The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made has removed some titular hype and will now simply be called The Muppets, and the main Muppet character will be a new Muppet named Walter who is trying to help the people folk revive the Muppet Studios.
But until now, the voice of Walter has been a mystery, but we are told that Peter Linz will be giving the enthusiastic new Muppet a voice.
Wait, who? Not a celebrity name? I don’t know this guy. Of course you don’t – he is the puppeteer handling the character.
Jason Segel recently spoke to MTV where he revealed that Peter Linz will be providing the voice of Walter. Who is Peter Linz, you may ask? Linz is Walter’s puppeteer, and, according to Segel, every muppet will be voiced by their handler. The actor/writer also said that it’s unlikely that we’ll see the film in 3D, as the “goal is make it like the 1970s, early ’80s Muppet movies.” He says the he may end up being wrong, but he personally doesn’t want it.
I really like that they are going with an “unknown” to voice the characters.
Celebrity voice actors are just as much a part of marketing the film as it is actual talent. I am sure there are countless capable voice actors that could bring just as much talent and expression to a character but you wouldn’t care who they were. But they don’t have much to market animation without names to splash across the poster, so why not over pay a celebrity to do it?
Same goes for Muppets. And I imagine it is a lot less work making the Muppet look like he is talking when the guy controlling the mouth is also doing the words.
I also applaud Segel saying he doesn’t want the film in 3D. He even admits that he may get trumped on that, but clearly the movie isnt using 3D cameras to film it, so if the studio insists, it will be post production 3D. We know how the fans build anticipation hearing that. Anyone who reads this site knows that I am not opposed to 3D and I don’t think it is a gimmick, but it still has the potential to BE a gimmick.
There are just some films that I see no need to make in 3D. Muppets is one of them.
