Comedy
Synopsis
Cast: Jeffrey Tambor, F. Murray Abraham, Rob Schneider, Josh Charles, Ray Liotta, David Arquette, Andie MacDowell, Kathy Griffin, Pat Hingle, Hollywood Hogan, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Bill Barretta, Jerry Nelson, Brian Henson, Kevin Clash, Frank Oz, Veronica Alicino, David Lenthall, Richard Fullerton, Mark Joy, Carl Espy, Deron Barnett, Christina Mullins, Elaine Nalee, Alice Dinnean, John Henson, John Kennedy, Peter Linz, Drew Massey
Producer(s): Jim Henson Productions
Crew: Director - Tim Hill, Writer - Jerry Juhl, Writer - Joey Mazzarino, Writer - Ken Kaufman, Executive Producer - Stephanie Allain, Producer - Martin G. Baker, Executive Producer - Kristine Belson, Co-Producer - Timothy M. Bourne, Producer - Brian Henson, Co-Producer - Alex Rockwell, Original Music - Jamshied Sharifi, Cinematographer - Alan Caso, Film Editor - Richard Pearson, Film Editor - Michael Stevenson, Casting - Allison Cowitt, Casting - Mike Fenton, Production Designer - Stephen Marsh, Art Direction - Alan Cassie, Art Direction - William Davis, Set Decoration - Marthe Pineau
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: 07/14/1999
Running Time: 88 minutes
OFFICIAL SITE
Production Notes:
-Notes provided by Columbia Pictures-
Muppets From Space
Production Information
With enormous enthusiasm and unsinkable optimism, daredevil Gonzo steps into his first starring role in Muppets From Space, a hilarious extraterrestrial adventure about the search for Gonzo's past. On a quest with buddy Rizzo to find his real family, Gonzo discovers that his long-lost relatives are actually aliens from a distant planet. After announcing to the world on Miss Piggy's talk show, "UFOMania," that he is living proof that "we are not alone in the universe," Gonzo becomes the target of paranoid government operative K. Edgar Singer. In the end Gonzo must not only escape the Singer compound, but decide to either board the mother ship and join the family that he has always wanted, or stay on Earth with the friends that he has always known and loved.
Joining Gonzo in the film are his friends Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Rizzo the Rat, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem Band and many of the other beloved classic Muppet characters. Also starring is Jeffrey Tambor (Meet Joe Black, There's Something About Mary). Featured in cameo roles are F. Murray Abraham, David Arquette, Josh Charles, Kathy Griffin, Pat Hingle, Hollywood Hogan, Ray Liotta, Andie MacDowell and Rob Schneider.
Columbia Pictures/Jim Henson Pictures' Muppets From Space is directed by Tim Hill, making his feature film directorial debut from a screenplay by Jerry Juhl and Joseph Mazzarino and Ken Kaufman. The film is produced by Brian Henson and Martin G. Baker and executive produced by Stephanie Allain and Kristine Belson. Co-producers are Timothy M. Bourne and Alex Rockwell. The creative team includes director of photography Alan Caso, editor Michael A. Stevenson, A.C.E., production designer Stephen H. Marsh and costume designer Polly Smith.
About the Production...
What is Gonzo? Where does he come from?
"For years now, Gonzo has wondered what he actually is," says Kermit the Frog. "And we've never quite known. He's sort of a 'whatever,' a little like a turkey, a little like a chicken. We're not quite sure. But now we're going to find out for real and, well, I think it's a big thing, and I think it will make Gonzo very happy."
What spawned the search for Gonzo's origins? A simple little song in The Muppet Movie. In the film, Gonzo sings a beautiful Paul Williams ballad called "I'm Going Back There Someday," about traveling through space to a place that he's only dreamed about. He imagines it being very far away and very strange. "The song was the inspiration for Jerry Juhl for Muppets From Space, which traces Gonzo's origins, what he really is, who his people are and where he comes from," says Stephanie Allain, executive producer of Muppets From Space. "He wrote an incredible script and here we are, three years later, bringing it to the screen."
"Jerry took the idea of the song, put a spin on it to tell the Gonzo story and had a lot of fun bringing in the space genre," added Brian Henson, president, CEO and chairman of the board of The Jim Henson Company. "After all, this is the first time the Muppets have been involved with space on the big screen.
