Jim Henson, the man behind The Muppets, is getting a documentary. Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are teaming up with Disney Original Documentary to bring Henson’s story to the screen. This news comes to us from Deadline.
Imagine Documentaries, a division of Howard and Brian’s Imagine Entertainment, is producing the documentary. According to a release, the documentary is being created “with the full participation and cooperation of the Henson family, and will present a fascinating and intimate look at Jim’s illustrious career creating treasured characters and revolutionizing television and film. With never-before-seen-personal archives, the film will give audiences and exciting first-person view into the live of one fo the world’s most inspiring and iconoclastic creators through exclusive home movies, photographs, sketches and Henson’s personal diaries.”
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Ron Howard himself will be directing and producing the film. Producers will be Imagine Documentaries Sara Bernstein and Justin Wilkes. Joining them will be Margaret Bodde (George Harrison: Living in the Material World). Howard had this to say in the announcement:
Executive producers on the project will be Imagine Entertainment’s Michael Rosenberg and Jarjon Javadi. Mark Monroe is currently penned as writer-producer with Paul Crowder joining him as editor-producer. Henson’s family expressed their own excitement for the upcoming project.
Jim Henson: From Felt to Fame
Jim Henson with Sam and Friends
It’s hard to talk about Jim Henson without mentioning the contributions he made to the world of television and puppetry as an art form. His career in television started small with Sam and Friends for the Washington DC area, then moved onward and up. Henson’s career was always about moving forward and pushing boundaries, creating various television specials, collaborating on Sesame Street, creating The Muppet Show, and then feature films such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Henson passed away in 1990 at age 53 due to bacterial pneumonia.
While Jim’s story has been told through various television documentaries and specials, such as The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, it’s been long overdue to finally have a feature-length documentary celebrating his long and colorful career. While no release date or distribution news has been announced, everyone involved in the project seems ready to go for this exciting story. Javadi, VP of Disney Original Documentary, expressed such eagerness:
