Director David Frankel first gained attention as a filmmaker for his 1995 movie Miami Rhapsody starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Antonio Banderas, but it was the 1996 short film Dear Diary that won the filmmaker his Academy Award. And Frankel would also go on to earn an Emmy Award for directing the pilot episode of HBO’s Entourage. He eventually returned to making feature films in 2006 with the Academy Award nominated movie The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. The director followed that up in 2008 with the extremely popular Marley & Me starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. Both films became cultural icons and earned $326 million and $242 million, respectively, at the box office.

Last fall, Frankel released the ensemble comedy The Big Year, which will be available on Blu-ray and DVD January 31^st. The film follows a group of bird enthusiasts set on a “Big Year,” a quest to outdo each other by finding the most species of birds in North America. However, their competition becomes an allegory for the challenges that they all face in their own lives. The film features and impressive cast of comedic and dramatic actors including Steve Martin (The Jerk), Jack Black (School of Rock), Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers), Rashida Jones (The Muppets), Rosamund Pike (Barney’s Version), JoBeth Williams (Fever Pitch), Jim Parsons (TV’s The Big Bang Theory), Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother Where Art Thou?), Joel McHale (TV’s Community), Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects), Anthony Anderson (The Departed), Corbin Bernsen (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Brian Dennehy (Tommy Boy), and Academy Award winners Dianne Wiest (The Birdcage), and Anjelica Huston (The Royal Tenenbaums).

I recently had a chance to speak with director David Frankel about The Big Year, as well as a few of his upcoming projects. The director spoke candidly with me about his most resent film, birding, working with three comedic geniuses, the rest of the film’s outstanding cast, Jack Black’s surprising dramatic skills, Frankel’s upcoming film Great Hope Springs, and his proposed adaptation of the popular fantasy book series Septimus Heap.

The Muppets is like a wonderful drug that has no detrimental effects, just a delicious happy high that puts a skip in your step and makes you want to kiss strangers on the cheeks.  Now, we know precisely when this rock of cinematic crack can be figuratively smoked in the comfort of our living rooms, as Disney has announced that the theatrical resurrection of Jim Henson's soulful creations will arrive on Blu-ray and DVD on March 20th.

In a now ancient but in no way diminished episode of The Simpsons, Lisa asks Homer, "Dad, what's a Muppet?"  To which her father replies, "Well, it's not quite a mop, and not quite a puppet, but man," and laughs with a satisfied chuckle before adding, "To answer your question: I don't know."  Aside from being a typically quotable moment of vintage Simpsons, this exchange actually gets to the essence of The Muppets.  Intellectually, we know that Jim Henson's creations are simply felt puppets, yet they're imbued with such character and life that we wholly believe them as living organisms with heart and soul.

The last decade has been perhaps the most fallow period for The Muppets since before they first scored their regular television series in 1976 with The Muppet Show.  They've made appearances here and there in TV specials and whatnot, but Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the rest of the ensemble have been absent from movie screens since 1999's Muppets from Space, which was itself a far cry from their cinematic streak that consisted of The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan from 1979-1984. 

This Wednesday, however, The Muppets triumphantly return to a theater near you in the appropriately-titled The Muppets.  Over the last several months, with the full power of Disney behind them, The Muppets have returned to their previous place of pop-cultural ubiquity, and anticipation for the film is huge amongst seemingly every demographic, thanks to their nigh-universal appeal.  At the Los Angeles press day for The Muppets director James Bobin, co-writers Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller (who also stars) were present and accounted for, along with Amy Adams and, of course, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and Walter, the newest addition to The Muppet cadre.  IAR Managing Editor Jami Philbrick was on hand to record their thoughts on the film, their history, and the challenges of bringing back The Muppets.

Opening in theaters on November 23rd his the highly awaited and triumphant theatrical return of The Muppets in an all-new film named after the beloved characters created by the late Jim Henson. The Muppets marks the lovable group's first theatrical film in over twelve years and features all your favorite characters including Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Animal, Scooter, Rowlf the Dog, Swedish Chef, Sam the Eagle, Beaker, Crazy Harry, Dr. Teeth, Floyd Pepper, Zoot, Statler and Waldorf, and introducing the newest Muppet ... Walter.