"It was an easy fit. When Gonzo came out of 'The Muppet Show' to portray Charles Dickens in The Muppet Christmas Carol," continues Henson, "we saw a whole new dramatic level to him and a real depth to the character. We introduced him to a new relationship with Rizzo the Rat that produced a great comic team. It was a new discovery within the core group of Muppets, and we thought that with the next movie, perhaps we could build something around them that might be a lot of fun. The other Muppets play a huge role in the film," he adds, "but Muppets From Space is really Gonzo's story."
Allain notes that Muppets From Space harks back to the original Muppet Movie, "where the gang is out in the real world, playing themselves, encountering real people in cameo roles, all having a wonderful time. Audiences are going to love seeing the Muppets play themselves."
"This film really mirrors our real lives," says Kermit, "because I'm not playing anybody else. I'm playing Kermit the Frog, Gonzo is playing Gonzo the Great, Rizzo is just Rizzo the Rat and Piggy is Piggy."
"What's really wonderful about this movie," adds Henson, "and largely what we tried to do, was rediscover the energy from the first Muppet movie. It had a special energy that none of the other movies quite hadit was just simply the real Muppet story. It was Kermit gathering all these other Muppets around him, going to Hollywood and making their dreams come true. We knew we couldn't do that again, but we thought, 'Why not do a sequel?'"
"In Muppets From Space, the gang lives in the real world, in a boarding house where they have to pay rent just like everybody else, and they have jobs," notes executive producer Kristine Belson. "As Gonzo becomes more and more crazed and obsessed with this fantasy that he's an alien, the characters react and respond to him.
"It's a great genre for the Muppets," she adds. "The sci-fi genre is popular and so much fun. It's fresh and funny, and you can poke all kinds of fun at them and do absurd things."
"Now it's 'the Muppets do sci-fi,'" continues Henson, "and, as in some of their past films, it's a nice misfit. The sincerity of science-fiction is an unlikely place to put them, and that's why we thought the story would work really well."
But while it was fun, developing a script for the Muppets was a time-consuming process. "The Muppets are very much like a repertory company of actors," says Henson, "especially in the main characters. There really isn't another group of characters like it in the business. Kermit always has to be Kermit, Miss Piggy has to be Miss Piggy, Fozzie has to be Fozzie, and every movie is a new story for them to play inside. It's a huge writing challenge when you have to protect their characters and yet let them be dynamic enough to tell a new story every time. It's very tricky."
As tricky as it was writing the script, it was even trickier finding a director. Tim Hill, best known for creating, writing and directing Nickelodeon's stop-motion series "Action League Now," was chosen to direct Muppets From Space, his feature film debut. He is only the second director that has been brought in from outside the company to direct a Muppet film.
"The biggest challenge that I faced was actually living up to the other Muppet movies that were already created," says Hill. "Brian Henson, Frank Oz and initially, Jim Henson made some great films, and it's a challenge to try and live up to that."
"Muppet movies are very technical and yet they're comedies," explains Henson. "They only work if the characters work. There's a lot going on at the same time. It requires somebody who has huge enthusiasm for the craft of filmmaking, and Tim Hill is one of those guys."
"We saw the work that he had done for Nickelodeon," adds Belson, "and saw a very interesting, dry, irreverent sense of humor. He had the right energy, experience and sensibility. Tim really seemed to 'get it,' and he has a body of work that is impressive."
"It was also important that we choose a director who would immerse himself in the world of Henson and in the world of Muppets," says Allain. "There are people here who have been doing this job for years and yearsthere is no one better. The director had to be able to work within that framework. Tim was just that person. He had no ego. He just said, 'please, surround me with the good Henson Muppet people... that's all I want.'"
"My experience is a lot different than most of the studios and fits in well with the Muppets," says Hill. "I think the trick is to entertain several sections of an audience at once with these kinds of movies. They are really great at Henson in terms of creating an open atmosphere. You find fun in a lot of different places.
"The puppeteers had a lot of input, because it has to be right," he continues. "They are very good at looking for the technical stuff, and they were a great help. The first thing that happens when you do your first scene in a Muppet movie is that you're not quite sure if the height of the Muppet on the screen is right, or you don't notice there's a flaw like a head or a hand coming in. The puppeteers see it immediately. They've been doing it for years. As a director, a lot of times I'd be looking for the performance or the camera movement and they were looking for the technical stuff. They all work with monitors and see the same things that I see but from a different perspective."
