Frank Oz has been bringing some of our favorite characters to life for more than 50 years — from Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear of “The Muppets” to “Sesame Street’s” Grover and Cookie Monster. Starting out as a puppeteer with Jim Henson in the 1960s, Oz was a driving force in the long-lasting success of “The Muppets.”
For his new documentary “Muppet Guys Talking,” Oz recruited four of his closest colleagues to discuss what made their work so special. Oz told “CBS This Morning: Saturday” that the initial idea for the documentary actually came from his wife, a producer.
“She saw us guys, how we clowned around, and still cared about each other and screwed each other over but still love each other. But she’d never seen this kind of a work atmosphere and she wanted to get it out there,” Oz said.
Aside from the unique working relationship among the group, the documentary explores how Jim Henson’s legacy continues to live on in their work.
“If you see our documentary, you can have a sense of what – what was inside him is now inside us,” Oz said. “Jim never told us what to do. He never said anything. He never told me once. He just was himself and we learned through osmosis and just followed him.”
When asked about his recent comments on how Disney has handled “The Muppets” franchise in Henson’s absence, Oz insisted he’s not been “critical” but instead “hopeful”and “pleading.”
“Disney really wants to do a good job. They’re really doing the very best they can,” Oz said. “The thing is what they don’t understand is that one can’t just write for ‘The Muppets.’ There are performers who have been with Jim for decades, and they’re not being part of the process. Those people….They are brilliant. They know the soul. And I can’t – I just wish they would be asked to be part of the creation, and that’s what would make a success for Disney really.”
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