When The Muppet Movie was released in 1979 the Muppet Show Fan Club pointed out the differences between the movie and the puppet’s popular television show.
“If you think it’s a film version of The Muppet Show, you’re in for a surprise.
For one thing, it doesn’t take place in the theatre. The Muppet Movie is set in the real world — it’s like waiting in line at a gas station and looking up to find Fozzie and Kermit driving the next car over.”
In the subsequent seven theatrical Muppet movies that magic has been maintained, but the methods have changed over the years. In 2011’s The Muppet Movie all the puppets were real, but the way they were filmed changed. To give the puppets a full range of movement the puppeteers — or Muppeteers as they prefer to be called — were often in full view of the camera and digitally removed in post production.
“We removed the puppeteers later,” said visual effects artist Max Ivins, “so it gave the puppeteers a lot more freedom in that they didn’t have to hide from the camera to do everything.” It’s a technique used in Muppets Most Wanted, which sees the furry and felt puppets get into trouble on a world tour when it turns out that Kermit’s doppelgänger is the world’s number one criminal. Co-starring with the Muppets is Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey. In the years before computer generated imagery, however, Muppeteers hidden from view manipulated all the puppets. And it wasn’t always so comfortable.
Everyone remembers Kermit sitting on a log, playing his banjo, in the middle of a swamp in The Muppet Movie, but did you know that Jim Henson, Kermit’s creator and operator until 1990, was under water for the five days it took to shoot the scene?
According to the Muppet Fan Club he was wedged into a metal tube “under the water, under the log, under the Frog” while hooked up with an air hose, a monitor and a rubber sleeve which allowed him to manipulate the puppet.
Frank Oz was also submerged for Miss Piggy’s water ballet scene in The Great Muppet Caper. “I was under the water for a week,” he says. “I had three days of scuba training and then down I went.” Finally, almost every Muppet movie features Kermit riding a bicycle. How did they do it in the early days? Director James Frawley jokes, “I put him on a three-wheeler until he got his balance, and then I put him on the two-wheeler.”
In fact, the effect was achieved by intercutting long shots using a Kermit marionette and close-ups with a hand puppet operated by Henson who rode along with the bike on a low-rolling dolly.
Ghost Town, a new comedy starring Brit com sensation Ricky Gervais, Téa Leoni and Greg Kinnear, follows in the footsteps of the ghostly romances of the 1940s. In movies like Here Comes Mr. Jordan and Down to Earth ghostly apparitions had a hand in changing people’s lives and helping romance blossom. It’s an old concept given a shiny new treatment by Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull screenwriter, turned director David Koepp.
Kinnear plays Frank, a high powered New York businessman who seems to love his I-Phone more than his wife Gwen (Leoni). When he is killed in a freak accident he discovers that his body can’t make its final journey until all his business is settled on Earth. Enter Bertram Pincus D.D.S. (Gervais) a persnickety dentist with zero people skills. When a simple medical procedure leaves him dead on the operating table for two minutes he awakens with the strange ability to see the newly departed. They’re everywhere. These lost souls wander the streets looking for some way to communicate with their loved ones so they can prepare for the trip to the beyond. Frank latches on to Bertram, initially using him to spy on his widow until he realizes that the dentist is falling in love with Gwen. Frank must learn to give up his controlling ways and let Gwen go before he can rest in peace.
Ghost Town begins as a straight-up comedy and slowly, over its 103 minute running time, turns into a romantic comedy, heavy on the romance, light on the comedy. As the romance angle increases the laugh per minute ratio decreases to the point where, I think, it’s not accurate to call the film a comedy in its final moments.
Gervais is given free reign to flaunt his trademarked misanthropic schitick, but only up to a point. This is his first lead in an American film and it is interesting to see how his acerbic wit is shaped and softened by Hollywood. “[I’m] just what America wants,” he said in a recent interview, “a fat, British, middle-aged comedian trying to be a semi-romantic lead.” If he had been allowed to play up to his strengths—obnoxious and uncomfortable wit—instead of being made palatable for Gladys in Minnesota by smoothing out his patented rough edges Ghost Town might have been a much better movie. Instead of being an effective vehicle for Gervais’s humor, though, the movie made me want to go home and watch his sitcom Extras on DVD.
Ghost Town isn’t a terrible movie, just a misguided and forgettable one.
Imagine living in a world where there’s no such thing as flattery, deceit or fiction. I’ll tell you one thing for sure, Hollywood wouldn’t exist and politics would be way less interesting. Retirement homes are called A Sad Place for Hopeless Old People and Pepsi’s advertising slogan might read: “Pepsi, For When You Don’t Have Coke.” This is the world British comedian Ricky Gervais created as the setting for his directorial debut, a strange romantic comedy called “The Invention of Lying.”
