elias back, he would have been back. So, either we were able to convince them that we wanted to go with Ernie and they went along with it.”

Vanilla Ice

Quite how they were convinced to include rapper Vanilla Ice in the proceedings is anyone’s guess, with the rapper turning up in a mid-film nightclub scene to perform new single “Ninja Rap.” His cameo continues to delight and horrify fans to this day. Few will be surprised by the commercially-minded circumstances that led to his appearance.

“SBK the record label producing the soundtrack album said ‘You gotta have Vanilla Ice in this, he’s hot’ so we put him in…We had a good album out of it. Sometimes you don’t make the movie for the reason of art you make it because the thing could go away in a heartbeat. I’ve always been fairly honest and upfront about our motives. It is a business.”

While others might disagree, Gray stands by the inclusion of Vanilla Ice in the film.

“He actually did a very good job. He’s a very cool operative and he loved doing it.”

Shredder or Krang?

Looking back on the sequel, as much as anything, the most disappointing aspect was the decision to resurrect Shredder rather than explore different villains in the way other comic book franchises have.

While Shredder has always been the main antagonist, as with Bebop and Rocksteady, there remained a plethora of colorful villain characters that could have been plucked from the pages of the original comic or the animated series. But the decision to stick with Shredder was not one takem lightly by anyone, and others were discussed.

“We went through the whole catalogue of villains and certainly Krang and all these other characters were in play,” Gray says. “We thought of them but we stayed with what works and that’s what you do in these situations. Don’t try and get too clever.”

As much as anything he blames the Hollywood system and a refusal to take risks. New Line too, would have no doubt been happy to press ahead with a Shredder-oriented sequel, seeing him as the TMNT’s very own Freddy Kreuger of sorts.

“Nobody trusts their instincts,” Gray says. “You go with what worked before and try to modify it a little bit. If it works [and the plethora of Freddy sequels suggests it did] then you are justified in using the same thing over and over again.”

Once again though the decision to stick with Shredder and avoid the kind of time and expense required to create something like Krang, a brain-shaped alien carried around in the waist of a robot man, was influenced by that release date.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze opened in theaters on March 22, 1991, less than a year on from the original. It went on to make over $78 million to become the second most successful independent film of all time.

Despite turning a profit, the film garnered mixed reviews and left Gray and others disappointed.

“It didn’t deliver on what we had hoped because there was this race against time to get it out one year after the first one. When you do that, you really have to compromise.”

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

After the rush to make a second film, it was decided that they would take more time over the third one.

But anyone hoping for a return to form was left disappointed by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in TIme, which saw the gang head to 17th century Japan.

“With number three, we were aiming something at the Japanese market, which was the number one market for foreign films,” Gray explains. “That’s why we had the time travel storyline with the samurais. That was definitely one of the motivations.”

There was just one problem though.

“We hoped it would get the film released in Japan. To this day, it has not been released in Japan.”

Though Gray returned to produce an animated fourth film in the 2000s box office returns diminished with every film. By the time Michael Bay got involved in the franchise, Gray was long gone. He now considers himself “out of the turtle game” with this being one of the last interviews on the subject. But despite the highs and lows endured on the second film, Gray remains proud of what was achieved.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

“These movies were made by committee. It’s amazing they turned out so well.”

The post What Went Wrong With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3c7N9be

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

4 notes · View notes

mislandfelixlestrange · 5 years ago

Photo

THE DARK CRYSTAL REVIEW

http://www.darkcrystal.com/

The Dark Crystal is a 1982 fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. The epic film which was set on the alien planet Thra, was billed at the time of its release as the first live-action film without any human beings on screen. The story follows Jen, a young Gelfling, as he sets out on a quest to heal the dark crystal and save the planet from the rule of evil Skeksis.

The Dark Crystal was filmed at the EMI Elstree Studios near London. While the puppeteers who operated the main characters were drawn from the ranks of the Muppeteers, the Mystics and many of the other creatures were brought to life by a specially recruited group of mimes, actors, dancers, acrobats and clowns. All of these artists performed their craft on sets that, although scaled to the puppet's size, were built up off the floor to allow them enough clearance to operate their characters unhindered. (The puppets were controlled through a variety of radio, mechanical, electrical and hydraulic systems.

my favourite character is Chambling. Even though he is a villain i like his design in personality. he may look like any other skesis but his notable “HMMmmmmMMMmm....” brings a sense of playfulness to him, however he also comes across and very tricky and sinister.

my least favourite character is Jen. i feel like he doesn't do enough for the story and in the prophecy, whereas Kira does a lot more which unfortunately ends up with her paying the price of death.

overall, i liked this movie and the use of puppets where well done.the story was interesting however didn’t have enough justice in the movie as the story was very undeveloped and a lot of the law and history of the universe was barely touched upon. there was a set of comic books the was released as a prequel to the movie which went into the law and aughra her back story. and most recently a series on Netflix was released as a prequel which is very interesting.

2 notes · View notes

omdaily10 · 6 years ago

Text

DANCE WITH ME TONIGHT

Writers: Olly Murs, Claude Kelly, Steve Robson

Producer: Steve Robson

Album: In Case You Didn't Know

Release Date: 20/11/2011

B-Side: 'Baby Blue Eyes' (Writers: Olly Murs, Paddy Byrne / Producer: Paddy Byrne)

Chart Positions: #1 (UK), #1 (Scotland), #2 (Ireland), #7 (Hungary), #20 (Belgium), #62 (Australia), #65 (Austria)

Sales: 810k+ (UK, Platinum)

Nominations: 'Most Performed Work', Ivor Novello Awards 2013

It's hard to know where to start when you discuss what is by all accounts a 'career' record for an artist. You know the ones we're talking about here: that one song above all their others which they're synonymous with, even ten or twenty years later. It’s also true to say, that a ‘career’ record usually emanates from quite humble beginnings.

Olly headed back to work with Claude Kelly and Steve Robson for the second album in 2011. After all, they had delivered his previous album’s biggest hit and number one, so it only made sense to go mining for a bit more pop gold from them. With a year under his belt, he was learning that being a single male in the public eye – especially in music – and being out on the road and enjoying all the trappings that came with it (particularly where female admirers were concerned) wasn’t without its downsides.

With social media on the rise, Olly has said that he often found the common response to ‘Do you fancy meeting up some time babe?’ to a prospective new beau he happened upon in a night spot/discotheque was always ‘Just add me on Facebook’ or ‘Send me a DM on Twitter’. Hardly the stuff great romance is made of. As someone with a view on the old school way of doing things, it’s not hard to see why Olly was frustrated.

This frustration came out in a writing session with Claude and Steve, when he came in to the studio one day and announced to them that he wanted to write a ‘really old, classic song about seeing a really fit girl on a night out’ and wooing her via the medium of singing and dancefloor magic. And thus ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ was born.

youtube

Like all the best pop songs, it sounds like about twenty of them in one sitting: a bit of ‘It’s Not Unusual’ here, a bit of ‘Love Machine’ and ‘Smiley Faces’ there. Claude even gave it an authentically old school, New Orleans soul bar touch by doing the spoken word intro of ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got a special treat for you tonight’. It was a thrilling mix of pop, doo-wop and 60s styled soul with one eye on dancefloors the land over. Its video also pandered to Olly’s playful cheeky side, as he rounded up a gang of party loving friends to woo a prospective beau with a (later revealed to be illegal) street party.

And Olly was confident that once it had been recorded, he not only had a hit on his hands, but that the direction of his second album – now to be titled as ‘In Case You Didn’t Know’ after another of his compositions with Claude and Steve – had been informed. However, when released ahead of the album in mid-November 2011, ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ had a much slower start than his first single off the album had.

