Jason Segel's involvement with Cheapest

I initially brought this up on another thread, but thought it deserved a thread of its own as opposed to getting buried in all the sidetalk...

First of all - a recap of some things that are known for sure...

* Jason Segel and Nick Stoller have been generating lots of buzz in the media for awhile now pertaining to how they were working on a script for the next Muppet movie with the goal of providing them a vehicle to get the brand fully relauched under Disney. After working on several drafts, they turned in a script to Disney called "The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made" (or "Greatest" for short as i discuss that script here). The script was also seen by reviewers at Ain't It Cool News and Tough Pigs who wrote reviews on the script.

* The media buzz on this has been substantial with occasional reminders from one outlet or another about this happening even though there had been no word on an official greenlight from Disney. Statler and Waldorf even showed up as surprise guests on Jimmy Kimmel to heckle a Jason Segel interview (which of course mentioned his involvement working on the script).

* After a long period of anticipation and speculation, an official announcement was made regarding the next Muppet movie at D23. The announcement was that the next movie will be "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made" (which will be hereby referred to as "Cheapest" for short).

* "Cheapest", despite that title's very close similarity to "Greatest" is a different concept and indeed one that has been floating around since the mid-80s (long before Jason Segel thought about writing for the Muppets). The plots of both film ideas are different.

Now here's where things get a little murky...

When all the news was coming out of D23, reporters (both general entertainment reporters and Muppet-site owners) were writing that the next Muppet movie was announced at D23 - the Jason Segel-penned Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made.

BUT - what i'm wondering (and this will be largely directed to some of you who were actually there) is...WAS Jason Segel's name ever actually MENTIONED as being the writer at D23 when this was announced - or were the various press people just assuming that to be the case. A lot of people covering the event were already aware of Segel's Greatest script and were probably anticipating that the announcement about it officially happening would occur at D23 going into it. Because of all the previous buzz about Segel writing the next Muppet film and the similarities in titles - has Jason's involvement largely been assumed by the media instead of ever actually having been announced or confirmed?

I actually think this could be a very likely scenario. It's possible that not only is Greatest on the shelf for now but also that Segel may not really be that involved with the team writing Cheapest.

We've seen things like this happen before when shoddy reporting or things based on assumptions get picked up by fellow members of the press and reported over and over again as fact. Case in point, during the reporting on the buzz surrounding Segel/Stollar's "Greatest" script, one reporter posited that if the film was successful relaunching the Muppet franchise that a likely next step would be another weekly network Muppet tv series. Soon after, various entertainment reporters picked up on that and started falsely announcing "New Muppet television series on the way."

I know we're all excited about a new theatrical Muppet movie and a lot of details and fine tuning of the various news coming out of D23 has been largely overshadowed by the latest Kismet the Toad controversy. But i'd like to try to pull the brakes a little on a speeding runaway train and try to get back a bit to the source of this big news. Was Jason Segel ever REALLY announced as being the writer of Cheapest or has this largely been a runaway assumption by press/reporters/Twitter feeders/etc which has snowballed into being continually and erroneously reported as fact by everyone talking about "the Jason Segel-penned Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made"?

For all we really know Cheapest may be all being done by the longtime Henson writers (Lewis, Thatcher, etc) and not have anything to do with Segel at all.

Here's what I'm thinking... and hypothetically.

Let's say that they are still involved with the movie and are changing the title and moving stuff around. It could very well be that their script, while not totally passed on, could have been blended with the outlines of the other script, with finalization from Muppet writers. Similar to Fraggle Rock and how Ahmet Zappa wrote the treatment, but Corey Edwards wrote (is writing) the final script.

Now, if they aren't involved, I have a hunch that Disney at least got their message of wanting a Muppet film. So, if they didn't have their script, they could be involved in some other way... possibly as consultants, cameos... could be anything, could be nothing.

That said, I wonder if the fact that their script was leaked has anything to do with the change. I recall Corey wasn't pleased at ALL when his initial passing was leaked. He was very vocal about it too. Now, some people have read the whole script, and we've ruined the surprise ending. Now... here's a thought... maybe, just maybe they LEFT the script out of disgust that all their surprises were revealed, and the fans essentially read evwerything that was gonna happen. So either they left the project completely, or they're still involved with this one, but they haven't been mentioned at the D23. Were ANY script writers mentioned in any of their movie announcements?