The story is quite simple even if the ideas that lie just beneath the surface aren’t. The film is set in an alternate reality, a Norman Rockwell world where no one has ever told a lie. People speak their minds because they are incapable of fibbing. A waiter might say, “I took a sip of your drink,” as he drops a Margarita at your table. Gervais is Mark Bellison a screenwriter who specializes in transcribing 13th century history—remember, there’s no fiction—for films. After unconsciously telling the first lie and inadvertently inventing religion he becomes a celebrity, but will this strange power be enough to win the heart of Jennifer (Jennifer Garner)?
The Invention of Lying sounds like a one joke wonder, and on some levels it is, but it’s a good joke and Gervais as co-writer, director and star brings enough subtext to the story to keep up interest.
Nestled away under the obvious jokes is a healthy dollop of social commentary. Gervais uses the premise of total honesty all the time to shoot satirical arrows at religion (his version of God is “The Man in the Sky”), advertising and social niceties. The satire is sharp, particularly in the first half hour as we get to know the characters. The balance of the film has many laughs and makes some pointed observations before becoming ever so slightly bogged down by the romance and the beyond blatant product placement.
Who knew a Pizza Hut box could stand-in for one of the Ten Commandment tablets? That scene is the most shameless bit of product placement seen on screen, maybe ever.
On the plus side Gervais has assembled not only a strong leading cast—Jennifer Garner sparkles and Louis C.K. is very funny—but also a laundry list of unexpected cameos. I won’t spoil the fun, but look for a Sarah Palin look-a-like and a mustachioed bit-part from an actor not known for his sense of humor.
“The Invention of Lying” could have used a little less product placement but by and large Gervais has created a pleasant and surprising rom com that’ll make you think about all those little white lies you tell every day.
Presenting an award at last year’s Golden Globes with a drink in hand, going off script and making his annoyance known about not being nominated, didn’t seem to hurt Ricky Gervais’ credibility.
In fact, the impromptu banter with the audience likely helped him land the hosting spot for this year’s show, airing Jan. 17 at 8/7C on CTV.
Gervais casually sipped his beer and talked about how he couldn’t believe he didn’t get acknowledged for his role in “Ghost Town,” especially since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association told him how much they loved the movie.
“Not enough obviously. Brilliant. What a waste of a campaign! That’s the last time I have sex with 200 middle-aged journalists,” quipped Gervais.
“It was horrible. Really. A lot of them didn’t even speak English. Europeans with wispy beards. The men were worse.”
It left the audiences in stitches and obviously left quite the impression on the association as this marks the first time the 67th annual awards, which honour the year’s best in film and television, have had a host since 1995.
“That may be exactly the reason they brought him on is because he’s not afraid to just have a little bit of fun with it all,” says Richard Crouse, Canada AM movie critic.
Some of the funniest moments in recent awards show history have actually come from Gervais but can the British funnyman keep the crowd laughing for the entire ceremony?
Crouse believes he can.
“He’s a very gifted improvisational comic so he can really go with whatever the situation might be, so if things go wrong, I think he can probably turn it around into something really funny.”
Gervais is best known for co-creating and starring in BBC’s “The Office” and “Extras” and has also found success in Hollywood with 2008’s “Ghost Town” and 2009’s “The Invention of Lying.”
At previous award shows he’s done everything from commend Kate Winslet for listening to him about doing a Holocaust movie to get the awards to come in (making reference to a cameo she made on “Extras” a few years earlier) to poking fun at Steve Carell – his counterpart on the U.S. version of “The Office.”
During the 2008 Emmys, Gervais made reference to Carell accepting an award in his absence the year before and that he now wanted it back. He badgered Carell, who was sitting in the front row, until he surrendered the Emmy. Carell was obviously in on it but the shtick was hilarious none the less.
The following year at the Emmys, Gervais called it the greatest awards ceremony in the world, making reference to how at the Oscars and the Golden Globes the room is always filled with film stars who have “jaw lines and chiseled looks,” making him feel bad about himself, but in this room he is above average. He again poked fun at Carell, saying that in this crowd even he’s considered handsome.
With Carell up for a Best TV Actor in a Comedy or Musical award for “The Office” this year, it’s possible Gervais might have a similar trick up his sleeve. But the actor has previously said he plans to play his hosting duties loose and off the cuff, taking cues from Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack.
“I think it will be well planned in advance but by the time he gets on stage he’ll probably end up throwing out the script,” says Crouse. “That seems to be from my estimation of him the way he works.”
Whatever he does, Crouse is confident Gervais will bring even more unpredictability to the typically booze-filled affair.
“I think he’ll just have kind of an irreverent sense of fun with the whole proceeding and keep the show motoring along.”
By Richard Crouse – In Focus Metro Canada
