It’s hard to quantify how amazing Frank Oz’s career has been. On the one hand, he is a very successful film director: The dark crystal, Small shop of horrors, Dirty and rotten bastards, etc. For some it would be enough. But it also acts. And while some successful film directors are acting, Oz is also one of the most famous puppeteers of all time, having worked with George Lucas in Star Wars i Jim Henson a The Muppets i sesam street from its first incarnations. Oz has the kind of experience and talent with which you would imagine someone would stand back to work. But apparently, not everyone wants to work with him.
In a fascinating and extensive interview with the guardian, Oz admits it even though he hasn’t worked with him The Muppets since 2007, it hasn’t been exactly by choice. “I’d love to do the Muppets again but Disney doesn’t want me, and sesam street he hasn’t asked me for ten years, “Oz said.” They don’t want me because I won’t follow orders and I won’t make the kind of Muppets they believe in. “
Oz worked directly with Jim Henson, who died in 1990, on both properties, and believes negotiations to sell the Muppets to Disney played an important role in his transfer. “The deal with Disney is probably what killed Jim. It made him sick, ”Oz said. “[Then Disney CEO Michael] Eisner was trying to get it sesam street, too, which Jim would not allow. But Jim was not a merchant, he was an artist and he was destroying him, really. ”
Although the deal did not occur at the time, Disney ended up buying the Muppets years after Henson’s death. Quickly, Oz saw a change of the most subversive and familiar content he and Henson were doing in front of what Disney was doing. “[There was a] demarcation line between the Jim Henson Muppets and the Disney Muppets, “Oz said.” There is an inability for corporate United States to understand the value of something they bought. They never understood, with us, it is not just about puppets, but about performers who love each other and have worked together for many years ”. (Interesting note: Oz was not consulted about the character of Yellow of The Mandalorian).
Oz has worked with Disney in recent years: led Yoda to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, provided a voice for Pixar’s Inside out, directed special Hulu Derek DelGaudio Inside and of himself, and more. But when it comes The Muppets i sesam street, Oz can no longer look at them. “The soul is not there. The soul is what makes things grow and be fun. But I miss them and I love them, ”he said.
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Read a lot more from Oz in his Guardian Profile.
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