Trivia / The Muppets (2011)

• Accent Depundent: The "Mary marry" pun at the end of the film is entirely dependent on the "Mary/marry/merry" merger common to many but not all American Accents.
• Acting for Two: In Muppet tradition. Lampshaded in an interview where Piggy does pitch-perfect "impersonations" of Fozzie and Animal^note all now performed by Eric Jacobson, but does an an absolutely pathetic Kermit impression^note he's performed by Steve Whitmire.
• Awesome, Dear Boy:
  • When Chris Cooper was asked why he agreed to perform a rap song, his response was "Are you kidding? This is a Muppet movie! I'm in a movie with the Muppets! I'd have tapdanced in my underwear if they'd asked me to."
  • This is why Jason Segel, with a lot of Hollywood capital coming off Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the success of How I Met Your Mother, decided to spend it on creating a Muppets movie. Segel amusingly noted that the Disney executives were rather confused by the pitch, thinking he wanted to put a R-rated spin on it given his resume, but Segel was adamant that he simply wanted to make a traditional Muppets movie just because he was a big fan of the property and wanted to bring it back to prominence.
• California Doubling: It looks like the car is coming out of the water in actual Cannes, France, but according to the DVD Commentary that was filmed at "a lake in Northern California" on the final day of shooting. The casting call was for "men with body hair", whom they put in speedos, then obviously CGI'd the background.
• The Cast Showoff: Before becoming a film actress, Amy Adams worked in theatre (more specifically, dinner theatre), making her an easy fit for the singing and dancing required. The filmmakers gave her a golden opportunity to shine in a Gratuitous Disco Sequence.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: In the Dutch dub of this and Muppets Most Wanted, Scooter is voiced by Armin Van Buuren.
• Creator Backlash
  • While he eventually warmed up to it, Frank Oz – the original performer for Miss Piggy and Fozzie, and probably the best-known Muppet performer who isn't Jim Henson – was quite vocal about his hatred for the original script (in which Kermit was revealed to be Tex all along in an elaborate scheme to get the gang back together) and having his personal treatment passed over in favor of Segel's, which he claimed failed to "respect the characters." This is why he declined to participate. In the end, Oz liked the final film, but felt it was a little safe, citing his personal preference for the Muppets' edgier material. He was also glad the movie brought the Muppets back in the spotlight and made their fans happy.
  • Some other, unnamed Muppet veterans have also expressed misgivings over Fozzie's fart shoes.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: While this is pretty obvious for Miss Piggy in the original English version and the Japanese dub, this is the first film when Piggy is voiced by males in all foreign dubs, by Disney's mandate.
• Cut Song: My Morning Jacket's Jim James wrote at least three songs for the film, intended to be performed by the Electric Mayhem. The songs were scrapped (and a companion tour featuring the Mayhem performing with MMJ backing them fell apart), but didn't go to waste - the band recorded all of the songs from the project themselves. Two of those songs ("Wonderful" and "Outta My System") were released on their album Circuital^note the album notes include the words "For E.M. Band idea. R.I.P." in reference to the fizzled tour, while the remaining song ("Friends Again") was released as the B-side to "Wonderful" and worked into their own concerts.
• Defictionalization: A restroom area near Muppet*Vision 3D in Disney's Hollywood Studios became rechristened after Gonzo's Royal Flush in Fall 2016.
• Deleted Scene: The film was originally over two hours long, so many scenes hit the cutting room floor.
  • Several parts of the clips and previews shown before release were not in the final cut, such as the Muppet farmer who performs at the start and end of Camilla's number, Gonzo knocking the bowling pin off Gary’s head, and various celebrities singing "Manha Manha" in various takes. Kermit doesn't introduce Camilla with the random, "... and now, dancing chickens!"
  • A scene which had the Muppets thrown in jail and featured Wanda Sykes and Danny Trejo was cut from the film. Judd Hirsch is only seen in the audience for a second and doesn't even say a thing!
  • Mary doesn't suggest going to lunch during Walter's drawn-out scream.
  • Cameos by Mila Kunis, Billy Crystal, Kathy Griffin and Ricky Gervais were also cut. Crystal appeared confronting the Muppets hosting an illegal Awards-type show to promote their telethon and had them arrested.
  • Both Gervais and Trejo later appeared in the Muppets' next feature film.
  • Walter's Dream Sequence was originally longer.
  • Walter, Gary and Mary encountering a guy (Rob Corddry) in a very cheap Superman costume when they first arrive in LA. The costume was so cheap, it didn't even have an S-shield, and "Superman's" gut hung over his belt. Even so, Mary was the only one who was aware that he wasn't really Superman. It becomes Hilarious in Hindsight seeing that few years later, Mary's actress, Amy Adams, would go on to play Lois Lane.
  • A scene cut from the film but included in the B-Roll footage released online has Kermit explaining to Gary, Mary and Walter that he doesn't actually live at the penthouse. Instead, he simply stops by once a week to check the mail and clean the pool filters. This also explains why Kermit is seen with a tool chest the first time we see him in the final film.
• DVD Commentary: Features James Bobin (director), Jason Segel (Gary, and co writer) and Nick Stoller (co-writer). Some nifty tidbits:
  • Segel was surprised that one of the choreographers was referring to Mickey Rooney as "Dad" as he told him where to move. Segel thought this disrespectful of the older actor until he learned the choreographer, Michael Rooney, was in fact Mickey Rooney's son.