You see, Rihanna (with Calvin Harris) had been seeing off all comers to the number one spot for well over a month with her colossal hit single ‘We Found Love’. High profile new singles from JLS, One Direction, The Wanted, Pixie Lott and The Saturdays had all been released in its wake and failed to knock her off the top. ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ looked as if it was going to be joining them when it debuted at #2, despite leading the way midweek. But this was reckoned on without Olly’s second homecoming performance on The X Factor stage, where he debuted its first live performance the very same night it entered the UK chart.

Sony Music had heard a month or so beforehand from Disney that puppet legends The Muppets were set to release a new feature film called, appropriately enough, The Muppets – first in North America for the Thanksgiving market, and then in the UK and Europe the following February. Jim Henson’s fuzzy and furry creations were still a much loved if conspicuously absent entity (at that point anyway) in the UK, and with a new movie came big new promotion opportunities.

youtube

Just about any big showbiz name you can think of from the last four decades has worked with them, so Olly knew it was an opportunity he couldn’t miss out on. Fozzie Bear, Animal, Stadler and Waldorf, and an army of singing penguins and chickens – oh, and crucially, Miss Piggy – hopped over to the UK to join him for his first performance of ‘Dance With Me Tonight’, with a specially re-recorded studio version for the performance making it onto the UK version of The Muppets soundtrack the following year.

Olly and The Muppets proved a winning combination, and the subsequent buzz around it was the most there had been around a result show guest performance in years. So much so that, in a national newspaper’s end of series poll, it was voted as the guest performance of that year’s X Factor. The week the ‘In Case You Didn’t Know’ album headed chart bound, the single held its #2 berth whilst a charity single by that year’s X Factor finalists debuted at the top.

But as airplay grew and ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ started to fill floors the land over, the momentum was enough to ensure that it climbed to the number one spot in the UK on its third week, becoming his third chart topper. With over 200,000 sales to its name already by that point, it had sold more copies than any other single that year before hitting number one. It then went onto shift well over another half a million copies by the time it finished its twenty-week run inside the chart, confirming it as by far and away the biggest seller of his career.

And, as if to prove that good things often come from a place of frustration, the single found itself nominated for a prestigious Ivor Novello award for songwriting 18 months later, in the ‘Most Performed Work’ category at the 2013 ceremony, further cementing Olly’s credentials as an artist, performer and songwriter. Not bad for a song written from being tired of finding love on social media.

OTHER THOUGHTS

Songwriter and producer Paddy Byrne, who can count Olly’s labelmate Paloma Faith, as well as Will Young and Gabrielle amongst his list of previous credits, helped out on ‘Baby Blue Eyes’, a twinkly, sparkly number with a soaring chorus that is almost impossible to find on streaming services these days, meaning those who still have the download of the single bundle on a hard drive somewhere – or the CD single released over a year later in December 2012 for the German market – have something of a fan rarity on their hands.

#Olly Murs #Olly Murs Daily #OM Daily #omdaily10 #reviews #2011 #Dance With Me Tonight #The Muppets #In Case You Didn't Know #10th Anniversary

8 notes · View notes

nuttersincorporated · 6 years ago

Photo

Yes, Ernie is a Muppet and not just by my definition but by yours too but I’ll get to that.

Jim Henson created Elmo. He might not have been the puppeteer but he did create him. I literally linked to a wiki page naming all the Sesame Street Muppets.

However, let’s say that isn’t enough. Let’s look at what the Muppet wikia has to say on the subject. This is from the page ‘What is a Muppet?’

During the development of Sesame Street, when it was decided that the show would add a fantasy element, Jim Henson's Muppets were singled out as the only puppet act that would be worth approaching. After Henson became involved, a cast of new Muppet characters were created for the show. They have become known as The Sesame Street Muppets or The Muppets of Sesame Street.

Sesame Workshop retains the Muppets name in its credits and products for Sesame Street, continuing to call its characters "Jim Henson's Sesame Street Muppets" and the puppeteers "Muppet Performers" or "Muppeteers." However, Sesame Workshop does note that "Muppets™ is a trademark of The Muppets Studio." From 1990-1991, the credits for Sesame Street and related productions referred to its Muppets as "Sesame Street Puppet Characters."

So they might not be Muppets™ because they are held under diffrent rights but they have been called Muppets before and it isn’t wrong to think of them as Muppets.

TV Tropes call them Muppets too.

But hey! Let’s go with your understanding of Muppets. They have to have not only been created by Jim Henson but he also had to be their puppeteer at some point. Jim Henson was never the puppeteer for Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Scooter, Pepe the King Prawn, Rizzo the Rat, Animal, Walter, Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, Sam Eagle, Statler, Camilla the Chicken, Bobo the Bear or Clifford. That’s not even mentioning most of the background Muppets from The Muppet Show that he didn’t personally stick his hand up during the show.

You know a Muppet he was the puppeteer for? Ernie from Sesame Street. Yes that’s right, if you’d taken a second to look at the link in my first reply, you would have seen that Jim Henson was Ernie’s puppeteer from 1969 to 1990.

By your definition, Ernie from Sesame Street is a Muppet but Miss Piggy from The Muppet Show isn’t but go off I guess.

For more posts like this, follow the Ultrafacts blog!

#Jim Henson #muppets #Sesame Street #Ernie is a Muppet but Miss Piggy isn’t #I mean I always knew Ernie was a Muppet #And I’d still call Miss Piggy one #However she fails the Muppet test #So you’ll have to make up your own mind if you think she’s a Muppet or not

168K notes · View notes

ramajmedia · 5 years ago

Text

10 Hidden Details in Zootopia You Probably Missed | ScreenRant

Zootopia was Disney's Oscar-winning, feel-good flick of 2016. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde didn't waste any time climbing to the ranks of Disney royalty, having found a home in the hearts of every Disney fan. Since 2016, this film has without a doubt been viewed over and over by its army of fans, ourselves included.

RELATED: 10 Most Underrated Disney Animated Features

That being said, as much as we've watched this jewel of a film, we can't deny we didn't catch all of its Disney Easter eggs and winks to the audience the first time. Zootopia is not immune from the little surprises so favored by Disney animators. Here are ten of those little secrets and surprises from the film you probably missed.

10 Trained Fur-fessional

A staple of any good buddy-cop movie is the training montage set to a pop/rock soundtrack, and Judy's is no exception. Though her gauntlet run is more visual-gag-heavy than some others, it does serve a bigger purpose than one might think. We actually do see Judy apply all her routines later in the film.

From scaling a car like an ice wall to escaping an enclosure via a toilet, we see Judy use all of her moves from the training montage at some point during the movie. She tackles thousand-foot falls, slippery walls, and enormous criminals all before the credits roll. She was obviously in control at all times, which is why she's so good at her job.

9 Familiar Forest Spirit

Disney artists love to sneak little winks and nods to their other films throughout their movies, but what about sneaking a hint at another studio? It's no secret that Disney director and animator John Lasseter was tight with the head of Studio Ghibli, Hiyo Miyazaki. We're betting even the sharpest didn't pick up on this rather obvious Easter egg, though.

RELATED: 10 Best Miyazaki Films Of All Time

If you look at the train station Judy departs for in the Bunny Burrows, you'll notice a pair of large, familiar eyes and a wide, toothy mouth on the side of the building. This figure is very reminiscent of Miyazaki's Totoro, the mascot of the Ghibli company and star of My Neighbor Totoro. Perhaps Zootopia has some anime influence?