Hill's perspective was aided by production designer Stephen Marsh, who is designing his first Muppet movie. "This was the biggest project I'd ever taken on," says Hill, "and Stephen has a great eye. As for the actual layouts of the sets, I wanted to be able to get my camera into certain places. That can be tough, because first of all, everything is raised four feet off the ground on platforms that are made out of squares. You have to be very careful where the flooring actually is. Stephen and I were able to work together and make it work for the shots."
"The process in designing a Muppet movie is the same as any other movie," explains Marsh. "First you read the script and find out from the director what he's going to do and how he's going to plot these scenes. Then we technically go from there because mechanics comes first in this kind of movie.
"Of course, everything has to be up in the air... everything has to be built on four-foot high platforms that are four feet square so that all of the sets come apart in pieces for the camera and for the puppeteers. Since my job is the look of the movie, I keep away from the Muppets' colors. I kept the colors on the sets much more down from most so that the Muppets jump out. They must always be in the foreground.
"I tried to create a world for the Muppets," continues Marsh. "For example, this is the first time that anyone will see the entire house where the Muppets live. That was scary. What does the interior of the Muppet boarding house look like? We've seen them living in hotels and we've seen bits of their rooms before, but never the whole house. I took those parts of their rooms and used them, but I also had to imagine where they lived and how they lived.
"We built a history for them, and that was great fun. In the bathroom, for instance, we see lots of pieces that belong to each Muppet. In the kitchen, there are various size chairs, various size crockery, as well as pots and pans that all the Muppets will use. Everything comes in different sizes because all the Muppets come in different scales."
To find the furnishings for the Muppet boarding house, set decorator Marthe Pineau traveled to five states looking for furniture. She shopped flea markets, antique shows, antique shops, secondhand stores, even a military base in Jacksonville, N.C.
"It all starts with ideas," says Pineau. "We discuss ideas with the director, the producers, my boss, Stephen Marsh. Then we'll discuss colors and Tim Hill, the director, will give us his feeling on what he wants. We then turn all those feelings and colors into a solid thinga sofa, an arm chair. We choose various fabrics, discuss the size of the pieces and the way that the fabric and textures play off the Muppets and the rest of the room. The patterns and colors have to say who the characters arethey have to help support the characters.
"How do you choose a piece for the Muppet boarding house? The pieces call out to me. I will see a large antiques store full of junk and I'll say 'Okay, I only have 15 minutes in this store. Now what do I see?' And there'll just be this radar that hones in on something buried with just a tiny bit showing and I'll say, 'What's that over there?' and it will be the perfect thing. I don't know how to explain it, but these things are just somehow magically revealed. Sure, it's a lot of experience in hunting and finding things but for this show, there were definitely a lot of serendipitous moments that came about where things literally fell into our hands while we were on the shopping trail."
Muppets From Space casts Kermit in the role of the "fix-it" man. He's the guy who holds everything together in the house. "We tried to express that in his room," says Marsh. "He's very neat, very together. He has very much his own style. He's a straight arrow."
Marsh found Gonzo's room to be a challenge. "He's difficult because he's undergone some changes over the years. In this movie, he's searching, yearning, so we gave him a magical feeling. There's a little bit of a circus quality to his room and some vaudeville background as well. He's always on the lookout, searching for his place. He feels alone."
In designing Gonzo's family environment, Marsh had to rely on the script and his imagination. "His family is sort of 'super Gonzos' from outer space," he says. "We came up with a spaceship that used some sort of futuristic technology but designed it in a 'Gonzo' sort of way. At first, it had to be foreboding with a frightening quality to it. Then, when it lands and opens up, it becomes a Gonzo spaceship. It becomes fun. In fact, it's a touring vaudeville show inside. We all thought long and hard about this one.
"The musical instruments on board the spaceship were ordinary instruments that had been collapsed. Each instrument had to be three earth instruments with a Gonzo look. We made sketches of those until we came up with the wackiest looking ones, and then sent them to the Muppet Workshop in New York," explains Marsh. "All props for the movie that the Muppets touch are made by the Workshop. Each one has to be very light so that the Muppets can carry them."
At the beginning of the movie, Gonzo dreams that he is going onto Noah's Ark. When he gets there, he is turned away. "We based our design on Dore's old Bible pictures, but then gave it a Gonzo twist," says Marsh. "Gonzo would probably think that the Ark was nailed together so we used big nails, but there is a big, sweeping thunderous background which we used as well."
