Brian Henson has spoken about the making of The Muppet Christmas Carol, revealing that the film almost took a very different form. In the wake of his father Jim's death in 1990, Henson said he was keen to avoid direct comparison with the original Muppet movies, and initially planned a looser parody. That would have seen Robin the Frog as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Miss Piggy as a bacchanalian Ghost of Christmas Present, and Animal as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
The approach changed, however, when the team realised that nobody had captured Dickens's prose on screen. 'We had to put Charles Dickens in the movie,' said Henson. 'Who's the least likely character to be Charles Dickens? Gonzo!' The result was an omniscient storyteller role for Gonzo, with Rizzo the Rat as his sidekick, with 95 percent of Gonzo's lines taken directly from the book.
Michael Caine, who played Scrooge, was equally clear about his approach. Henson recalled Caine saying: 'I'm going to play this movie like I'm working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety.' Henson described Caine as intimidating at first, but 'a delight'.
Filming, however, was 'completely terrifying' for the 28-year-old director, who admitted he did not feel ready. He noted that children cried in cinemas when the film was released in 1992, but defended the dark moments: 'You need to go to those dark places for the ending to be as joyous as it can be.'
Henson also spoke of taking over as Kermit the Frog from his father. A vivid dream in which Jim told him 'It'll pass' gave him confidence for the whole film. He described Bob Cratchit as a natural role for Kermit, and said he had since worked to expand Kermit's range of expression. 'On my best days, I have this sense that I'm channelling Jim in some way,' he added.
