PuppetVision Blog » Henson Company

Rest in Peace Anthony Minghella

Andrew — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:19:00 +0000

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 working for the Jim Henson Company. Minghella was credited with writing every episode of Jim Henson’s groundbreaking Storyteller series and also wrote other Henson projects like Greek Myths and Living With Dinosaurs. The world has lost a unique and very talented filmmaker.

SUDS: Simian Undercover Detective Squad

Andrew — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 04:36:00 +0000

“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 everything you need to know about SUDS. The web series will debut on Film.com in 2008 and a teaser trailer is available to watch on Film.com. You can also download the latest episode of the Henson.com podcast and listen to interviews with SUDS’ producer-directors Perry Sachs and Deb Loftis and stars Paul Rugg and Zand Broumand.

SUDS is the first of three web series Henson has in the works for Film.com. According to The Muppet Newsflash, in addition to SUDS Henson is also preparing ten new episodes of Puppet Up! – Uncensored and 15 episodes of a puppet-based reality-show parody called Alt-Reality.

Del’s Vegas Comedy Binge

Andrew — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 23:31:00 +0000

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 Vegas.

Via The Muppet Newsflash.

Henson Co. News From Comicon

Andrew — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:01:00 +0000

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 apparently being developed as a web series. They also did a special Puppet Up presentation, a portion of which you can watch on YouTube.

Classic Muppet Advertising – Sir Linit

Andrew — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 02:12:00 +0000

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. Watch how carefully this is edited to allow the puppet to do different things. Today it would be pretty easy to do a commercial like this using green screen and puppeteer/wire removal techniques, but in the 1960s things were lower tech and required some innovation and carefully planned shots.

Link via Pidgeon Blog.

Henson Co. Gets More Animated

Andrew — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:58:00 +0000

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 few days ago. Here’s a quote:

“As The Jim Henson Company continues to expand further into animation, we are thrilled to have such supportive enthusiasm from The Weinstein Company,” said Lisa Henson, co-CEO of The Jim Henson Company and a producer of the home video series. “Producing this series with gifted creative partners like Prana and Flame allows us to maintain the highest standards of quality expected from a Jim Henson Company production and make it available to a home video audience.”

These don’t appear to be digital puppetry features like Henson’s Skrumps property since the animation is being outsourced to an off-shore firm called Prana Studios in India. It should be interesting to watch this develop and see what comes of it.

Remembering Jim Henson

Andrew — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:38:00 +0000

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 if you aren’t already familiar with the man’s life, work and legacy (though I suspect most of you reading this already are) you can learn more about it at:

The Jim Henson Legacy – Dedicated to preserving and perpetuating Jim Henson’s contributions to the worlds of puppetry, television, motion pictures, special effects and media technology.
The Jim Henson Foundation – Founded in 1983, this non-profit organization annually gives out grant to support the creation of new works of contemporary American puppet theater.
Muppet Central – The internet’s biggest Muppet fan site.
The Muppet Wiki – An amazingly comprehensive (over 14,000 article as of this writing) online encylopedia devoted to Jim Henson, his characters and the Henson Company.

I recently blogged about an interesting video interview Jim recorded just shortly before his death.

Puppet Up! Uncensored Debuts on TBS.com

Andrew — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 21:49:00 +0000

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 under, Puppet Up! is going to be in Australia for almost a month. Details are available at the Puppet Up! web site.

Thanks to Seth for the news!

Muppet Movie Director James Frawley Interview

Andrew — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 11:02:00 +0000

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 job.

Thanks to Steve for the great link!

Henson Company Developing a Film with Brad Peyton

Andrew — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:24:00 +0000

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 an alumni of The Canadian Film Centre, Canada’s premiere film school. I think Henson made a very smart choice deciding to work with Brad. He’s got a unique, Tim Burton-esque sensibility and should be able to do some great things with the help of The Creature Shop.

Via Brian Stokes’ blog.