When Lisa Henson first noticed Jim Henson Thought Man, the Ron Howard-directed documentary about her well-known puppeteer father, she immediately thought of it a hit. “It was fantastic to see that Ron had landed it,” Lisa tells THR. “We had hoped that within the storytelling, Ron would possibly be capable of channel a number of the creativity of Jim Henson and The Muppets, and he introduced sketches to life with animation, used stop-motion on occasion, and offered the movie in a inventive model.”
That strategy earned the documentary eight Emmy nominations, together with excellent documentary and directing for Howard, in addition to nods for cinematography, enhancing and writing.
Was this documentary a right away sure for you and your siblings?
Sure. We had been approached for a number of years by numerous documentary filmmakers and firms. Every of them stated that Jim Henson was their favourite particular person and this could be their ardour challenge, however we resisted as a result of we felt there was one actually nice documentary to be made and we needed to attend till the proper filmmaker got here alongside. We have been hoping that that filmmaker could be a persona match with Jim Henson, any person who would actually perceive the work and him as an individual or be curious on the correct stage. So when Marjon Javadi at Disney made the match between Ron, Think about Documentaries and ourselves, it was a right away sure.
Your mother Jane’s story is instructed by way of this movie as effectively. How did that piece unravel?
The story of their partnership was an untold story. I like that Ron was interested in my mom; he was and drawn to her humorousness. And as he watched the early [archive] materials, he turned extra intrigued with the story of the inventive partnership that turned a wedding, an organization after which a troubled marriage. He got here to us at a sure level and stated, “I’m going to be digging deeper into the story of your mom,” and he did a second spherical of interviews about her.
Your dad, close to the top of his life, purchased again the rights to The Muppets and the mental property he created. What do you consider the foresight he had as you sit as CEO of the Jim Henson Co. now?
I’m CEO of our household firm now, however once I was youthful, I used to be a studio govt at Warner Bros. and a movie govt at Columbia, and having met so many heavy-duty inventive varieties in Hollywood, once I look again on my father doing that, I do know only a few individuals who would ever think about doing that — and that’s with my understanding lots of people. Once we have been collaborating within the writing of the biography, we began delving again into that as a household and what an unbelievable present of bravery. Normally when issues are being offered, quite a lot of creatives in Hollywood are used to shrugging and going, “Oh, effectively.” The truth that he went after these property that have been altering palms and stated, “I would like them again for myself,” simply exhibits how strongly he believed in what he was doing and the way strongly he believed within the work itself.
Is a scripted characteristic nonetheless within the works?
The Muppet Man is in growth with Disney. It’s at the moment with no director and never on the slate, however all people sees quite a lot of potential in it, so maybe sometime.
This story first appeared in an August stand-alone concern of The Hollywood Reporter journal. To obtain the journal, click on right here to subscribe.