8 Frozen in Tundra Town

Directors Byron Howard and Rich Moore were responsible for bringing us the wonderful world of Zootopia, but they also created the kingdom of Arendelle. As the creators of Disney's most popular and profitable princess property, it's no surprise that they added more than a few nods to Frozen into the mix in Zootopia.

From Alan Tudyk's Duke Weaselton to Chief Bogo delivering the best one-liner in Disney history, there are several nods to the famous film, but there's one you'd have to pause the flick to catch. As Judy's train cruises through Tundra Town, you can see two little elephants in Anna and Elsa costumes walking with their mother. Guess the film's popularity transcends even Disney movies?

7 A Living Hidden Mickey?

Is it legal to put a Hidden Mickey on the flesh/fur of a living character? We don't know, but we do know where you can -spot- a Hidden Mickey you might have to watch twice for. Keep your eyes peeled next time you walk into the ZPD.

RELATED: 10 Zootopia Jokes Disney Fans Missed

Clawhauser, our favorite cheetah cop, has a lot more going on than just a crush on a certain pronged pop star. If you look closely at the spots on one of his cheeks, you can see a Hidden Mickey formed by three of them. Gotta give the film-makers credit for creativity on this one.

6 Perfectly Legal

We can't leave this list without talking about our favorite hustler, Nick Wilde. Aside from the whole tax-evasion deal, does Nick do anything illegal in his shifty popsicle routine? His materials are paid in full, nobody gets hurt during the process, and he sells a safe and delicious product. What's the issue?

If he were to take that Jumbo Pop and break it into more easily-consumable pieces, that would be the logical thing to do. What's the harm in putting a measly $2 price tag on it? Not exactly an Easter egg, but it is something we didn't catch upon our first viewing.

5 He Left the Washtub at Home

This is one Easter egg that only viewers of a certain age might catch, but it still made it through our sensors. One of the fourteen missing mammal cases on Bogo's desk is Emmet Otter, a florist who works for Mr. Big. Think back to that name, Emmet Otterton. Why does that sound so familiar?

RELATED: 10 Of The Most Iconic Jim Henson Muppets, Ranked

Emmet Otterton is a direct reference to the Jim Henson character Emmet Otter, most notably from Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas. Since Disney works so well with the Muppets, it only makes sense to throw them a little wink in an animated film once in a while. Perhaps they both play the washtub bass?

4 Mickey Merch on the Move

We have not one but two Hidden Mickeys on the list. Where Clawhauser's Mickey spots can easily be seen upon closer inspection, this next one is perhaps even harder to spot. Just before Judy encounters Nick and Finnick on the sidewalk, a Mickey can be seen briefly, but not where you'd expect.

When the pair of foxes pass a mother hippo and her child, a full-bodied plush of Mickey can be seen in the pouch of the mother's stroller. A Mickey head is a treat, but a full-bodied appearance is even rarer!

3 Hunter and the Hunted

This is one of those hidden details that not only hit us hard after a rewatching but made us rethink a character's entire motives. Nick Wilde is one of the most loveable characters with the most heart-wrenching of backstories. Nobody likes dealing with bullies at any point in life, but Nick's bullies have a common denominator that one might miss upon first viewing.

Nick's tormentors are all prey animals. Even in his monologue, he mentions being the only predator in the ranger scouts. That totally shifts our view of the predator vs. prey conflicts. Even before knowing a bunny can go savage, we see that even creatures like a zebra, groundhog, and colt can be just as cruel.

2 Early Villain Reveal

Recent Disney films, Zootopia included, have had the habit of hiding their villains in plain sight. Though her reveal is unexpected for some, those who pay attention to the story get a hint at who's really pulling the strings in the anti-predator plot. It all starts when they move Clawhauser from the front desk to records... down by the boiler.

Where have we seen an office in a boiler room before? When we get our assistance interaction with Bellwether, we are shown her office is actually in the boiler room instead of a proper setting. Once Clawhauser is moved, it's not hard to put two and two together.

1 Judy and the Don

We love seeing Officer Hopps use her wits and kind nature to get out of a scrap, but we tend to forget that during her time in Zootopia, she earned the favor of a very powerful ally. How do you think it would look to the ZPD if one of their star officers had connections with the mob?

With his Don Vito persona and Brando vibes, it can be said Mr. Big is one of the biggest players in the Tundra Town mafia. Sure, he becomes a friend to both Judy and Nick by the end of the film, but Judy wouldn't have garnered the info from Weasleton if not for his intervention. Probably shouldn't tell Bogo about this one.

NEXT: The 10 Best Disney Shared Universe Fan Theories, Ranked

source https://screenrant.com/zootopia-disney-hidden-secrets-easter-eggs/

#screenrant

0 notes

seecantrill · 6 years ago

Text

Happy World Puppetry Day! And when I met Big Bird

The year the NWP Annual Meeting was in Atlanta, I took an extra day for myself to spend some time at the Center for Puppetry Arts in midtown. The Center is an active theater and has a wonderfully curated collection of international puppets. However, in 2015 it became more than a cool museum to me and instead was a kind of shrine or mecca that I had to reach -- it was that year that they first opened to the public Jim Henson’s personal collection.

I was thrilled and inspired to walk into a replicated Jim Henson studio and meet many of his first puppets, as well as get a look at the ways different mechanisms worked and see footage from early performances. It was fun looking through the workshop and opening the drawers which were filled with feathers, google eyes, thread and foam, the makings of the Muppets and all the tools of the trade.

However it was when I walked into the Sesame Street/TV room where I first saw Big Bird and then the rest of the Sesame gang that I lost it. I chocked back tears that welled up spontaneously as I reacted to seeing these friends “in person” after so many years. It was both amazing how strongly I felt that they were old friends, as well as how deeply I reacted. I knew how important Sesame Street had been for me as a kid in framing a kind of vision of the world that was diverse, urban, multilingual and fun. But what I didn’t really know, and I couldn’t have realized until that day, is the real feeling of having had relationships with these puppets and what it would mean to me to see them again in this kind of setting.

This i the picture i took with Big Bird after I had embarrassingly wiped away the tears and gained some composure. It was also taken after talking to another woman, around my same age, who I noticed doing the same -- working to compose herself after her unexpected reaction. We noticed each other and laughed at ourselves while acknowledging what felt so real and kind of crazy about that moment. And then we also noticed her young kids playing in the space, seemingly less connected to the actual characters but also free to explore in their own way.

Now, several years later, at the NWP we have a spark grant from the Ganz Cooney Foundation to support a project called Science in the Park. Through this work I’ve gotten reconnected to the Connected Learning mission of Ganz Cooney that drives their work as it was inspired by its founder, Joan Ganz Cooney. Joan is the woman who created Sesame Street.

Joan is in fact, inspiring and in 1966 was already asking the question that me and many of my colleagues are actively exploring today, ie. “How can emerging media help children learn?” See her in this video produced by the Foundation:

youtube

Here is another video about her that also honors her work as a maker and visionary around learning and play: Joan Ganz Cooney: Co-Founder, Sesame Workshop.

And yes, today is World Puppetry Day. Happy Happy One to All! And in a spirit of puppet love and magic I want to honor Joan, Big Bird and all the gang at Sesame Street. And to support inspired visions forward, check out this UNIMA-produced World Puppet Cat Parade created by makers from across the globe.

