Much like his beloved
Freaks and Geeks character, Jason Segel just seems like a nice guy; friendly, mild-mannered, good sense of humour, and kind. To add to that already swoony image, he's just written the script for Disney's upcoming Muppets movie, which he also stars in, because he believes in the virtues that the Muppets bring.
We sent
Ms Mindy Chops along to interview him about his work on the Muppets movie, Jim Henson's legacy, kindness, what's coming up for him next, and being broken up with naked.
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Well, I should probably start by disclosing that I have never interviewed anyone before. In my life.
Oh my gosh, AMAZING.
Isn't it though? I am amazed! And also very excited. My friend is the Entertainment Editor, and she asked me if I could do this. I'm not sure on what basis she thought I would be any good at it, but I started getting all excited and she knew that I was a big fan of Freaks and Geeks from some years ago. And, you and I have something in common. Like you and your character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I have also endured the extraordinary humiliation of being broken up with while naked, so, you know, I thought...
Oh my God, have you really?!?
Look, I don't want to have to add fuel to the fire or anything, but I think that I can possibly one-up you.
Do tell!
Well, when I was broken up with while naked, you know, I was very young and ill-equipped to handle heartbreak. So I was hanging out in my then-boyfriend's bedroom, and, at the time, I felt that being nude was appropriate, right? I mean, that doesn't seem unreasonable.
Right!
So, he says "you know, I think I don't love you any more" AND I VOMITED.
[Aghast] Oh. My God. That is the worst thing I have ever heard.
Isn't it? And I mean, I think that is probably worse than that penis-slapping thing that happened in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Isn't it! I mean, you wouldn't believe that if you saw it in a movie.
I mean, it is pretty much the most demoralising thing that could ever happen to a human. But I have lived to tell the tale. And I am talking to a perfect stranger about it now, so obviously the scars are starting to heal.
Amazing.
So, when I was telling my friend all this when we were setting up this interview, she quite rightly pointed out that perhaps I should reference, you know, the body of work that you've done in the last 10 years. So that, I suppose, brings us up to right now, and the impending release of the Muppet movie! You wanna tell me a little about that? How did it come to be?
Sure! Well, it probably started given that I have had a crazy love for puppets, ever since I was young. And I had worked the puppets into
Forgetting Sarah Marshall...
... with the Dracula scenes, and the unitard?
Yes, exactly. And it was the Jim Henson company that designed those puppets. And I got talking with them, and they were saying how there was another Muppet movie, and I thought, "well, I'm a writer... maybe I'll go to Disney and let me see if they'll let me write the Muppet movie." And so I went and I pitched it, and they agreed to at least let me try to write the script, and, you know, it took some serious effort, but we got it made.
So when you pitched the idea, were Disney initially receptive? Was it nailed straight away or was there a lot of back-and-forth over the script during development in order to [write something] you were happy with?
It was a long process. I mean, there's a lot of people who love the Muppets. And so to get everyone who loved and respected the Muppets so much to come to a consensus -- a consensus about what was good in order to honour this legacy -- it took a long time, but we definitely got there.
I was watching the trailer [for the movie] this morning, and I was thinking that one of the things that I really liked about the Muppets as a child -- and continue to like as an adult -- is that for all the good clean fun that the film portrays, referencing the Muppets of ye olden days, it's also quite self-referential. And I think that adults who are taking kids along to see a Muppet movie are also getting some genuine laughs out of it too.
Well, the goal with something like the Muppet movie is very similar to what the Pixar movies do and what the
Simpsons do. Everyone in the family will be enjoying it for a different reason. And no-one is bored, and the parents don't feel like they're placating the kids, and the kids don't feel like their parents are making them watch something. I remember there's an episode of the Muppet show featuring Peter Sellers. And Scooter walks in and says "five minutes to curtain, Mr Sellers!" And Peter Sellers is wearing a viking cap.
Why not?
And Peter Sellers says "oh, I don't know what to do out there." And Scooter goes "well, you just have to be yourself!" And Peter Sellers launches into a five-minute monologue, an existential crisis, about how he doesn't know who Peter Sellers is anymore, is there even a Peter Sellers, we may have lost him some time ago... and I'm sure kids have no idea what's going on, except a guy is talking funny in a viking hat.
And vikings ARE hilarious, so...
HILARIOUS. And then, Peter Sellers walks out and sings a song with the Muppets called "Whiskey, Wine and Wild Women." And kids are enjoying a guy singing with puppets. And parents are enjoying whiskey, wine and wild women. So I think that's the perfect witch's brew that you're trying to create, where everyone is enjoying themselves together.
And so, given that you are such a huge Muppet fan... how do you go with realising such a giant dream? I have a friend, and whenever somebody does something they've wanted to do their whole lives, like they get an amazing job or travel somewhere they've always wanted to go... my friend doesn't have a lot of patience for detail. And so he always asks "What was the biggest surprise/biggest disappointment?" And so I guess my question to you, in realising your dream of making a Muppet movie, what was the biggest surprise in making it happen?
Hmmm. Good question. Well... I think the biggest surprise with working with the Muppets was seeing how labor-intensive it is, working with these puppeteers. Because part of their job, specifically, is to be invisible. By the time the movie comes out, you're not even supposed to be thinking that there's a puppeteer operating this. That's just Kermit. And, in reality, these guys are puppeteers, and they're actors, and writers and contortionists, and singers, and they don't get the credit they're due to get because intrinsically their job is to disappear. So that was the greatest surprise, that there are men and women behind all of this stuff.
The biggest disappointment was that I didn't get the opportunity to meet Jim Henson.
Yeah.... unfortunately not something you're going to be able to rectify.
Yeah... He created this legacy, which I think really honestly changed the world, and was such a force for positivity. And to even be a footnote in that legacy means so much to me. I wish I had gotten to meet him.
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