Kermit the frog and Miss Piggy have been famous the world over for the best part of half a century, having been created by the legendary Jim Henson. Back on the silver screen with their ninth film, they joined British director James Bobin and Film 2012’s Chris Hewitt, to talk about their time on set with Jason Segal, why Kermit doesn’t envy Toy Story’s Woody, and about their phenomenal history both on the TV and at the cinema.
I'm sorry, I'm afraid we might have to hold on Miss Piggy, last time I saw her she was leaving the bar.
This feels strangely familiar to me from the shoot. She had her moments, let's put it that way.
I'm not saying she was drinking, I'm just saying she was leaving the bar.
So how did you find working with Piggy James, did she refuse to come out of her trailer any time?
No, she was an absolute delight to work with.
Wow, you're good at that.
Thank you, it's my job. She was fantastic, obviously, she's one of my absolute favourite characters, I love working with her.
You have a beautiful wife James, but I suspect you might have dated a pig in the past.
Quite possibly Kermit, but maybe not for quite as long as you have.
It’s been a long time since you’ve made a film, did you still get along with all your old friends? And James, have you made any new ones?
Well I hope so. I grew up watching The Muppet Show, when I was younger, and those guys felt like friends even then. Now to have actually met them, I really hope we are actual, real friends.
Of course we are, that’s wonderful. We all made new friends on this film, and that’s always the best part of being with The Muppets. It is always wonderful to get back together with all the gang, all the different personalities, their little quirks. I love it.
I’ve always liked the idea of The Muppets and Radiohead working together. One day that will happen...
Jack Black was a fantastic guest star in the movie, is there anyone else – past or present – you would love to work with, and why?
I’ve always liked the idea of The Muppets and Radiohead working together. One day that will happen, I promise you.
Wow, that is a tough question. I’ve worked with a lot of people ...
You’ve worked with some absolute legends in your time.
They were legends, yeah. Unfortunately many of them are not with us anymore. But I suppose, you know what I’m going to say, I’m fine with who I work with because I got to work with Jason Segel and Amy Adams and of course James, and Chris Cooper, and some wonderful, wonderful performers. I’m just going to be happy with who I have there.
Can we have the next film in Bollywood?
Sure, I’d love that with lots of curries and some Masala Dosas.
If you watch online we actually did cut a Bollywood trailer, if you look for it. We had quite a lot of shots that could be Bollywood-esque, so it would be fun to do a Bollywood version.
I think Piggy would fit quite well in the Bollywood style, there’s musical numbers in a lot of the films. She’d get that, that sort of high, nasally sort of sound.
Piggy in a sari ...
Yeah, we’d all be sorry.
Kermit, why do you think The Muppets have retained such immense popularity over the decades that you’ve worked here?
You know, that’s a great question. If we knew the secret of that we’d have been back before 12 years. I think it’s probably - and James can elaborate on this too - I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we stayed true to who we are, and yet we tried to evolve with the times. We’ve never been interested in becoming background guys who would turn into CG, we’ve always wanted to be real, in a real world. Let me give you an example. If you were talking to me and I was, say, Woody from Toy Story, this would be your interview [Kermit ducks out of sight]. So it’s nice that we can be here.
For me, and Kermit, cover your ears here ...
I don’t have any, but okay.
Plug the holes. I think it’s because they’re not very good at what they do - you’ve got to really root for them because of that. They’re the perennial underdogs. But they really try very hard and that’s very lovely.
James, as a Muppet fan how did you get to the position of directing them, and how thrilling was it to work with them for the first time?
It was amazing, obviously. I grew up watching them here in England, aged four in front of my grandma’s big old wooden box TV, so to actually not only meet them but maybe have Kermit and Piggy say lines you wrote is just incredible. But the story of how I got here is very prosaic, I literally got an email from my agent asking if I liked the Muppets. And I sent an email back saying, 'Yes of course, who doesn’t like the Muppets?’ So it was very straightforward, but I’m thrilled to be here.