Three exterior sets were used. Shooting took place on a real beach near Wilmington, N.C., where the Muppets drive Gonzo to Cape Doom to meet his family. They arrive in the original Electric Mayhem busfound, customized and restored for use in the film. The scene called for 250 extras, all dressed as 'true believers' watching Gonzo and waiting for his family to appear.
The second location was the exterior of the Muppet boarding house in Wilmington. "We found a house to shoot the exterior," says Marsh, "and we had to change it a bit and fix it down so that it fit in with the Muppets' sensibilities and size. It was very important to find a reasonably small house that had the right scale. We added a roof and a dome which is used extensively in the storyline. Gonzo spends a lot of time up there.
"The third location was a cement factory that we used as the exterior of AAA, a secret government agency that looks for UFOs and aliens. It's where Gonzo is held after being kidnapped by K. Edgar Singer.
"The Muppets have a great deal of whimsy attached," concludes Marsh. "There is also a sort of rambunctious quality that we wanted to try and capture in the design, and there are also the special effects that have to be incorporated into that design. But mostly, it's color, it's light, it's happiness. Keep everything up, keep everything broad and keep everything bright. Keep on budget and create with the most amount of magic."
For all of its magic, the movie doesn't lose sight of its basic appealthe Muppets themselves. And because they are Muppets, director of photography Alan Caso found that he needed to work very closely with Marsh and use an unorthodox approach to lighting and shooting the scenes.
"First of all," says Caso, "because the Muppets are made of cloth, they suck up a lot of light, so if you want to do anything moody, it's very tricky. It takes a lot of light to get them lit properly. Stephen has been great picking out colors for the background sets that make it easier for me to light so that the Muppets jump out. I combine that with the use of bright, hot backlight to separate them. I put the light close to them so that it can then fall off into the background. Each Muppet has to be lit separately, whereas when you're lighting humans, they can just be in the natural light that's in the room.
"Secondly," continues Caso, "the floors are built four feet above the stage floor, so we have to set all the shots on a ladder or a camera that's remotely controlled. You can't actually walk around with a camera to operate. It affects your ability to light and block the scene and to set the shots. This increases the possibility of unwanted material showing up in a shot, like a grip stand or the head of a puppeteer. Then we have to work around the special effects where you always have things to hidethings you have to sort of cheat around. As with the lighting, we pretty much have to single out each Muppet, and because the Muppets are always so low in the frame, we're forever trying to invent angles or places for them so that they're closer to the camera."
Joining the classic characters (Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Rizzo the Rat and Fozzie) in Muppets From Space are four new Muppets making their big screen debuts. They are Pepe the Giant Prawn ("He's very funny and not to be confused with a little shrimp"), Bobo the Bear ("This film could make him a star"), Dr. Phil Van Neuter ("Who's quite insane, a little loopy and not the guy you would want to be your doctor") and Clifford, who's not new to the Muppets but certainly to the big screen ("He's very, very cool").
"The human actors in our movie were here because they truly love the Muppets and wanted to be here," says Belson. "It made for such a nice environment."
Echoes Allain: "We would call agents who, when we made the offer, would say 'Oh, my God, they would love to do this.' A lot of the actors who were here said 'I've loved the Muppets my whole life.' It made such a difference."
"And the puppeteers are such great performers," adds Belson. "Once the actors had the experience of working with them, every single one of them said how delightful it was to be there and interact with the Muppets. It was a great set."
Jeffrey Tambor came on board in the only human lead as the film's villain. "Jeffrey has a special style of comedy that is broad and believable at the same time," says Henson. "We had written the role of K. Edgar Singer as a villain, but by the time Jeffrey got through with it, he was no longer a villain but was so complex and insecure that it was almost lovable, and you forgive him for it."
The other human actors appear in cameos. "Wilmington is two flights away from L.A., New York and London," says Belson. "We found out who truly loves the Muppets because they were willing to come and do anything, in some cases just for a few hours."
Those who did travel and loved the work were:
F. Murray Abraham as Noah, who turns Gonzo away from the Ark when the Muppet can't find a partner or say what he is (Noah does, however, give him an umbrella)...
David Arquette as Dr. Tucker, the mad lab rat scientist who runs the lab rats through their routines
Josh Charles as Barker, one of the 'Men in Black' who samples Miss Piggy's karate
expertise, is tied up and then finally tells her where Gonzo has been taken...
