THE MUPPETS was one of my absolute favourite films this year. It was funny, it was cute and it had a perfect balance between adult and kid-friendly humour. One of the reasons why the film worked so well was having Jason Segel as the lead. While Segel has proven that he can be hilarious in raunchier fare like FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, he was brilliant in this because of his earnestness and sincerity. That’s why I’m having a very hard time picturing Ricky Gervais (THE OFFICE) replacing Segel as the main human lead in THE MUPPETS 2. Nevertheless, that seems to be exactly what is happening…
Ty Burrell (MODERN FAMILY) recently replaced Christoph Waltz as the bad guy Interpol agent, and now reports have Ricky Gervais in negotiations to take the lead role. Gervais did have a guest spot on Sesame Street and filmed a cameo for the original film that ended up on the cutting room floor, but I still have a hard time trying to picture how his humour will work in a feature-length Muppets film, even if it is scaled down, especially as his sarcastic brand of ‘funny’ just doesn’t gel with me. Gervais’ humour often seems slightly cynical and if there is one thing that The Muppets aren’t, it’s cynical.
Let us know what you think about this development. We’ll have it on THN as soon as the rumours become official. The film will be directed by James Bobin (who also helmed Part 1). Bobin will co-write the film with Nicholas Stoller (FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT) who wrote the first film alongside Jason Segel.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
