Miss Piggy, Kermit The Frog and all the gang are back for The Muppets, the first Muppet movie in over a decade. Written by and starring How I Met Your Mother actor Jason Seigel, it tells the story of a Muppet-loving pair of brothers who visit Hollywood, only to find the Muppet Studios under threat of closure. They must raise $10million to save the studio, and they decide to put on a show to raise the money.
This is their seventh movie, and the fuzzy troupe have featured in various hit TV shows over the years. Why is it that they stay so popular? “That is a great question, if we knew the secret of the we would have been back before twelve years," said Kermit.
“I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we stayed true to who we are but yet we have tried to evolve with the times, you know we have never been interested in becoming like background guys who are turned into CGI, we have always wanted to be real and, in the real world.”
One downside of being a famous on-screen couple is that the pair have been typecast as themselves.
"I tried out a couple of roles over the years that I did not get,” Kermit said sadly. “There was Yoda - right body type wrong ears, there was the Incredible Hulk, right colour wrong body type, so you know it is tough."
Miss Piggy, however, is far happier with her role choices over the years. "You know I really don't mind playing myself, I rather prefer it actually,” she shrugged. “There is no one else who can actually play me as well and I don't have to do any research for the role so I kind of like that part too."
The new film has been targeted by US right wing news channel Fox News, which accused the Muppets of vilifying corporate America because the villain of the tale is oil baron Chris Cooper.
“They were concerned about us having some prejudice against oil companies and I can tell you that is categorically not true,” Kermit responds. “Besides, if we has a problem with oil companies why would we have spent the entire film driving around in a gas guzzling Rolls Royce, it makes no sense."
"It is almost as laughable as accusing Fox News of being news," Miss Piggy added.
The Muppets is in cinemas now.