  • Segel found it very hard to keep his eyes open when he looks up into the rain during "Man or Muppet".
  • On the set at Kermit's house where Gary and Walter sit on the same couch, Segel sat down on the side of the couch where Walter's puppeteer would usually stand underneath, i.e.- a hole (where Walter is "sitting" in the scene proper). Segel fell into it. He was unhurt, and it took Amy Adams a long time to stop laughing.
  • The actress who played Walter’s prom date in the photo at the beginning of the film also appears as an extra during the Muppet Telethon and outside the Muppet Theater. Bobin joked that he likes to think that she’s still obsessed with Walter and followed him to Hollywood.
  • Sweetums’ scene at Mad Man Mooney and Sons was filmed at the same location as in The Muppet Movie.
  • Bobin made a cameo (only seen from behind) as the director in the booth cuing the beginning of the telethon.
• Looping Lines: Along with the musical numbers, there's Fozzie's voice. He often changes mid-sentence from a softer tone to a more traditional "Fozzie-ish" tone, making it obvious that there was some ADR work involved.
• The Other Darrin:
  • This is the third Muppet film not to feature Frank Oz in any role^note (any new role, anyway; the original version of "Mahna Mahna" plays over the credits, with Frank's vocals as the Snowths intact), after It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie and The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, and the first in theaters. His characters are voiced and performed mostly by Eric Jacobson instead.
  • While a full list of replacements for each character would be too involved, a general guide to the Other Darrins is: Eric Jacobson for Frank Oz, Matt Vogel for Jerry Nelson, Jim Henson's characters are mostly divided between Steve Whitmire and Bill Barretta, and Richard Hunt's characters are divided between Steve Whitmire and David Rudman.
• Promoted Fanboy:
  • Jason Segel; writer, executive producer and human lead character. He also puppeteered Dr. Teeth and Beaker for the crowded car scenes and Fozzie for another scene.
  • Nicholas Stoller; co-writer and executive producer.
  • The portrait of Miss Piggy in Kermit's mansion was painted by Peter Savieri, whose art was highlighted on the Muppet fansite Tough Pigs.
• Prop Recycling: That set for the theater? It was built in 1925 for the Lon Chaney film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera!
• Recycled Script: This is the second Muppet film involving the Muppets putting on a show to raise the money needed to save the theater from a businessman trying to tear it down (the first being It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie). However, despite the reused basic premise, they are totally different movies.
• What Could Have Been: Much like the deleted scenes, there's enough here for an entire movie on its own.
  • Segel mentioned in an interview that during the montage involving Kermit finding a celebrity guest, one of the people they wanted to do was Elmo, who would be shot down by lawyers saying he couldn't join.
  • Gary was originally written as a ventriloquist with Walter as his animate puppet, but the Muppet performers and Disney didn't want the Muppets to be portrayed as puppets rather than living creatures.
  • Speaking of Walter, an early idea was to have him as a baby being delivered via stork while still retaining his same size and appearance.
  • They forbade the fact that Kermit was a millionaire in the early script and the mansion was way bigger. It was rewritten to have the place built by Piggy when they were still together, but they broke up, and Kermit's been taking care of it ever since, so it's shabby and a bit ill-kempt in some places.
  • In early versions of the script, Piggy was to become a Lady Gaga-type diva after the Muppets disbanded instead of a Vogue editor.
  • Originally everything would be orchestrated by Kermit himself for getting the gang back together again by revealing that Tex Richman would be Kermit in a human suit as part of a massive long-term scheme! Not only did Disney find it too complicated, but Kermit's former puppeteer Steve Whitmire thought that it was completely out of character and hated it so much that he threatened to have his name removed from the credits if this ending had been left in.
  • Another way it would've ended was with Kermit saying "And because this all went so well, we're going to bring back The Muppet Show this fall on ABC!" This ending got a note back from Disney saying "Nice try". That said, a Muppet show would go on to air on ABC a few years later.
  • Molly Ringwald was written to appear, but ultimately couldn't. Her name does appear in Kermit's Rolodex as one of the 80s celebrities who turns him down as a telethon guest.
  • During a sequence set in a prison that ultimately ended up getting cut, Charles Grodin would've made a cameo reprising his role as Nicky Holiday, but turned it down.
  • Other planned cameos that never came to be included Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Christian Bale, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, George Clooney, Mel Brooks, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Rachel Ray, Bob Saget, Lisa Lampenelli and Jeffrey Ross.
  • Six performers auditioned for Walter, including Kevin Clash, Joey Mazzarino, Bill Barretta, Matt Vogel, and eventual performer Peter Linz.
  • There was a scene in an early revision of the script in which one of the villains shot a gun, and everyone pretended to move in slow motion as a guy carried a Muppet bullet on a stick while making whooshing noises. Eventually, Fozzie would burst in wondering what was going on, and would then start to move in slow motion too.
  • Walter's "human self" was initially envisioned as Michael Cera.
• Working Title: The film was originally gonna be called The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time!!! And boy, did it deliver.
• Written by Cast Member: Jason Segel, who also served as one of the executive producers.