Muppets Most Wanted
''Muppets Most Wanted'' is a 2014 American musical crime comedy film directed by James Bobin, produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, and written by Bobin and Nicholas Stoller. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films, it is the eighth theatrical film featuring the Muppets, and serves as a sequel to ''The Muppets'' (2011). The film stars Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey, alongside Muppet performers Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel and Peter Linz. It was also Tony Bennett's final film role before his retirement in 2021 and death two years later. In the film, the Muppets become involved in an international crime caper while on a world tour in Europe. Aside from co-writer Jason Segel, the majority of the production team behind ''The Muppets'' returned for ''Muppets Most Wanted'', including Bobin, Stoller, Hoberman, and Lieberman. Bret McKenzie and Christophe Beck also returned to compose the film's songs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Bobin
James Bobin is a British filmmaker. He worked as a director and writer on ''Da Ali G Show'' and helped create the characters of Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Borat, and Brüno (character), Brüno. With Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, he co-created ''Flight of the Conchords (TV series), Flight of the Conchords''. He directed the feature films ''The Muppets (2011 film), The Muppets'' (2011), ''Muppets Most Wanted'' (2014), and ''Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016 film), Alice Through the Looking Glass'' (2016) from The Walt Disney Company, Disney, and ''Dora and the Lost City of Gold'' (2019) from Paramount Pictures. Career Bobin worked as a director and writer on ''The 11 O'Clock Show'' and ''Da Ali G Show'', and helped create the characters of Ali G, Borat, and Brüno (character), Brüno. In 2003 and 2004, he directed and co-wrote all of the 12 episodes of ''Ali G in da USAiii'' for HBO. With Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, he co-created, wrote and directed ''Flight of the Con ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Musical Film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate "production numbers". The musical film was a natural development of the musical theater, stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if a live audience were watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the diegesis, diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it. With the Sound film, advent of sound in the late 1920s, musicals gained popularity with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jason Segel
Jason Jordan Segel ( ; born January 18, 1980) is an American actor and writer. He is best known for his role as Marshall Eriksen in the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' from 2005 to 2014. He began his career with director and producer Judd Apatow on the television series ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000) and '' Undeclared'' (2001–2002) before gaining prominence for his leading roles in various successful comedy films in which he has starred, written, and produced. Segel's comedic films include ''Knocked Up'' (2007), '' Forgetting Sarah Marshall'' (2008), ''I Love You, Man'' (2009), '' Bad Teacher'' (2011), '' The Five-Year Engagement'' (2012), ''This Is 40'' (2012), and ''Sex Tape'' (2014), as well as family films such as '' Despicable Me'' (2010), and ''The Muppets'' (2011). For his role as David Foster Wallace in ''The End of the Tour'' (2015) he received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. He also starred in the dramas '' Jeff, Who Live ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Bennett was named a NEA Jazz Masters, National Endowments for the Arts Jazz Master and a Kennedy Center Honors, Kennedy Center Honoree. He founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, New York, along with Exploring the Arts, a non-profit arts education program. He sold more than 50 million records worldwide and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Bennett began singing at an early age. He fought in the final stages of World War II as a United States Army, U.S. Army infantryman in the European theatre of World War II, European Theater. Afterward, he developed his singing technique, signed with Columbia Records and had his first number-one popular song wi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peter Linz
Peter Linz (born June 28, 1967) is an American puppeteer and actor. Known for his work with the Muppets, Linz's most prominent role is performing for the character Walter who was introduced in the 2011 feature film ''The Muppets''. Since 1991, Linz has performed on ''Sesame Street'', where he later took on the roles of Herry Monster and Ernie on ''Sesame Street'' in 2017. Linz recounts receiving the role of Walter as his favorite; "Apart from my wedding day and birth of my children, being cast as Walter was one of the greatest moments of my life. I was beyond happiness." He has performed many characters on children's television shows. Some of his best known performing roles are Snook in '' It's a Big Big World'', Tutter and Pip in ''Bear in the Big Blue House'', Pooh in ''The Book of Pooh'', Tizzy on '' Squeak!'' (season 1), and Theo Lion in '' Between the Lions'', though he has also performed in ''Blue's Room'', ''Sesame Street'',SamBlu-ray, DVD Release: The Muppets DiscDish.co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Matt Vogel (puppeteer)
Matthew James Vogel (born October 6, 1970) is an American puppeteer, actor and director. He is known for his work with Sesame Workshop and the Muppets. He has performed Kermit the Frog since 2017, and has been the full-time performer of Big Bird since 2018 and Count von Count since 2013. Early life Vogel was born on October 6, 1970, in Kansas City, Kansas. As a child, he was a fan of both ''Sesame Street'' and ''The Muppet Show''. He interned at Mesner Puppet Theater where he played his first role of Victor Frankenstein in Paul Mesner Puppets’ production of “Frankenstein” in 1993. After 1993, he moved from Kansas City to New York. He received a BFA in Theatre from The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University of St. Louis, Missouri. Career Vogel began his career with the Jim Henson Company in 1996, joining ''Sesame Street'' as an ensemble puppeteer and understudy performer for Big Bird. In 2018, he became the full-time performer for Big Bird following Caroll ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Rudman