Kathy Griffin as the Female Guard, who chases invisible Muppets down a corridor, gets chased, in turn, by Animal, and falls in love with him (for a moment Animal finally gets a woman)
Pat Hingle as General Luft, K. Edgar Singer's boss and the general behind COVNET whose word for Singer's UFO theory is "Bupkiss!"
Hollywood Hogan as himself on 'the dark side,' who sends Rizzo down the tubes to the lab for tests
Ray Liotta as the AAA Gate Guard, who is accosted by Miss Piggy, misted with Mind Altering spray and 'persuaded' to let her enter AAA, the secret government headquarters holding Gonzo
Andie MacDowell as Shelley Snipes, anchor on the TV show "UFOMania," the job coveted by Miss Piggy
and Rob Schneider as Sandy Martin, TV producer of "UFOMania."
While not a traditional musical, Muppets From Space has its own special tunes. "All the other Muppet movies have been traditional musicals with five or six big production numbers, but this story just didn't feel like a musical," says Allain. "We decided to come up with something different. That's when Tim Hill started us off on a quest."
"We kicked around several ideas, and then Tim suggested funk," adds Belson. "We started listening to these great funk songs from the '70s that were perfect."
"We just decided we were going to go for it," says Allain. "We have the Commodores, Earth, Wind & Fire, Billy Preston, the O.J.s and Kool and the Gang. We have a big production number where all the Muppets are singing 'Celebration.' It's pretty great."
"Muppets From Space has a vibe about it that, I think, out of all the other Muppet movies we've made, is closest to the original Muppet Movie," says Allain. "The idea of them outdoors and in the real world... it's a lot funkier."
"All of the movies have their different charms," adds Belson. "They have adventure and emotions and they're funny. But this movie rocks."
"At what point do you stop doing one thing?" questions Henson. "We decided that we really needed to try something fresh, something completely different, and go for a little more adult irreverence that still works for the whole family. So this is a very different approach. We try and change and do different things all the time with the Muppets. That's the way to keep them fresh."
About the Muppets...
Gonzo the Great aspires to be a great artist. He is a virtuoso-in-progress whose 'art' is to perform outrageous daredevil stunts. Whether he is balancing a piano on his nose or dancing barefoot with a wedge of unpasteurized cheese, Gonzo approaches each of his artistic endeavors with enormous enthusiasm, grand theatrical showmanship and a complete disregard for personal safety. Gonzo lives his entire life on the cutting edge. (For instance, his girlfriend, Camilla, is a chicken.)
Gonzo's first occupation was that of a traveling plumber, but his burning desire was to travel to Bombay, India, and become a movie star. When told that the place to go to become rich and famous is Hollywood, he responded, "Sure, if you want to do it the easy way!"
Gonzo never quite made it to Bombay. Instead, his particular talent for combining high culture with low humorreciting Hamlet's soliloquy while being shot out of a cannon, for examplewas quickly noted by Kermit the Frog, who gave Gonzo his very own spot on the first episode of "The Muppet Show." The rest is history.
After supporting roles in The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan, Gonzo took on the role of Charles Dickens in the 1992 hit feature film The Muppet Christmas Carol. His next venture was Muppet Treasure Island.
Rizzo the Rat has risen from the sewers to the stars. After more than 10 years with the Muppets, one can safely say that Rizzo the Rat is one of the most famous rats in the world (not that there are all that many famous rats in the world).
Originally from the sewers of Brooklyn, Rizzo knew at an early age that show business would become his life when his family took him to the Passaic premiere of Willard. "I saw all dose rats on da big screen and thought to myself 'hey, I can do dat,'" says Rizzo. "Besides rats are the only ones who actually enjoy studio commissary food."
For several years, Rizzo traveled from theater to theater, waiting in the wings (and out back of the kitchen) for his big break. When he arrived at The Muppet Theater (home of "The Muppet Show") in 1980, he knew he had found it. It was here where Rizzo was "discovered" by Kermit the Frog. "It's not like we were actively looking for rats," remembers Kermit. "It was just cheaper to hire him than to call an exterminator."
Rizzo worked his way up with the Muppets ("When you're a rat, there's no place to go but up," says Rizzo), first working backstage, then eventually appearing in sketches and musical numbers. He made his film debut in The Great Muppet Caper and was featured, along with several of his rat friends, in The Muppets Take Manhattan.