Keep making! Keep playing! Ask questions. It matters and it changes lives.

vimeo

#WorldPuppetryDay19 #connectedlearning #sesamestreet #play #make

0 notes

aion-rsa · 3 years ago

Text

Link Tank: The Muppets Are Heading to the Haunted Mansion

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The Haunted Mansion is the latest iconic property to get a Muppet parody, and this time Kermit and Miss Piggy are swapping costumes.

“The Muppets have taken on New York City, space, and the wonderful world of Oz — and now, thanks to Disney+, they’ll be braving the Haunted Mansion this fall. Entertainment Weekly has released our first look at Muppets Haunted Mansion, a new special featuring everyone’s favorite Jim Henson creatures interacting with one of Disneyland’s most beloved attractions, promising plenty of spooks and some rather spectacular Halloween looks.”

Read more at Kotaku

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Link Tank: The Muppets Are Heading to the Haunted Mansion appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3CwCEK1

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

0 notes

man-creates-dinosaurs · 8 years ago

Photo

For whatever reason I found myself today thinking about Disney’s DINOSAUR (2000, Dir. Ralph Zondag and Eric Leighton), a movie I last watched at my girlfriend’s prompting back in 2015 in anticipation of JURASSIC WORLD’s then upcoming release.

Disney’s DINOSAUR is an interesting film in that it had an unusually long development period, originating in 1988 as a project originally conceived by director Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop [87] & Starship Troopers [97]) and stop-motion animator Phil Tippett (Jurassic Park [93]). However much like Jim Henson and William Stout’s ill-fated muppet dinosaur movie - which I previously blogged about here - Verhoeven and Tippett’s film was shelved after it was learned that Spielberg, Lucas and Bluth already had a dinosaur movie coming out in the form of THE LAND BEFORE TIME (1988, Dir. Don Bluth). Also it had been estimated that to do the film completely in stop-motion would cost upwards of $80-million dollars - too much for Disney to spend at that time on what was then perceived as an unknown quantity as no one knew if a movie about dinosaurs really had the potential to become a mainstream hit.

As with so many other things concerning dinosaurs in popular-culture it was the blockbuster success of JURASSIC PARK (1993, Dir. Stephen Spielberg) that changed Disney’s tune. The studio returned to the project but now without Verhoeven or Tippett’s involvement. It still took until the end of the decade however for the movie to get made due to various creative disagreements - chief among these being whether or not the dinosaurs should talk. What ultimately settled the issue was the box office success of BABE (1995, Dir. Chris Noonan). Audiences, it seemed, wanted talking animals and dinosaurs were no exception.

Many - including it seems a large number of the artists and animators working on the film - felt that the decision to make the dinosaurs talk ruined the movie but DINOSAUR’s success at the box office (it grossed over $349 million worldwide, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of the year) seems to differ. Personally while I do find some of the movie’s dialogue to be downright cheesy I don’t think it ruins the film as a whole. Rather I find the film’s biggest weakness to be its plot which is far too similar to that of THE LAND BEFORE TIME’s. However it’s also pretty similar to Henson and Stout’s unmade movie too, and I guess there are only so many stories you can tell about dinosaurs and that of a great migration across a harsh desert to new lush feeding grounds seems like a popular one.

Now, if you do want to see an otherwise beautiful CGI dinosaur movie ruined by an 11th hour decision to include corny dialogue look no further then 2013’s WALKING WITH DINOSAURS (Dir. Neil Nightingale and Barry Cook). There’s a film that truely should have been a silent movie.

#disney's dinosaur #dinosaurs #dinosaur #disney #paul verhoeven #phil tippett

37 notes · View notes

sssshhhthefilmsabouttostart · 6 years ago

Text

The best and worst films of 2018

If after watching 112 films teaches you anything, it's that Hollywood will continue to pump out the franchise blockbusters - and audiences will still hand over their cash to see them, no matter how below average or unoriginal they may be.

Cinematically, 2018 was a year that marked the final screen appearances for both Robert Redford (’The Old Man and the Gun’) and Daniel Day-Lewis (’Phantom Thread’), heralded Bradley Cooper’s impressive directorial debut (’A Star Is Born), served up an innovative high-tech thriller (’Searching’) and bestowed the most gob-smacking showdown involving MCU’s greatest heroes and villains (’Avengers: Infinity War’).

It was also a very good year for Netflix loyalists who saw the company release a succession of well received films including ’Annihilation,’ ‘Roma,’ and ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.’

Despite Dirty Harry’s memorable comment that “opinions are like assholes, everybody’s got one,” the films that have made this year’s ‘best list’ have been selected on the basis of the lasting impression they have left on this viewer after the lights have come up and the curtain’s been drawn.

So, what succeeded and what failed?

Ladies and gentlemen, may we please offer for your consideration…

50. THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN

49. INCREDIBLES 2

48. FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL

47. THE POST

46. CHAPPAQUIDDICK

45. RED SPARROW

44. GAME NIGHT

43. DEADPOOL 2

42. BOY ERASED

41. WIDOWS

40. STRONGER

39. MOLLY’S GAME

38. FAHRENHEIT 11/9

37. THE DARKEST HOUR

36. FIRST REFORMED

35. A STAR IS BORN

34. ISLE OF DOGS

33. BREATH

32. THE WIFE

31. READY PLAYER ONE

30. BLACK PANTHER

29. WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOUR

28. BRIGSBY BEAR

27. LADY BIRD

26. SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO

25. BEAUTIFUL BOY

24. PHANTOM THREAD

23. GHOST STORIES

22. FIRST MAN

21. TULLY

20. I, TONYA

19. SUSPIRIA

18. RBG

17. THE FAVOURITE

16. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

15. MANDY

14. BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99

13. SEARCHING

12. A QUIET PLACE

11. BLACKKKLANSMAN

10. SWEET COUNTRY

The Australian ‘western’ is a genre all its own, and ‘Sweet Country’ was the finest example of its type. Both Warwick Thornton's direction and Dylan Rivers’ cinematography was outstanding, as were all of the lead acting performances. Shot in both Central and South Australia, ‘Sweet Country’ transcended the genre’s tropes to tell us a quintessentially Australian story, albeit a bloody, brutal and tragic one.

9. VICE

As with his previous film ‘The Big Short,’ writer/director Adam McKay set aside the clean, colourful look of his comedies (’Anchorman,’ ‘Step Brothers’) in favour of a washed-out, edgy look, with the frequent use of hand-held cameras. The entire ensemble - including Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell and Amy Adams - were all impressive but it was Christian Bale’s skilful and highly effective portrayal of former VP Dick Cheney that deservedly received the kudos from critics everywhere.

8. THE ENDLESS

Indie filmmakers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, wrote, directed and starred in this terrific slow burner about two brothers who decide to revisit their childhood UFO death cult for some closure. Initially, the film’s daunting atmosphere gave the impression that this horror/sci-fi would follow the usual story ‘beats’ that accompany the genre. But after some mind-bending twists, ‘The Endless’ soon switched from being about a crazed cult into something else!

7. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

It’s no secret that Sony’s last few attempts with the character of Spider-Man have been underwhelming to say the least. However, this rousingly entertaining superhero adventure was easily 2018′s most unexpected surprise. The film’s impressive animation was beautiful, fluid and unique, whilst the storyline was both compelling and genuinely funny. What can we say - we finally got the ‘Spider-Man’ movie everybody wanted. It’s OK Sony, we now forgive you for ‘The Emoji Movie.’

6. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Sadly robbed of the Best Picture gong at last year’s Academy Awards, this third movie from award-winning playwright Martin McDonagh (‘In Bruges,’ ‘Seven Psychopaths’) was a dramedy that started with cleverness and wit before opening up into something truthfully human. McDonagh’s screenplay was so good that every single cast member, no matter how little their screen time, gave a great performance.