David Rudman (born June 1, 1963) is an American puppeteer, puppet builder, writer, director, and producer known for his involvement with the Muppets and ''Sesame Street''. Rudman currently performs the roles of Scooter, Janice, and Beaker for The Muppets Studio, which were all originated by Richard Hunt, as well as Cookie Monster and Baby Bear on ''Sesame Street''. Career Rudman has been a ''Sesame Street'' performer since 1985—currently performing Cookie Monster (since 2001), Baby Bear and the right head of the Two-Headed Monster (since 1998). He has received four Emmy nominations as Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for his work on ''Sesame Street''. Rudman has also directed several web videos for ''Sesame Street'' such as "Cookie Monster Auditions for Saturday Night Live" and "Conversations with Bert". He has performed in numerous television shows and specials including ''Saturday Night Live'', ''The Colbert Report'', ''The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon'' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bill Barretta
William Barretta is an American puppeteer, producer, writer, director, and actor, best known for his involvement with the Muppets. Barretta performs the Muppet characters Pepe the King Prawn, Bobo the Bear and Johnny Fiama, he also inherited the roles of Rowlf the Dog, The Swedish Chef, and Dr. Teeth after Jim Henson’s death in 1990. He originated the role of Louie, Elmo's dad, on ''Sesame Street''. Career Barretta began performing with The Jim Henson Company in 1991, as the body performer of Earl Sinclair on ''Dinosaurs''. He later developed several new characters on ''Muppets Tonight'', including Pepe the King Prawn, Johnny Fiama, and Bobo the Bear. Barretta has taken over several of Jim Henson's roles, such as Dr. Teeth, Rowlf the Dog, and Swedish Chef. His Muppet film debut was in the 1996 ''Muppet Treasure Island'' as Clueless Morgan. He had several roles in '' Muppets from Space'' (1999) and served as Muppet captain on ''The Muppets'' and '' Muppets Most ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dave Goelz
David Charles Goelz ( born July 16, 1946) is an American puppeteer and actor known for his work with the Muppets. He is best known for performing the characters Gonzo the Great, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, and Beauregard. He joined Jim Henson's Muppet team in 1973 and has been a key performer in many Muppet productions, including '' The Muppet Show'', '' Fraggle Rock'', and various movies and television specials. Early life Goelz was born on July 16, 1946 in Los Angeles, California. He had a childhood interest in puppetry, fascinated by the children's television shows '' Howdy Doody'' and '' Time for Beany''. After graduating from John Burroughs High School in Burbank, he attended the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design, beginning his career as an industrial designer. He applied to work at Walt Disney Imagineering, but was not considered on the basis that they had sufficient industrial designers already employed. Goelz went on to work for companies such as John ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eric Jacobson
Eric Jacobson (born January 15, 1971) is an American puppeteer. He is best known for his involvement with the Muppets, performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as ''Sesame Street'' characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Guy Smiley and the left head of the Two-Headed Monster—all roles that he inherited from the characters' original performers, Frank Oz, Caroll Spinney, Jim Henson and Joey Mazzarino. Since 1994, Jacobson has been a regular performer for ''Sesame Street'', where he has received Daytime Emmy Award and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Since 2001, he has performed as part of the Muppets cast in several feature films and television series, including '' The Muppets' Wizard of Oz'' (2005), '' The Muppets'' (2011), '' Muppets Most Wanted'' (2014)'','' the ABC primetime television series, '' The Muppets'' (2015), and '' The Muppets Mayhem'' (2023). Career Jacobson was born on January 15, 1971, in Fort W ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Steve Whitmire
Steven Lawrence Whitmire (born September 24, 1959) is an American puppeteer, known primarily for his work on '' The Muppets'' and ''Sesame Street''. Beginning his involvement with the Muppets in 1978, Whitmire originated the roles of Rizzo the Rat, Lips, Wembley Fraggle, and Bean Bunny. He also inherited the roles of Kermit the Frog and Ernie after Jim Henson's death in 1990; he performed the characters until 2014 and 2016, respectively. In later years, he also performed Statler and Beaker. As part of the Muppet cast, he has appeared in multiple feature films and television series, performing a variety of characters on ''The Muppet Show'', ''Sesame Street'', and ''Fraggle Rock'' and during such occupations has been employed by The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Workshop, and The Muppets Studio. Career Whitmire first appeared (unpaid) at a pre-show event at Six Flags Over Georgia. He performed with his then alter-ego puppet Otis for the children waiting to see a multimedia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Muppets (2011 Film)
''The Muppets'' is a 2011 American musical comedy film directed by James Bobin from a screenplay written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller. Produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, it is the seventh theatrical film featuring the Muppets. The film stars Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, and Rashida Jones as well as Muppet performers Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, and Peter Linz. Bret McKenzie served as music supervisor, writing four of the film's five original songs, while Christophe Beck composed the score. In the film, devoted Muppet fan Walter, his human brother Gary and Gary's girlfriend Mary help Kermit the Frog reunite the disbanded Muppets, as they must raise $10 million to save the Muppet Theater from Tex Richman, a greedy businessman who plans to demolish the theater to drill for oil. Walt Disney Pictures announced development of a seventh Muppet film in March 2008, with Segel and Stoller as the screenwriter ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |