If you’ve got a problem with phantom characterisation and dangling plotlines, who ya gonna call? Having already stepped in to give feedback on Tron Legacy, and by all accounts punch up a couple of the film’s key emotional beats significantly, the top dogs at Pixar have been put into action on Jason Segel and James Bobin’s upcoming Muppet movie. It’s been Hollywood Reported that on Wednesday, members of the creative crew of the Muppet picture were at Pixar’s Emeryville campus where they took part in a table read and feedback session with Pixar’s best and brightest. The consultation panel is listed as including: John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Michael Arndt, Bob Peterson and president Ed Catmull but the story then says: Docter is a particularly avid Muppets fan, so he almost certainly was one of the attendees He was there/he was “almost certainly” there. The reporter doesn’t appear too sure on precisely who was at the session. They didn’t list Brain Trustee Lee Unkrich, which makes sense as he’s been here in the UK promoting Toy Story 3. Then, in terms of naming the visitors, they’re pretty darn sure Segel was there, but not so committed to who was with him: Muppets director James Bobin and producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman were likely in the room along with Segel. They’re right, that is likely. But is it true? I wouldn’t be surprised if these Pixar consultation meetings don’t go down in legend, and are recounted decades from now in exaggerated, highly dramatic revisions. Everybody credits Rich Ross, Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, and Sean Bailey, the studio’s head of production, with encouraging this kind of talent pooling. One has to wonder why nobody else had thought of it. For the record, I thought the script for this Muppet picture was pretty good as it was. I’d be very surprised if the film doesn’t turn out great – especially now.