5. AMERICAN ANIMALS

In this true-crime movie, four bright and well-off college students in Kentucky plot to steal some rare books from their university's Special Collections Library in a misguided quest for personal glory. Written and directed by Bart Layton, ‘American Animals’ cleverly woven script was narrated by the heist's actual participants, bringing a fascinating layer to the proceedings as well as a connection between the characters and audience.

4. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

It may have been the most intense, complex and stirring MCU film yet, but it was as lean as epics get, with none of its nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time feeling wasted. While the many characters and intersecting plots may have confused casual viewers (it’s assumed audiences are now familiar with all that's come before), for fans, it was one mind-blowing moment after another.

3. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT

Who would have thought that a 20+ year franchise would have been able to deliver one of the most exciting and visceral action films in recent memory? ‘Fallout’ saw the stepping up of both the action and the stakes, with the personal screws tightened on Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the horrible consequences for failure. Love him or hate him, Cruise's performance was lean and focused, whilst Christopher MacQuarrie’s direction was effective and thrilling, always hitting every action beat - dead centre.

2. YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

Director Lynne Ramsay’s bleak yet effective thriller about a broken and tormented ex-military vigilante (Joaquin Phoenix), who makes a living rescuing kidnapped girls and making the perpetrators violently pay with a hammer, was a dark and twisting journey into one man’s soul. Ramsay's filmmaking powers and script, combined with Phoenix's committed, unadorned performance and Johnny Greenwood's absolutely superb soundtrack, easily delivered one of this year’s most standout movies.

1. HEREDITARY

Although it polarised audiences everywhere, ‘Hereditary’ was a refreshing example of a studio (A24) subverting expectations and the perfect showcase of what horror is capable of when taken seriously.

Even as the film ventured into territory familiar to its genre, writer/director Ari Aster skillfully orchestrated the tension into something that felt like a nightmare straight from hell. What begins as a drama about a family tearing apart with grief, slowly descends into madness and the supernatural.

Rather than rely on a ‘conveyor belt’ of jump scares strung together with a derivative story which exists purely as a vehicle to deliver those jump scares, ‘Hereditary’ put family drama at the forefront and milked every ounce of dread from the hideous realities of familial cohabitation for what they’re worth.

Whilst the film’s cinematography, production design and score were all some of the best the horror genre has seen, it was the performances that finally sold ‘Hereditary,’ notably Toni Collette’s tormented turn as a manic mother who is mourning the loss of a parent.

‘Hereditary’ didn’t just redefine horror - it successfully put its own wicked stamp on the tropes of the genre, and provided audiences everywhere with a truly unsettling experience.

Hail Paimon!

…AND NOW, THE WORST!

20. VENOM

19. THE MEG

18. MILE 22

17. WINCHESTER

16. LIFE OF THE PARTY

15. BLOCKERS

14. SKYSCRAPER

13. THE WEDDING GUEST

12. DEATH WISH

11. BOAR

10. THE NUN

Sadly, this fifth chapter in the ‘Conjuring’ universe was nowhere near as scary, inspired or coherent as its predecessors. The quick onslaught of jump scares, punctuated by sudden noises on the soundtrack, quickly dashed the hopes of viewers who saw the entire exercise as a colossal waste of time (not to mention that the titular character was almost ‘missing’ in her own movie).

9. THE PREDATOR

This was a prime example as to how you kill a franchise. ‘The Predator’ was so bad, it made both ‘AVP’ movies look like modern day masterpieces. Whilst the acting and storyline were awful, the film suffered from plot holes, the lack of any kind of script, the constant desperate dramatic music featured relentlessly throughout and the forced jokes. Why director Shane Black thought injecting a comedy script into this franchise was a good idea is anyone's guess.

8. THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS

Brian Henson, son of the legendary Jim Henson and the director of ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’ and ‘Muppet Treasure Island,’ somehow thought this juvenile attempt at humour was a good idea. Instead, it did the most offensive thing that a comedy could ever do - it failed to make you laugh.

7. THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME

This forgettable and redundant comedy, from its tired title to its forced acting and humour, tried desperately to be everything at once and ended up being nothing at all. Given the talent involved, one would have expected some semblance of subtly and finesse to let these strong performers elevate the material as they've been known to in the past. However, when the material was as blunt as a sledgehammer, there wasn’t much anyone could have done.

6. GRINGO

Despite its polished production values and stellar cast, ‘Gringo’ amounted to an absolute bust. Director Nash Egerton’s unsavoury and amoral comedy of errors qualified as something contrived, convoluted and ultimately incoherent. Crammed with a myriad of ‘madcap’ situations that weren’t even remotely funny or original, this crappy caper failed to keep up with its talented cast who struggled in their portrayal of such unpleasant stereotypes.

5. PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING

CGI vomit.

4. THE 15:17 TO PARIS

Anybody desperately wanting to watch this train wreck should fast forward the first hour and six minutes. Clint Eastwood’s effort to pay tribute to the three brave men who foiled the 2015 Thalys train attack was a cinematic misfire of epic proportions. The bold step of having the real-life heroes play themselves was a bad call (awkward delivery, mumbled lines), whilst the film also had an underlying Christian/pro-gun/pro-military vibe about it.

3. ROBIN HOOD

From the over-the-top bow and arrow fights to the bizarre mix of costumes, ‘Robin Hood’ was comparable to Guy Ritchie’s disastrous reimagining of ‘King Arthur,’ only worse. Far worse. This umpteenth version of the legendary heroic outlaw was severely lacking in the entertainment and thrills department, and continued the Hollywood tradition of blockbuster remakes absolutely falling on their arses.

2. ACTION POINT

The ‘Jackass’ films were great, but this dismal wannabe ‘Caddyshack’ or ‘Porky’s’ left audiences longing for the relative artistry and sophistication of the crazy lads’ glory days. ‘Action Point’ was a predictable, exceptionally cheap and humourless affair, a watershed moment in terms of anyone ever bank rolling a feature film for these guys again. RIP gentlemen, it was a fun ride.

1. HOLMES AND WATSON

It’s all elementary as to which film was by far the very worst of 2018.

Everything about ‘Holmes and Watson’ was lazy, incompetent and decidedly unfunny. This shockingly misguided assault of repetitive bad slapstick and terrible writing squandered the remarkable talents of John C. Reilly, Rebecca Hall, Steve Coogan, Kelly Macdonald, Ralph Fiennes and Hugh Lawrie, and saw Will Ferrell give what was easily the worst performance of his entire career.

This was no ‘Step Brothers’ - this was pure, unadulterated garbage.

#the best and worst films of 2018

0 notes

liambaileyjournalism · 6 years ago

Text

Back in January, I got in contact with Jerri Quinn, the manager of Mike Quinn regarding the possibility of interviewing him about his portrayal of one of my favourite Star Wars characters Nien Nunb. Here we are towards the end of March and the possibility of an interview became a reality. This has been an interview I was extremely excited to conduct and I am thrilled with the answers Mike Provided.

“Only you could have smuggled an entire rescue craft under the Empire’s noses.“―Princess Leia Organa, to Nien Nunb

Nien Nunb was a Sullustan male arms dealer and smuggler who joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War. Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, Nunb answered the call from his friend, Rebel pilot Evaan Verlaine, to help smuggle a group of Alderaanians off of Sullust while avoiding detection from the Galactic Empire; the Empire was searching for surviving Alderaanians after Death Star I blew up its first planet, Alderaan. He went on to further assist Verlaine and Princess Leia Organa in their mission to unite the surviving Alderaanians, during which time he helped Organa escape from potential Imperial captivity.

Only a few years later, Nunb became part of the Alliance Fleet and flew as the co-pilot for General Lando Calrissian aboard the Millennium Falcon during the Battle of Endor. Together, they fought against Imperial forces while attempting to destroy the Death Star II in orbit of the forest moon of Endor. Their battle was a success, and the Millennium Falcon fired the shot that destroyed the Death Star and delivered a devastating blow to the Galactic Empire. Three decades later, Nunb was a starfighter pilot with the military rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Resistance and fought in the cold war, including the Battle of Starkiller Base.

How did you get the role of Nien Nunb?

It was certainly unconventional the way this came about. I was hired as a general creature puppeteer on the movie and so went from creature to creature as needed as the movie progressed. Well about halfway through or so, I was hanging around Phil Tippett’s creature workshop at Elstree Studios. It was a small room up some stairs between Stages 8 and 9. Phil told me that this character had been chosen by George to become Lando’s co-pilot in some scenes in the Falcon cockpit. I assume because Chewie was busy he wanted Lando to have an interesting counterpart.

Nien was purely a background extra at this time. His mask was static with no moving parts on it at all. But the problem was that George wanted him to have dialogue. So Phil was thinking maybe they could put an oxygen mask over his mouth to hide the fact it didn’t move and maybe put air bladders in his cheeks to give him some life. I remember thinking that might not be so great. I could see if I put my hand inside I could sort of make his mouth move. I suggested to Phil perhaps he could be modified into a large hand puppet. He really liked that idea and suggested I modify one of the two masks into a temporary puppet to show George. So I “puppetised” the head so I could work it just like a large Muppet.

About a week later we shot a film test, directed by George with my puppet next to the extra in the masked version. He took us through assorted turns and reactions. I was able to wiggle his nose and suggested he could have eye blinks added. Also, I placed my finger behind his ear and made it wiggle, Stan Laurel style! Well, George loved what he saw and immediately asked how soon it could be mechanized and ready? Stuart Ziff who was coordinated stated about two weeks.

So off he went back to ILM California with Nien to be modified. Sure enough, he returned with mechanisms and all, just considerable heavier. Next thing I knew, I’d landed myself the job of the main performer for the new Nien in the scenes. So I guess I made myself the opportunity and it somehow worked out. Those fateful moments changed my life forever! I even wrote and spoke my own dialogue in English for reference on the shoot. The now-famous nod and laugh were just things I added that I had learned from my time with Muppets. That is now a big part of what fans enjoy about him now. I love that!

How did you get into Puppeteering and can you describe what it entails for people who are unsure about what it is?

I was always into puppets as far back as I can recall. They were always on TV when I was little, mostly as glove and string puppets. I used to move my teddy bear as though he were a puppet so I could bring him to life. When I was about eight years old I had a glove puppet show in a small booth that I would perform in park talent shows and auditions. I wasn’t much good but the spark was certainly there and I had fun with it.

So I wasn’t until The Muppet Show came along in 1976 that my spark for puppetry was fanned and the sparks became large flames. As Muppet Show was taped not too far from where I lived (coincidence?), I used to visit the set regularly on guest star days, so they got to know me. Eventually, I left school, asked for a job and I think Jim Henson took pity on me. Saw I was always hanging around he might as well give me a job, haha! This was just as they transitioned from the end of The Muppet Show to film The Great Muppet Caper at the film studio across the street.

The second part of the question is what does puppetry entail? It’s a lot harder than anyone would think. Besides the obvious holding your arm above your head thing, you also have the weight of the puppet, you have to watch your performance and framing on a monitor (which is reversed from a mirror so when you move the puppet to the left, on the monitor it moves to the right. That really messes with your head).

You also must be able to communicate thoughts very clearly and simply through the puppet, be able to act, speak, sometimes sing, step over cables and boxes in mid-performance. Remember lines and even improvise at times too. It’s a bit like being a musician, to where you don’t want to worry about the technical side of how to play the instrument but to be able to enjoy the performing of it. Yet you are also like a dancer, using kinetic movement efficiently to portray emotion. To stand out as a puppeteer, you have to work hard and excel. If not, you are doing the audience a disservice. So it’s very physical but also requires mental gymnastics at times.

You also performed other characters like Ree Yees, Admiral Ackbar, and Yoda amongst others, how did you get involved with these?

Ree Yees was probably the first creature I performed on Return Of The Jedi because we filmed in Jabba’s palace first. I never auditioned. I was just given the hand puppet close up to work and that was it. He had jaw and lip movement and eye blinks. He was very heavy so we created a pole that went from the body to a hip harness. My left hand was on the head turning it and my right worked the cable controls. There was also a full-length version of him, performed by Paul Springer which just like the costume version of Nien, had no facial articulation. So Paul and I worked together on scened in case we had to duplicate the action with both versions.

Mike Quinn & Tim Rose Working on Admiral Ackbar

Mike Quinn Working on Sy Snootles

There was also a scene in Jabba’s sail barge where there was an argument over drinks but it was cut from the final movie. Still exist for that though. Ackbar and Sy Snootles were handled by Tim Rose, who was involved in developing them during his time at ILM. So I became his assistant. For Snootles, I worked strings from above for the wide shots and the singing lips on cable control for the close-ups. For Ackbar, I worked his mouth on cables for the wide shots and his eyes and lids on cables for the close-ups.

Yoda was a real gift. I was a big fan of Yoda in Empire Strikes Back while I was still at school. I have already assisted Frank Oz being the right hand for Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. So this really was the same gig, working for Yoda’s right hand. I was small for fitting next to him under that tiny set and Frank knew my work. So he just requested me and that was it. It was a real joy though.

Mike Quinn (Nien Nunb) & Frank Oz (Yoda).

Can you describe your time filming scenes?

For all the Star Wars movies, it has always been such a blast! A real rush from start to finish, whether it’s ROTJ or the new movies decades later. I’m often among the first to arrive and the last to leave. Perhaps that tells you something of my passion and love for performing and being on set? Also, I love working with the great cast and crew. They are all so lovely and talented and many have become good friends. So when a project comes to an end, it’s always heartbreaking because the family has to split up. It has always been this way but you would think I would be used to that by now?

As far as working on set and filming goes, there’s a huge feeling of gratitude and responsibility. You know you are creating something that will be viewed and dissected frame by frame for generations to come. Long after I’m gone in fact. So I try to not let that cripple me and just enjoy the process. Sometimes I’ll just stand there in-between setups with the Nien head off and just look around and soak it all in. I want to remember the moment and that feeling. There’s nothing like it I tell ya!

What was it like being on board the Millennium Falcon?

“Nunb can fly anything, in any conditions.“―Gial Ackbar

Well, she may not look like much but she’s got it where it counts. The Falcon is so iconic and my favourite ship of all time. So jumping into Chewie’s seat was quite intimidating for this teenager. I was actually still 17 years of age at the time of filming. They had to cut out the seat part of the chair and were very concerned that it was necessary for me to fit in there as they told me they were 1973 race car seats and couldn’t replace them. So I lay flat on my back, wore a microphone and had a six-inch black and white monitor on my chest so I should see what the camera saw. The cockpit was detached and on a rocking gimbal so Stagehands could roll it around. For me it was a bit like being in the hull of a boat at sea and unable to watch the horizon, so I actually got quite queasy in there.

