The Muppets and Sesame Street puppeteer on the film that has had hardened hacks blubbing into their notebooks
So, Kevin, Being Elmo is a film that will "connect across generations and delight viewers across the world for years to come". (1) How does it feel to have a movie about your life described like that?
It's nice! (2) The main reason I wanted to do it was just to go behind the scenes of a puppeteer's career; it's really a story about all the puppeteers I've known.
The screening I went to had a room full of hardened film hacks blubbing into their notebooks. What do you get out of watching it?
It's about a dream coming true. I wanted to be a puppeteer when I was 10 years old, then I created a character that became really popular. It's like a Cinderella story. Or a Cinderfella story.
You grew up in Baltimore, best known here for its poverty and gangland homicide as seen in The Wire. What drew you to Sesame Street?
The neighbourhood that I lived in didn't really have any of that. Neighbours would give me clothes they were thinking of throwing away and I would use them for puppets. In school, there was a teacher whose parents lived near a fur mill. He would come back with a plastic bag full of fur. Everyone knew I had this different type of talent and they were all excited about it. So I had a connection with a close-knit neighbourhood like Sesame Street.
You weren't the first puppeteer to have a pop at Elmo, were you?
Richard Hunt (3) did him for a couple of shows. He didn't like him and the writers were concerned about the direction Richard was going in with the character, and so Richard gave it to me (4).
There's a lot of debate in the film about who he's based on: your mother, your father – or if it's just your soul inside him.
I think it's really the depiction of a young child, with that edge a Muppet is supposed to have. We all have our characters in us, but we're adults. Everyone wants to be happy all the time and I think that's what everybody gravitates to with Elmo's personality – they'd like to be like him 24/7.
We've alluded to Elmo's universal popularity; was there any Muppet jealousy on set?
Not at all.
Not even Oscar (5)?
Well, he's grouchy with everyone. He doesn't discriminate.
The show has always been seen as a bit of a bastion of multiculturalism.
Yeah, James Earl Jones was the first celebrity they had on. (6)
Is it frustrating to have all these stars talk to your hand instead of your face?
No. I'm a puppeteer first and foremost if I had wanted to show my face, I would have been an actor.
How easy was it to get Kofi Annan doing the alphabet? He looks kind of rigid on screen.
We were very excited that he knew it! It was a lot of fun. He was a wonderful man to meet. He was actually on his way to receive the Nobel peace prize, so we were very honoured that he decided to stop by and hang out with us.
How did Katy Perry's cleavage (7) fit with childlike fun?
I directed it [as well] and felt as though it was not in keeping with what Sesame Street represents. It was an outfit that could be used by an ice-skater or a ballerina.
Being Elmo is out today
(1) According to the Hollywood Reporter. (2) Clash's laugh is four octaves lower than Elmo's. (3) Hunt did Scooter and shared Miss Piggy with Frank Oz on The Muppets. (4) Hunt "tossed him on Kevin's lap" during a moment of acrimony. (5) Dustbin-dwelling grouch. (6) In 1970, Mississippi voted to ban Sesame Street because of its "highly integrated cast of children". (7) A video of a scantily clad Perry duetting with Elmo on Hot N Cold leaked online. The item was dropped after parents objected.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/apr/26/kevin-clash-elmo-child-muppet
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