Sorry, Folks, Elmo Wasn’t Available for ‘The Muppets’
We'll be doing our review for "The Muppets" tomorrow, so we've been careful not to say anything about the Disney film on the site until then. But apparently there's one secret that's OK to let out of the bag: Elmo's not in the movie. This isn't exactly a scandal -- he wasn't part of the original "Muppet Show," and, hey, he had his own movie this year -- but it may surprise some people because he's easily one of the most popular Muppet characters. Well, it turns out the Disney reboot wasn't trying to shun him -- it was Elmo who shunned them.
Jason Segel, who starred in and co-wrote "The Muppets," mentioned to Ryan Seacrest in an interview last week (that The Hollywood Reporter tracked down) that he had fully planned on including Elmo in the adventure. But he got the cold shoulder:
"I wrote a scene where we were trying to get Elmo to be the celebrity host of The Muppet Show, and a team of lawyers tells us no," Segel said .... "[Then] that's what actually happened -- a team of lawyers told us Elmo wasn't available."
OK, fine, it wasn't really Elmo who put the kibosh on the cameo. It was lawyers. This is because, even though they're all known as Muppets, the individual characters are controlled by different entities. Apparently, Disney doesn't have the rights to "Sesame Street" characters, which is why the movie features the "Muppet Show" crew, which are controlled by the studio. So while a lot of people are thrilled that "The Muppets" is getting the gang back together, you should probably prepare yourself for the fact that it's not getting the whole gang back together.
'The Muppets': Where's Elmo? [The Hollywood Reporter]