Returning to the Falcon again in The Last Jedi, after over three decades was just wild! Standing there with what remained of the principle cast near me was quite surreal. It was lovely watching Carrie and Daisy sing together in-between takes. Rian Johnson placed Finn and Nien together and John Boyega was quite excited to have a little moment with Nien as he told me he played as Nien in Battlefront. We just improvised some stuff for that scene, so I made it my mission to say stupid things to him to try and crack him up (which I managed a couple of times). I consider that a well earned perk of being a “legacy” character!

What was the make-up and costume process like for these films?

Well for ROTJ, Phil Tippett had to lower Nien onto me through the Falcon window. My left hand was in his head and my right hand was in his right hand, holding the steering yoke. His left hand was stuffed and fixed onto the other side of the yoke. The puppet was pretty heavy and I had to sustain his performance for several minutes at a time. However, his weight I think was a blessing visually because it kept him grounded and forced me to keep him real and not too puppet-like. Perhaps that’s why most people seem surprised when they hear that and thought he was a guy in a costume? I should take that as a compliment I guess, even though the technology wouldn’t have been available to do it at that time.

Nien Nunb Puppet for the Original Trilogy.

For the new movies, I can now wear Nien as a fully self-contained costume. He was made to fit me perfectly and the head was made from a life cast of my head and shoulders. It takes two people usually to get me dressed into him, a wardrobe person and a creature shop person. We can usually do it within 10 minutes or so. I look through the eyes but they fog up very fast as I generate lots of heat and moisture during takes. Nothing I try seems to really help so they have to come in and blow cold air into the mouth hole in-between takes, which helps cool me down as well as clears out the vision for my eyes. After about two minutes I’m virtually blind in there, so I fall over a lot.

On both movies so far I’ve fallen over, I hope we don’t go for three. In the first movie, I fell onto BB8 outside the Falcon on location and broke his antenna. It was a sort of slow-motion fall, so I was ok. But my only thought was to not damage the head! In the Last Jedi, Anthony Daniels and I had just had a fun conversation about falling over in our costumes and the many times he had fallen in his over the years. Well, not a few hours later I was running through the twisting salt mine tunnels in near darkness, proudly sporting a suitably large rebel blaster when for this one take my foot encountered a boulder and down I went hard and fast! Again my thought was “don’t break the blaster or the head!”. It was a split second before I knew I was on the ground and in agony from the impact to my knee. It was the final arrival at the Crystal Fox exit. C3PO was directly in front of me and behind was Rose on the stretcher. I blew the take and we all had to reset. We got it on the next take thankfully. I felt bad but everyone understood.

After filming had wrapped and I returned home, my chiropractor had told me I’d put my knee and right thumb out when I hit the ground. It wasn’t until a week or two later I had trouble walking. I suspect I came close to breaking it but the bone sure was bruised. at least I can say I do all my own stunts now, even if they aren’t in the script!

Was there much interaction between yourself and the directors, if so, what sort of things would you discuss?

Well, the way I see it, if the Directors aren’t giving me lots of direction then I’m doing okay. As George Lucas directed the Falcon scenes himself in ROTJ, I had him approve my guide dialogue I pencilled into my script. That was it for those scenes. Other then one of the camera operators telling me to watch my head doesn’t go out of frame in one of the closeup cameras, that was it for that movie.

On The Force Awakens, I was given blocking and filled in the rest myself. JJ wanted to save a spot in the movie for Nien Nunb’s reveal, as a gift to the fans. That was the shot of him striding out of the base entrance toward the X-Wing as the camera dollies left. The only thing was we had already seen him inside the resistance base earlier but I was happy he wanted to give us that moment.

In the X-Wing scenes, we just made stuff up pretty well and did a bunch of assorted looks, reactions and talking. It was all quite random but we knew they would just take it in pieces anyway. We never finished a full take as with all the shaking around in the simulator my battery pack connector separated, thus killing power to the head. So what you see in the movie were parts a single half take, no rehearsal or anything.

We were to shoot more scenes in the X-Wing for the dark environment, which is the second part of the Starkiller base battle. However, they were wrapping a lot of principle actors that day and my scenes were to be the last ones to shoot. They ran out of time and JJ came over from the other set and apologized profusely to me, which was very sweet. He was great fun on set and had a great energy. On The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson made a point to one over to me and thank me during my first scene, which was the one with Laura Dern. He was a delight and the crew just loved him. Very approachable. So I knew it would be okay to go up to him and ask for a blaster in the salt mine scenes, to which of course he obliged.

What are some of the main differences between filming for the original trilogy, and the sequel trilogy?

Surprisingly little. Mostly the technology has changed. I think film stock is more advanced. Lighting is a lot cooler and more subtle, probably due to the sensitivity of the cameras and everything now. But for everything else, it’s kind of the same. Hundreds of extras in costume, practical sets and ships. Detailed props. It’s amazing how similar it all is 35 years later. The food is actually better now, haha! There are even coffee trucks outside the stages. Wonderful stuff!

You have been in three of the Star Wars films now, what were the atmospheres like for them individually and was there one you enjoyed more than the others?

Hmmm.. well for ROTJ I was coming in as a huge fan of the first two movies, so it was an amazing thrill to watch the third movie unfold in front of my eyes with all the familiar beloved characters and costumes. Coming back over 30 years later was a wonderful gift. A very surreal one. Now the new actors would recognize Nien Nunb and were amazed when they would learn it was me who played him in the Falcon too. I guess they just figured everyone was pretty well retired or dead by now, heh! I can’t really say that one was more enjoyable than the others because they were each different. However, the more scenes I get to play in and the more sets I walk on, the happier I am. I’ve made new friends in the new movies too which is really lovely.

Nien Nunb managed to survive The Last Jedi whereas Admiral Ackbar was killed during an attack by the first order, how does it feel knowing that Nien Nunb is one of only a few characters from the original trilogy that is still alive?

Yes, it was quite the buzz arriving for the shoot and hearing that poor old Ackbar was a gonna. Some of the puppeteers thought I might be too but were too afraid to tell me. Happily, they were wrong. Once I was on the Falcon I knew I was safe! I think Rian Johnson said there were something like 20 Resistance characters left? That probably includes Droids. That’s just wild. I’m almost convinced the only reason I’m still alive is that they kept forgetting to kill me off…..But I’m thrilled beyond belief because I get to return to the Falcon again after all this time. Now they will have to give me more to do on the next one right? There’s hardly anyone left!

What was it like working alongside Billy Dee Williams in Return of the Jedi?

“Don’t worry. My friend’s down there. He’ll have that shield down on time. Or this’ll be the shortest offensive of all time.“―Lando Calrissian, assuaging Nunb’s concerns about the Battle of Endor.

He was a delight and really put me at ease. It can’t have been easy for him having to talk to a chatty rubber head. But we would converse in-between scenes and have remained friends with mutual respect ever since. It’s funny how those few minutes of scenes created a tie between us for the rest of our lives. I always enjoy seeing him at conventions and he’s always so gracious.

Who are some of your favourite characters from the franchise and why?

Yoda became the big deal for me in Empire Strikes Back. Partly because he’s a magical puppet (the first of his kind actually) and partly because when his scenes came on, there would be a hush in the cinema as everyone was so mesmerized by him. I think Yoda and Ben Kenobi are two of the most complex and interesting characters in this galaxy. But I may also have to say the Millennium Falcon is also a favourite character of mine. It is just so iconic and vital to each movie. I love that thing to bits! It has also changed my life by way of Nien Nunb.

What does Star Wars mean to you?

