It was recently reported that “Tron: Legacy” director Joseph Kosinski got some major league help for his forthcoming, highly anticipated film. Not only was David Fincher giving him notes on the rough cut of his film but “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille” writer/director Brad Bird and “Toy Story 3” writer Michael Arndt worked with the film’s original writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz to provide fresh script pages for six days of reshoots in June to improve “character, emotion, and theme.” That’s not a bad group of people to get to help you out on your debut feature film.
Well, it looks like Disney has once again utilized the Pixar talent pool, as they recently hosted a table read for “The Muppets” (formerly known as “The Greatest Muppet Movie Of All Time”) written by Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel, and starring Segel as well. So just who was there? From Team Pixar it was a fanboy’s wet dream with filmmakers John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Michael Arndt, Bob Peterson and president Ed Catmull all lending their input on the consultations. From Team Disney, Muppets director James Bobin was there most likely with the film’s producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman along with Segel (though THR seems to be unclear on this point).
This does appear to be something of a trend emerging at Disney — cross pollinating/getting input for their forthcoming films from Pixar — and frankly, why not? Both “Tron: Legacy” and “The Muppets” are undoubtedly being eyed as central moneymakers for the studio (along with all spinoff and licensing opportunities they present) so it makes sense they would want to get the best film out there that they can. We only wish the rest of Hollywood would put that much consideration into their tentpoles.
The film has been scheduled for a December 25, 2011 date by Buena Vista/Disney and might potentially be a cameo-heavy affair. One draft of the script we read contained brief appearances by the likes of George Clooney, Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Chris Rock, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Mel Brooks, Matt Damon, Norah Jones, Sarah Jessica Parker and Ben Stiller. Obviously, things don’t always turn out as planned so don’t be surprised when only half of these actors eventually turn up.
Production was initially slated to begin this summer, but the film is still not officially greenlit, and with rewrites expected, Disney will probably want to be assured that the script is where it needs to be before flipping the switch.