When it was announced that Jason Segel and Nick Stoller – the writer/star and director, respectively, of the R-rated comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall – would be writing and directing the next Muppet movie, a lot of people wondered what the heck kind of a movie it would be. Would these two, members of the Judd Apatow company, be making some sort of post-modern or winking take on the Muppets? Would they be doing something edgy? From what I was able to gather at the Hawaii junket for Sarah Marshall, not at all.
Apparently their Muppet film is going to be incredibly old fashioned, with the familiar Muppet characters putting on a show to save an old theater (the theater from The Muppet Show?). The danger? An evil character wants to tear the place down to get at the oil underneath. It’s sort of current!
Stoller and Segel don’t know what film is next for them, whether it be romantic comedy The Five Year Engagement or this Muppet film, but considering that Segel is an avowed nut for Muppets, I think it’s possible we’ll see this sooner rather than later.