Often times in Hollywood, multiple scripts hired by a studio for a film in development will be pooled together and amalgamated into one singular script...often they will hire one final writer to oversee such a potporri. So it would not surprise me if "Greatest" was scrapped(I personally was not too thrilled with a lot of elements from the script) yet elements taken and used for what will become "Cheaptest"...piggybacking on the original mid 80's film premise.

Of course, it is also possible this will have no elements of the Segal/Stoller script, and their services won't be used. I never see any "Muppet" project listed on IMDB or wikipedia for either of these guys...and again, possible and likely the script is being written in house. Though one never knows...

Darn good thread DW! And so good to see you posting regularly man!

beaker said:

Of course, it is also possible this will have no elements of the Segal/Stoller script, and their services won't be used. I never see any "Muppet" project listed on IMDB or wikipedia for either of these guys...and again, possible and likely the script is being written in house. Though one never knows...

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Of course... we're talking about wikipedia and IMDB.... and those sources aren't too reliable. Even the entertainment section isn't all that trustworthy with fake episodes of shows, fake movies, the whole Gadgetinis scam... Wasn't there a listing for "Untitled Muppet Project" on IMDB for a while?

I do wonder if the script was eventually turned down for this one. That's all I'd like to know. I could see them try to offer the two a cameo or something at one point.

Neither in the Walt Disney Studios Presentation or the Muppet Presentation did they EVER mention Jason Segel. I was surprised because these are the opportunities to name drop. THE ONLY INFORMATION GIVEN regarding this film was. "We are working on a new movie. "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made"."
There were absolutely NO extra details. In the Muppet Presentation they said "this title logo was drawn up for us by the Muppets" but that's not really of any relevance. No timeline, no release date, no names, no plot. NOTHING.

I think that if Segel were still on board, we would have heard his name several times during both presentations

I'm not surprised they arent making Segels script if it was leaked, if that is the case. There are loads of scenarios tho - this could be Segels script and not Jerry Juhls but they just thought to use Juhls title, or it could be a mixture of both scripts, or it could be Juhls and have nothing to do with Segel.

The possibilities are endless really until they announce anything else. I am surprised they didn't name drop Segel if he is involved though.

I know one thing. I'd have the biggest smile on my face and a tear on my eye to see the credits read: Written by Jerry Juhl.

Wow, what a tribute that would be! To actually use whatever work Jerry put into it, and give him a credit and all of that. Fantastic!

Thanks RockSTAR Girl, even though everyone will have questions for awhile about if/how Segel will be involved, you basically answered/confirmed what i was wondering. Segel's name never came up at D23 and was added afterwards by lazy reporters going by assumptions rather than fact-checking as being involved. Not that i expect a lot of further reports (by Muppet sites and general media) to get this right all of a sudden now by at least some people who read this forum and this thread will now know better.

Luke said:

I'm not surprised they arent making Segels script if it was leaked, if that is the case.

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I think I mentioned that earlier. I could see either Disney passing on a leaked script, or both writers getting ticked off and leaving the project. Corey was pretty upset when his FR script was leaked... and it was an early early draft. He either came here directly or put it on his blog, not only denouncing the act, but clearing up all the misinformation that was going down at the time. e.i The lack of Mokey, the lack of Gorgs... all that stuff.

And let's not forget that Segal is a pretty busy guy... he's on How I met Your Mother and like 3 movies a year or so. If neither of them are involved, it could also be that they're too busy to work on an actual script any further.

And here's a new theory I'm thinking of... maybe, just maybe, Disney passed on the script because an older one that never got into full development is just the classic deal they know the fans want.

Drtooth said:

And here's a new theory I'm thinking of... maybe, just maybe, Disney passed on the script because an older one that never got into full development is just the classic deal they know the fans want.

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Yea i think i've mentioned it before but i'd think when Disney is trying to push the Muppets as this classic iconic brand being bought back that they can get a lot of promotional mileage out of billing the movie as the one Jim Henson started before he died. It's quite a nice little story to bring out in the press .. not that i'd think thats the only reason why they would choose it but everything helps.

That is, if it is that same movie script.