Frank Oz Says That Disney Just Doesn't Get THE MUPPETS - "They Don’t Get the True Rebellion"
Back in 2004, Disney bought the rights to The Muppets from the Jim Henson Company and since then we've seen a couple of films and an attempt at a TV series that didn't work out very well. It was also recently announced that they were going to give it another try and develop a new series for their streaming service and they have a Muppet Babies animated series on the way.
Now, I love The Muppets, but I haven't really been that impressed with what they've done with the property so far. I know a lot of fans feel the same way. It just doesn't have the same kind of magic that it used to have. Legendary Muppets performer Frank Oz recently opened up about this and in his comments, he says that Disney just doesn't get it.
Oz recently appeared on KCRW’s The Business (via The Hollywood Reporter) to promote his new documentary feature film Muppet Guys Talking, and this is what he had to say:
"As much as Disney loves The Muppets and wants the best for The Muppets — and they truly believe they can do it — they don’t get it. underneath those characters."
That being said, he still feels the spirit of Jim Henson is still there, but that the studio is just struggling on how to properly make it work. He goes on to offer a bit of advice to Disney saying:
"By the way, I don’t mean to knock Disney, they really want to do a good job. They’ve never asked me, and they have not asked the performers how to do it. If they just did that — the performers are so brilliant — instead of an outside person, let the performers lead. Then it would be a whole different deal. The audience would appreciate the purity of that."
Disney hasn't had the best experience with the performers, though. I'm sure you remember that Disney ended up firing actor Steve Whitmire, who was the voice of Kermit the Frog, over creative differences with the direction they felt the characters should go. Disney obviously has their own ideas, and maybe that's the problem.
What have you thought of what Disney has done with The Muppet franchise so far? What do you think they could do to make it better.
Frank Oz: "They don't get the true rebellion and true affection underneath those characters" pic.twitter.com/I2MUfb7plS
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 22, 2018