I’m an independent filmmaker and puppeteer in Toronto, Canada who blogs about puppetry and film.
There’s trouble brewing in post-production on Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are. I don’t know if you’ve heard or not yet, but Spike Jonze is directing a film adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are featuring puppets and hybrid animatronic/CG characters from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Spy reports from early screenings have...
Director Anthony Minghella has passed away at the age of 54. I just read the sad news that filmmaker Anthony Minghella has died. He is best known for directing films like The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain and won a Best Director Oscar for The English Patient, but got one of his first big breaks...
“SUDS” is the latest offering from the Henson Company’s grown-up Henson Alternative brand. It looks like the latest project from The Jim Henson Company’s “Henson Alternative” brand is SUDS. “SUDS” is an acronym for Simian Undercover Detective Squad, which – as the Tough Pigs point out – for better or worse tells you just about...
The Henson Company is launching another adult-oriented project at TBS.com; Del’s Vegas Comedy Binge features Del Kastle – a puppet character from the 2006 Henson/TBS pilot The Late Night Buffet (see previous post) – in a new series of webisodes. Posted so far are five videos of Del at the recent Comedy Festival in Las...
Comicon wrapped up last weekend in San Diego and The Jim Henson Company was there with a booth promoting several different projects including The Skrumps (see previous post) and a new project called Tinseltown, “about a bull named Samson Knight and a pig named Bobby Vegan, a mismatched gay couple living in Hollywood,” that is...
Sir Linit and his spray come to the rescue of a Housewife’s laundry in this classic 1960s Muppet ad. Here’s another fantastic vintage Henson commercial. This is one of four ads that Muppets, Inc. produced for Linit Fabric Finish in 1966. The ad features a talking spray-can knight named Sir Linit, performed by Jim Henson....
The TAG Blog reports that the Henson Company is diving deeper in to animation. Henson is partnering with the Weinstein Brothers to produce three new animated direct-to-video features called “Unstable Fables” – Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs and Tortoise and The Hare. Henson put out a press release about this a...
Jim Henson (seen above with the head of Junior Gorg from Fraggle Rock) died seventeen years ago today at the age of 53. Puppeteers and Muppet fans around the world today are remembering Jim Henson, who died seventeen years ago today. May 16th has become a sort of unofficial day of remembrance for Jim and...
Puppet Up! Uncensored debuts on TBS.com today. Two episodes are online now and new videos will be debuting every Wednesday. If you’re a Digg user and want to help the show reach a wider online audience you can help out and Digg It! If you like the show and are lucky enough to live down...
Director James Frawley and his Muppet doppelgänger in 1979. Last Friday SFGate ran an interview with Muppet Movie director James Frawley about his work on the film. In it he shares a number of interesting stories, including his thoughts on the film’s ground breaking puppetry work and how directing The Monkees helped him get the...
I had already heard the news that the Henson Company is developing three book based films - The Boggart, The Doubtful Guest, and Monster Blood Tattoo – but I somehow missed the little detail that they were developing The Doubtful Ghost with Canadian producer/director Brad Peyton, who directed Evelyn The Cutest Little Dead Girl. Brad’s...
The puppeteers of Henson’s Puppet Up! improv company. The latest installment of the Henson.com podcast is available and features the cast of Henson’s Puppet Up improv puppet troupe discussing how the group got started and their upcoming tour of Australia. They are also playing a special one night only gig March 4th in Anaheim and...