{alltv} First look: Segel, Muppets step into big screen

Monday, May 16, 2011

{alltv} First look: Segel, Muppets step into big screen

These Muppets have legs. Get used to it.

The look at the first poster for The Muppets movie displays the beloved stars in all their rarely seen full-bodied glory.

"There's something about these full-figured Muppets that kind of blew me away," says Jason Segel, who stars in and co-wrote the movie. "It's kind of cool."

While the lifelong Muppet fan has vowed to keep the movie true to its original core, expect changes such as Kermit the Frog walking on-screen when the movie opens Nov. 23.

"Technology has changed," says Segel. "We're able to show them doing stuff they hadn't been able to do before. We're pretty proud of that."

Gonzo, Fozzy, Animal, Kermit and Miss Piggy are pictured in the poster. But Segel says he searched out even the most obscure Muppet characters for the creatures' triumphant return.

"We have every Muppet you could possibly think of," he says, including Beaker and the Swedish Chef.

One Muppet not pictured is the newest star of the bunch, Walter. "Walter will be making many appearances," says Segel. "But we wanted the first poster to remind people how much they love the Muppets of their youth."

The filmmakers decided to embrace the fact that the Muppets have not been on-screen since 1999's Muppets From Space.

"Entertainment changed. It became about animation, violence and cynicism. The Muppets sort of lost their place," says Segel. "In the movie, we acknowledge that the Muppets had some rough years and went their own separate ways to start their own careers."

Fozzie now performs with a Reno casino tribute band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, and Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management.

But the old gang reunites, with some help from Segel and his girlfriend (Amy Adams), to save their beloved Muppet Theater from the hands of a greedy oil executive (Chris Cooper).

Despite the time away, Jim Henson's original crew looks remarkably screen-ready. And even Miss Piggy has not needed plastic surgery. "Time has passed, but there are Muppet rules,'' says Segel. "They do not age.''