Frank Oz talks Muppets and directing with Leonard Maltin at SXSW
The Muppet brand built Frank Oz's career, and the Frank Oz brand was built on the magic of the late Jim Henson.
Frank Oz and Leonard Maltin talk Muppets, Jim Henson and directing at SXSW
For a man perhaps most known for impersonating a pig and a short green Jedi, Oz has had a decidedly more rounded career than just moving arms and legs of the Muppets.
Oz spoke with film critic Leonard Maltin in an hour-long conversation at SXSW that touched on much of what shaped his universe as a performer and director, with a huge dose of the fuzzy creatures that shaped people’s childhoods. Oz was at SXSW to promote a documentary, Muppet Guys Talking, which has five of the original Muppet performers talking about their careers and the visionary leadership of Henson.
Oz is most famously the voice and performer of Miss Piggy, Yoda, Sam the Eagle, Bert, Grover and Fozzie Bear, and many people at his SXSW discussion were delighted to hear the tales of how Oz’s career was shaped by Muppet mastermind Henson. But his brand of entertainment grew into more than just a Muppet when Henson tagged him as a co-director for the fantasy film The Dark Crystal.
“He said, ‘I think it would be better…that’s all he cared about. He knew I had strengths that he didn’t have. He gave me credit as co-director,” said the humble Oz.
Oz recalled growing up with Flemish and Dutch parents who experimented with puppetry, and his way of promoting his expression beyond his shyness was to be behind a puppet. He started by performing for $25 at birthday parties and fairs, then had a meeting with Henson and his wife, who asked Oz to come with them to New York when he was just 19. That’s when he finally felt truly creative.
“Jim was the real person who inspired me,” said Oz with a longing respect. “He asked me to come because he needed a performer.”
He recalled that he had low self-esteem at the time, and Henson nearly gave up on him, but he persevered, mostly because Henson forced him to keep performing and finding his voice. It was that drive from Henson that fueled many of the early Muppet performers.
“Jim was they key figure not only in our professional lives but in our personal lives. We were all inspired by Jim,” said Oz, noting Henson’s work ethic and his kindness.
Maltin noted that the Muppet Show was amazing in that it was able to bring in A-list stars to sing and act alongside these creatures, from Bob Hope to Peter Sellers to John Denver, and he asked what it was like to have them on set.
“All the guest stars are the same. From Beverly Sills to Dom Deluise to Rudolph Nureyev, once they were in the environment in where they supported. Once they believed in the characters, (it was easy to work with them).”
Maltin brought up to the crowd the fact that he was sitting there talking with Miss Piggy and Yoda, which led to a wave of applause.
“The reason people are touched by the Muppets is that we represent your childhood,” said Oz, who recalled a woman asking for an autograph once and couldn’t even speak because of how influential the characters were to her upbringing. “She said ‘Fozzie is very important in my life’,” and went on to describe that the courage Fozzie showed by getting up on stage even when he continued to bomb led to her overcoming her learning disability and becoming valedictorian.
Oz talked about Henson’s constant push to break new ground and move the characters forward – that nothing was impossible. Even with Dark Crystal, which was much darker than any previous Muppet outing, pushed the envelope, especially for what kids could handle.
“Jim felt it was healthy for kids to be really scared,” he said.
At one point, Oz brought up fellow Muppeteer Dave Goelz, who helped describe the technical wizardry that went into bringing the Muppets to life on the big screen through remote-controlled balloons, which wowed the crowd even more.
Ultimately, Oz’s career went from famous Muppet characters to director of movies like the Dark Crystal to Muppets Take Manhattan to Little Shop of Horrors, all successes. The conversation with Maltin, which pulled back the curtain on the Muppet universe, showed that characters can be your best form of marketing – ones that truly connect and create bonds. And he owed it all to Henson.
“Jim – that’s where it all came from. He never shared his philosophy verbally. We followed him because he was a moral compass.”