The film, entitled The Happytime Murders, stars Melissa McCarthy and a cast of Henson muppets. They've filed a lawsuit against the producers of a new R-rated film from The Jim Henson Company for misusing their brand. That’s the energy of this movie.The makers of Sesame Street aren't happy if you know it. "It's for people looking to see Henson-style puppets operate as if they were at a dinner party with eight of their best friends, where everyone's had four drinks and starts telling really off-color stories, laughing hysterically. The solid R rating makes it clear that "Happytime" isn't for kids, he says, but for older audiences looking for a "guilty pleasure."
MUPPET MURDER MOVIE MOVIE
There's nothing in this film in any way that can undermine 'Sesame Street,' particularly since the reference is literally that the movie is NOT 'Sesame Street.' " But I certainly knew they were not going to be pleased," Henson says. "It’s a tiny parody reference in the trailer. "I was a little surprised about how strong 'Sesame Street’s response was. district court judge tossed the case out, saying the slogan is actually used in a “humorous, pithy way.” Watch Video: ‘Sesame Street’ sues creators of raunchy, new puppet filmĪfter the first trailer, "Sesame Street" filed suit in New York to have the "No Sesame, All Street" tag removed from the movie's "exploitive" marketing. After experimenting with uncensored humor in his puppet improv group Puppet Up, featuring the new Miskreant puppets, it became clear ribald was the way to go.Īfter years of false starts, "Happytime" took off with McCarthy in the lead. Puppeteer Drew Massey says the comedic actress did have pause – not for the humor, but for a scene where she had to punch his adorable, troubled puppet Goofer. He held off on formally taking the film in an adult puppet direction, even after seeing Todd Berger's "Happytime" script more than a decade ago. "What the Muppets did before the director called 'action' and after the director yelled 'cut' is very similar to this movie," Henson says. Off camera, Henson recalls, puppeteers would start blue banter. "The Muppet Show" became a culture-altering family hit in syndication from 1976 to 1981, making mega-stars of Kermit, Miss Piggy and company. Even after Jim Henson made his Muppets a staple on "Sesame Street" in 1969, he looked to break out of the children's box. His 1975 pilot "The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence" parodied the proliferation of taboo content on television, but it was never picked up. “That Silly String thing is the kind of joke that would make him laugh so hard that he couldn’t talk.”Ĭompany history bears this out. “My dad had a naughty sense of humor like this movie,” Henson says. More: Melissa McCarthy's 'very graphic' puppet movie 'Happytime Murders' kills at CinemaConĪlso: 'Sesame Street' sues makers of puppet movie 'The Happytime Murders' and they say it’s a fun, different twist." There will be people who really hate me for it," he says, pausing. It’s healthy," says Henson, 54, sitting in his office at Hollywood's Jim Henson Company lot, where a hat-tipping Kermit the Frog smiles over the grounds while incongruously facing a topless club across the street. "It’s a good thing shaking up what we do with puppets, taking them into this R-rated world.
It's a long way from the family-friendly Muppets fare Jim Henson created for TV's " Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show." Muppets don't appear at all in the raunchy comedy (in theaters Friday), which instead features similar felt creations from the Jim Henson Company, called Miskreants. Viewers have had the same line of questioning since the first jaw-on-the-ground, red-band trailer arrived in May, with the tagline “ No Sesame, All Street." Happytime Murders" features Henson’s puppets cursing, boozing, snorting drugs and visiting every kind of seedy joint. "It was the first thing we shot, so for everyone it was like, ‘What are we doing for this movie?’ "
He was like, ‘This is the most ridiculous thing I have done,' " says Henson, laughing at the memory. “The actor that played the firefighter was so game.
Things devolved quickly, however, with the fireman strapped to a bedpost being comically whipped by the leather-clad Dalmatian in a massage parlor backroom.
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