With The Muppet Christmas Carol, Rizzo took on his first major role alongside The Great Gonzo as narrator of the story. His next feature film was Muppet Treasure Island.
In spite of his celebrity status, Rizzo vows not to let fame affect him. He does, however, see some advantages. "For years as a struggling actor, I've eaten in alleys behind some of the dumpiest dives around," he says. "Now, I get ta eat behind some real nice places."
Will he ever become tired of being recognized on the streets? "When you travel in the sewers," he says, "you'd be surprised how few people recognize you."
Kermit the Frog is an international star of the highest magnitude. Kermit began his climb to the top of the amphibian elite from humble beginnings. Born one of several thousand children in a southern swamp, Kermit's life began swimmingly. His early years were typical and uneventful. The most notable event in his adolescence was his transformation from tadpole to frog... but that's another tail.
With only his talent, his banjo and a song in his heart, a young, green Kermit headed out to make his way in the big world of show business. His first stop was Washington, D.C. There he starred in a local television show, "Sam and Friends," which earned Kermit his first Emmy.
In 1956, Kermit made his network television debut on Steve Allen's "Tonight Show." This led to many more television appearances and finally his big breakin 1969, Kermit, along with his Muppet friends, joined the cast of a new show called "Sesame Street."
Seven years later, the primetime hit television series "The Muppet Show" gained Kermit a legion of older fans and catapulted the mild-mannered frog to superstardom in more than 100 countries. Kermit's "Muppet Show" success led to a string of feature filmsThe Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Muppet Christmas Carol (where he took on the pivotal role of Bob Cratchit), Muppet Treasure Island (he starred as Captain Smollett)and the ultimate tribute, a Kermit the Frog balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Kermit also recently starred in the ABC primetime series "Muppets Tonight."
In 1993, Kermit added the title of author to his long list of credits with the publication of One Frog Can Make a Difference: Kermit's Guide to Life in the '90s. Other projects include the album "Kermit Unpigged," where he sang duets with such recording artists as Vince Gill, Linda Ronstadt and Don Henley, and, most recently, a duet with Tony Bennett on the classic crooner's album "The Playground." Kermit also starred in a direct-to-video release of hilarious spoofs of classic fairy tales called Muppet Classic Theater.
Kermit's resume reads like a "who's who" in show business. He has guest-hosted "The Tonight Show," met the Queen of England, appeared with Ted Koppel on "Nightline" and donned suspenders to guest-host CNN's international talk show, "Larry King Live." He has even addressed the students at Oxford University as the first amphibian ever to be afforded such an honor. Kermit also recently appeared in a nationwide 'Got Milk' milk moustache ad campaign.
As he looks to the future, does Kermit show any signs of slowing down? "Slow down?" he asks. "I just got started!"
Miss Piggy Although her millions of fans around the world can't remember a time when Miss Piggy wasn't a superstar, the glamorous leading lady has not always been in the pink.
Born and raised on a farm, little Miss Piggy enjoyed a typically happy agricultural childhood. Tragedy struck when she was six and her beloved father was killed in a local tractor accident. Never close to her mother, Piggy was brokenhearted and found solace only in her dream that would day she would become a star.
Piggy left home as a teenager, having graduated from charm school where she became the perfect lady she knew she was meant to be. She was frightened and alone, but she mustered her courage and managed to find employment selling gloves in a department store. Unfortunately, her salary was too meager to cover her extensive wardrobe costs and, strapped for funds, Piggy was forced to pose for certain adsone of them for a bacon productabout which it is still too painful for her to speak. Despite her difficult struggle, however, she emphasizes that she never took her clothes off for a job.
Eventually, Piggy's luck began to change, and she got frequent work as a hand model in commercials. She had acquired numerous admirers by then and protected herself from the most overzealous of them by completing a correspondence course called "Karate by Cassette."
Continuing to work towards her life long ambition of becoming a famous actress and model, Piggy auditioned often and finally entered the beauty contest that was to change her life forever. There she met her adored frog, Kermit. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Miss Piggy moved to London and went to work in the chorus of "The Muppet Show." Before long she was the lead chanteuse and femme fatale and soon her career expanded to include television specials, home videos, records and books. Her how-to volume of advice on absolutely everything, Miss Piggy's Guide to Life, became a national bestseller and the Divine Miss P's memorable face has been featured on the cover of countless magazines too numerous to mention (all right... Life and People to name a few). Her book, In the Kitchen with Miss Piggy, was released by Time/Life