Star Wars means so much more to me now all these decades later. It’s not just a movie franchise. It represents hope, that some things are worth fighting for and it has brought so many people together, young and old and it is global. Star Wars to me is like a Genie that’s been let out of the bottle and keeps granting my wishes. I shall never take any of it for granted ever.

How does it feel knowing there are figurines of your characters?

I remember the very first time I saw the Nien figure hanging on a peg in a store. It was really weird and exciting. Now the current figure is actually from a 3D scan of me in the costume so it’s a much more literal version of me and my proportions and everything. It’s really a mini-me, rather than an artistic interpretation. Hundred have been calling for a Black Series figure so that hopefully will be happening eventually. There is a Hot Wheels car based on him too, which pleases the 7-year-old boy in me to no end!

You attend many comic conventions, what does fan interaction mean to you, and do you have any appearances coming up?

My appearances seem to come and go depending upon work. There was a time where I had all but retired from them. I do have new people working as agents for me now and that helping. I really enjoy doing them and meeting people. Its the only time I really get to hear what people think of the character. Had I not gone to shows I never would have known Nien’s little nodding laugh was a thing. So now it’s my mission to bring that back and get it in somewhere one last time for the fans. So now fans have a voice and can feed back into the movies. I think that’s so cool! I love connecting the dots and making it real for the fans and not so abstract.

As long as it’s fun, I will always try to fit in conventions. I’ve made so many new friends along the way. Also, they can be a great way to catch up with old friends and co-workers. So it’s a win/win really. I’ve been so fortunate. Now I always enjoy doing panels and Q&A sessions too. So I’m gradually getting ramped up with shows for the year here in the USA and the UK and hopefully a few other countries. But many depend upon work and things are going to get busy again as the year wears on.

Speaking of that continuity from screen to fans, I’m also developing my Secrets Of Puppetry Academy for film and television puppetry. It’s an online detailed training course that takes people from novice right up to expert if they so choose. It’s the first of its kind and I’m using all the things bought to me directly by Jim Henson, Frank Oz and the rest of the Muppet performers. People can find it at SecretsOfPuppetry.com

I would like to say a huge thank you to both Mike and Jerri for making this dream of mine a reality. Nien Nunb has been a favourite of mine for a very long time and to know that I have interviewed the man behind the mask makes it so much better.

Be sure to check out Mike’s puppeteering workshop page at: http://secretsofpuppetry.com/ and give him a like on all social media.

We all look forward to seeing Mike reprise his role as Nien Nunb in Star Wars Episode IX when it hits the cinemas in 2019 until then, may the force be with you!

"Only you could have smuggled an entire rescue craft under the Empire's noses."―Princess Leia Organa, to Nien Nunb Back in January, I got in contact with Jerri Quinn, the manager of Mike Quinn regarding the possibility of interviewing him about his portrayal of one of my favourite Star Wars characters Nien Nunb.

#actor #disney #featured #film #interview #mikequinn #rebels #returnofthejedi #sci-fi #star wars #theforceawakens #thelastjedi #theresistance

0 notes

colp76-blog · 5 years ago

Text

It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights, it’s time to look at The Jim Henson Biography on the Neon Beach tonight.

youtube

Written by Brian Jay Jones and narrated by Kirby Heyborne the book is a wonderful glimpse into the life of Jim Henson, and how his family and his closest collaborators created a legacy that helped educate, entertain and elevate the imaginations of millions of children and adults for over 60 years. The book became a New York Times Bestseller and also won Goodreads Best Biography of 2013.

I love to read but I’m also pretty busy throughout the day, so you will always find me with my EarPods in listening to podcasts and audiobooks more than any other form of media. I also enjoy the freedom of going for a walk, soaking up a good story and enjoying nature, all at the same time. This audiobook has made all those moments extra special and with a running time of just over 21 hours, I have enjoyed every minute of it.

From the early days of Sam and Friends, The Muppets landing in England and the creation of the creature workshops used for The Dark Crystal, this book is crammed to the seams with lots of different stories and is far too big for me to review as a whole. Instead, I would just like to talk about a few things that really caught my attention the most.

I love creative people and Jim Henson was such a pioneer at this and rarely took his finger off the pulse throughout his career. I knew his name and admired his work but I had rarely thought about who he actually was and what made him tick. I have been watching some interviews with Jim and Kermit on YouTube and suddenly a very vivid memory came to me, as a child I was always watching Kermit and never even imagined it was a puppet. I guess that shows just how magical it all seemed at the time. I’m older now and its Jim who has captured my imagination the most. Time plays a theme throughout his life and he was never happy to waste it, always looking for new ideas to help satisfy his need to create new art.

He also seemed like a man who really thought about the human condition and how he could make an impact on the lives of other people with his kindness. On the other hand, he is also a man with some flaws, especially with the ladies but that makes him more human and far more interesting to me. These are just comments from a person who listened to one book and I’m pretty sure there are far more sides to his personality than I mentioned above. As far as the book goes, I loved his spirituality, his generosity and his dedication to his craft.

Jim Henson was focused on two things, Oz says: making compelling entertainment and doing good for the world. – Frank Oz

The main reason I bought this audiobook was to learn about one of my favourite films, Labyrinth. I watched this film when it was first released in 1986 and it blew my mind and still fascinates me today. Sadly, it was around the time of the passing of Terry Jones that I reached this part of the story and it made me appreciate his involvement in creating the screenplay for the film even more. It was great to hear the origin stories of David Bowie’s role as Jareth and Linda Connelly’s eventual role as Sarah. George Lucas arrived on the set with Darth Vader as filming began to wish everybody luck. I really enjoyed how Jim really appreciated the making of this film and seemed to be really having the time of his life at the studio. Unfortunately, the enjoyment of the story suddenly ended for me and I felt numb and actually far more hurt than I thought I would be.

In 1986 Labyrinth was regarded as a box office failure. To be honest, I knew the film hadn’t done as well as they thought would but it was the first time, I realised how much of a disappointment it was to the people involved in making it, especially Jim. The reason why I was hurt by this was that as far as I’m concerned, the film is one of the best times I have had in a cinema. Not only that, it’s growing in popularity year after year. As a child, I knew nothing about box-office results or critics and I only wish he knew how much I loved the film, I think that would have made him smile and look at it differently. Today I was listening to an interview with Brain Henson and he said the exact same thing, he only wishes his father could have seen just how popular Labyrinth has become today.

I have only scratched the surface of what this book is about and it has really made a lasting impression on me. It’s so wonderfully written and puts your right in the centre of Jim Henson’s life and the World that he lived in. I always knew about the success Jim had as a whole but I never knew about the struggles he faced in bringing some of his work to light. I have always fancied the idea of a biopic about George Lucas’s life around the time of making the original Star Wars but Jim’s life would make a film just as perfect.

youtube

Brian Jay Jones has also written a book about George Lucas, it’s safe to say I will be buying the book and will read that one this time, I can’t wait to get started. If you would like to know any more about the author, click on the link below for his website.

https://brianjayjones.com/

I really enjoyed The Dark Crystal; Age of Resistance and the future of the Jim Henson Company looks pretty fantastic. I have also realised there is a lot of work that I haven’t watched in the past but that is going to change soon enough. I’m currently watching The Story-Teller and looking forward to starting Farscape for the first time.

Thanks for reading and please leave me any comments as it’s always good to hear your views.

The Jim Henson Biography 2013. It’s only forever not long at all. It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights, it’s time to look at The Jim Henson Biography on the Neon Beach tonight.

#80s #Audiobook #DavidBowie Labyrinth 80s #Film #iconic #JimHenson #Labyrinth #Movies #Movies Cinema #Muppets FraggleRock

0 notes