Muppets Most Wanted Press Conference

Kermit, Miss Piggy and Constantine (as well as Ricky Gervais and director James Bobin) were in London to talk about The Muppets sequel Muppets Most Wanted. Here are some of the highlights…

On Kermit’s role in Muppets Most Wanted

Kermit: I think of myself as getting to do a little bit of an action role in this, it’s something I haven’t done before. In order to prepare for that role I watched all of Bruce Willis’ movies, and when that didn’t work I just went to his hairdresser.

On Ricky Gervais landing a role in the film

Ricky Gervais: It’s not a job, is it? This is like fun. I’m a big kid and I can’t believe my luck. I’ve been a fan of the Muppets for thirty years, I used to watch them on Sundays with my family. So yeah, this was a good call to get. I didn’t know this guy[Constantine] before, but now he’s one of my best pals.

Constantine: Yes. We are buddies. You will give me your email address right? I keep asking for it, but he does not give it. How are we supposed to stay in touch?

Ricky Gervais: I think about him a lot. And I say to my girlfriend: “I wonder where Constantine is today?”. Usually in a bag.

Constantine: This is correct.

On Constantine being the bad guy

Constantine: There is part of me that kind of enjoys being the bad guy, and enjoys being hated. I was written that way, so what can I say?

Kermit: We don’t hate him. It’s just a story of the movie. He’s actually an old pal from the swamp. Ricky’s he’s best friend now, he’s a good guy.

Ricky Gervais: In the movie he’s evil. But I think doing this movie and meeting me has thawed his little heart of stone. SHowing him love has made him quite a cuddly little thing.

On the cameos in Muppets Most Wanted

James Bobin: Largely we write those roles in the script, and often we write the name of the particular person. What we find is because there is a great love for the Muppets, the people we ask tend to say yes. Which is really rare.

On Miss Piggy’s beauty

Miss Piggy: I’m so distracting, I’m distracting here at the press conference. They can’t take their eyes off me.

Ricky Gervais: You had to pretend to love her in the movie, didn’t you?

Constantine: Yes. It was my best acting.

Ricky Gervais: She’s a bigger diva [than the actresses he has worked with], and she won’t mind me saying that because she is sort of proud of it.

Miss Piggy: Mmm, it’s a compliment.

On childhood idols

Kermit: For me it was probably Walter Brennan. A great American actor. Nobody has a clue who I’m talking about, do they? I don’t know, I was inspired by so many people. I had great grandparents, old frogs. Old frogs are great inspirations.

Constantine: There is a great safecracker named Thomas Demato, there is an explosives expert, Tommy ‘The Toenail’ Lewis, Al Pacino in The Godfather Part III…

On filming Muppets Most Wanted in the Tower of London

James Bobin: Famously you’re not allowed to film there pretty much ever. And they have turned down everyone who has asked before, but somehow when you have the Muppets with you and you ask for favours, people tend to change their minds.

On deleted scenes

Ricky Gervais: They filmed about four hours of this that they had to cut down.

James Bobin: We had a lot of material in that film.

Kermit: The great thing about James is he tells you that before you shoot the scene.

Muppets Most Wanted is released in UK cinemas on 28th March 2014.

The Empire Big Screen Diaries – Day 3

Like the protagonist on an epic quest in a sword and sorcery film, I embarked on the final day of Empire Big Screen. First order of business was the Paramount Showcase. After a brief video animating the company’s biggest films, a series of trailers were shown. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was followed by Paranormal Activity 3 and Like Crazy. After this, a featurette on Cowboys and Aliens was screened, introduced by Jon Favreau (on video). We also got to see a short clip of the Footloose remake, and the trailer for The Devil Inside (which was highly reminiscent of last year’s The Last Exorcism). Two clips of the Shrek spin-off Puss in Boots were then screened. Te footage was great; the film looks as if it will be very funny. To round things off, footage of The Adventures of Tin Tin was screened with a message from producer Peter Jackson and director Steven Spielberg. The clips looked good, but I always think humans in CG-animation look weird.

After a brief interlude, the Lionsgate Showcase began. After the trailer for A Dangerous Method was shown, we got to see footage from Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus. Set in the modern day but with the original Shakespearean dialogue, the film looks interesting if a little unusual. The showcase was rounded up by four trailers – 50/50, Abduction, Warrior and Conan the Barbarian.

Seizing the opportunity for a proper lunch break, we headed to Armadillo (again). My fish burger was nice, but I felt bad that we didn’t leave a proper tip. In fairness, it was all the change we had, but apologies to Armadillo staff.

The Disney Showcase was the final one of the weekend. Real Steel was first up, with director Shawn Levy on stage to talk about the film. He also gave away tickets to the premiere, but asked the most difficult question ever. Needless to say, I did not know the answer. Two clips were then screened; the film looks like fairly standard family fare. Andrew Stanton then introduced John Carter and footage from the film was screened. Finally, Steven Spielberg (by video) introduced some footage of his upcoming film War Horse. What struck me more than anything was that Spielberg seems to have some hand in directing or producing many of the films discussed this weekend. He may have even a hand producing this post. Human star of the film Jeremy Irvine then came on stage to discuss making War Horse.

After hanging out in the press room for a bit (Jeremy Irvine was being interviewed there, talent-spotters!), it was time for The Muppets! Director of The Muppets James Bobin and star Kermit the Frog were interviewed live via satelite. I was told that the Muppets were originally meant to appear in person. Maybe it is just as well this did not happen, as I may have got kicked out for running up on stage and hugging Kermit. The interview was a lot of fun, and the clip screened involved Kermit singing a song. It almost brought a tear to the eye…

After all that excitement, it was time for the Conan the Barbarian premiere. Jason Momoa was present to introduce the film, shown at the biggest screen at the O2 Cineworld. The film was pretty disappointing itself (review to follow).

After the very last visit to the press room, I went to the secret screening. Cineworld tried to rob me blind with their popcorn prices, after which I settled down to watch the film. Before it started, I asked the gentleman next to me if he knew what the film was (I did by this point). When he answered “Cowboys and Aliens” I was perplexed, and thought he was joking until he showed me his ticket. I was in the wrong screen. After cursing my stupidity, I ran next door and luckily the trailers were still on. I then settled down to watch The Debt, a very good thriller (review to follow). And that concluded Empire Big Screen; the film was good way to end a busy but exciting weekend.

Many thanks to Empire and Romley Davies for having me, plus all the lovely people who made the weekend so much fun (you know who you are!).