Would you see a movie where Miss Piggy is murdered, turned into bacon, and force fed to Kermit the Frog? Of course you would you sick bastard. But that will never happen…
Instead, and almost as cool, we may soon be seeing the Muppets go noir in The Happytime Murders. Per The Hollywood Reporter, The Jim Henson Co. recently acquired the spec script by Todd Berger that takes place in a world where people and puppets co-exist (which is standard for The Muppets already.) Puppets are second-class citizens in this society though, and when the puppet cast of an old children’s TV show start turning up murdered the case falls to a puppet ex-cop turned detective with a drinking problem. (I would think the problem relates to the fact that he has no throat…) Between this project and the in-development Muppet Movie from Jason Segal, the Jim Henson legacy is destined for a resurgence.
My immediate reaction is that this sounds awesome. The Muppets officially starring in some decidedly adult fare? What’s not to love? Sure they won’t go as far as Peter Jackson did in Meet the Feebles which featured hardcore, inter-species, felt-on-felt sex action. And it probably won’t be as racy as Broadway’s Avenue Q. And it’s awfully reminiscent of Robert Rankin’s novel, The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse, which featured the murders of beloved nursery rhyme characters. And I would expect all original Muppets as opposed to any familiar faces getting mixed up in the murders. (I think we’d all agree it’d be okay if they killed Elmo though.) But still, it sounds pretty damn cool.
What do you think about Muppet noir?