The Muppets was co-written by Nick Stoller and Jason Segal (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), directed by James Bobin (HBO's Flight of the Conchords), and features original songs written by Flight of the Conchords member Bret McKenzie. In addition to the Muppets themselves, the film stars Segal, Academy Award-nominated actress Amy Adams (The Fighter), Academy Award-winning actor Chris Cooper (The Town), and Rashida Jones (The Social Network), as well as appearances by Jack Black (School of Rock), Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada), Zach Galifianakis (Puss in Boots), musician Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), political strategist James Carville (The War Room), Neil Patrick Harris (The Smurfs), Kristen Schaal (Toy Story 3), Sarah Silverman (Peep World), Academy Award-winners Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) and Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost), and living legend Mickey Rooney (National Velvet). 

IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with co-writer and executive producer Nick Stoller to discuss his work on The Muppets. Stoller talked about the new film, which Muppets he knew he had to focus on in the script, a missed opportunity with James Carville and Sam the Eagle, a missing scene featuring Dave Grohl and Animal, the return of Uncle Deadly (The Phantom of the Muppet Theater), developing the film's original songs, Chris Cooper's rap, and Walter's "unique" talent. 

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 premiered in Los Angeles last night, and it hits theaters nationwide this Friday, so right now, much of America is no doubt fixating on vampires and werewolves with high cheekbones.  A trio of new character posters for The Muppets, however, bring forth the startling notion that the Twilight films could increase their sex appeal by replacing the three lead actors with Muppets, swapping Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner for Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and Rowlf, respectively.  With The Muppets less than two weeks away from domestic release, you'd think the Disney marketing machine would've finally lost its parody mojo, but these posters show that the mojo remains strong, even without any more spoofy trailers, which seem to drop with like clockwork whenever you think there couldn't possibly be another.

Much like a junkie who swears he's coming back for just one more hit of that sweet, sweet black tar, The Muppets can't stop releasing new little parody-style trailers.  Two weeks ago, what was supposed to be the last one disappeared up its own meta-hole and even poked fun at Paranormal Activty 3, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Puss in Boots, and Happy Feet Two.  Now though, yet another parody trailer entered the world today, and it shows The Muppets going a little bit Bollywood, with many of the film's copious musical moments playing out to some thoroughly Indian musical accompaniment.  And as a bonus: NPH himself, Neil Patrick Harris, makes an appearance.  At this rate, Kermit and the rest of Jim Henson's puppet cadre will probably still be showing up in trailers after the movie actually hits theaters, perhaps randomly in trailers for other movies.

We've previously established that The Muppets are creations of pure goodwill and fluffy happiness, little felt puppets that somehow feel like sunshine on your shoulders.  The Muppets appears to embrace the wide-eyed, childish joy that has long defined Jim Henson's characters; like Kermit and his cohorts, The Muppets just wants to put on a hell of a show and leave its audience grinning like imbeciles.  A preview of the opening musical number is now online, and it typifies the go-for-broke cheerfulness of the Muppets.

You actually won't find any familiar Muppets in this little excerpt.  Instead, you'll meet Jason Segel as well adjusted lovebird Gary and his best friend Walter, a huge Muppet fan.  Walter happens to be a puppet himself, and the two interspecies besties belt out a musical number that is unfiltered happiness.  How happy?  The song they're singing is apparently titled "Life's A Happy Song."

On Monday, we shared an exceptionally-wholesome clip from The Muppets, the theatrical revival of Jim Henson's beloved Muppet creations that is now just about three weeks away from invading theaters all over this land, which has been deprived of Muppetry for far, far too long. That clip set up that lovebirds Gary (Jason Segel), Mary (Amy Adams) and their Muppet best friend Walter (Peter Linz) are vacationing together in sunny Los Angeles.  The first of these new clips picks up with the plot already in motion, after Walter has discovered that oil baron Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) has his sights set on the now-disused Muppet Theater and the black gold beneath it.  As the wholesome trio drive down La Brea, Walter has an inspired idea.

Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, and the rest of the Muppets possess a rare quality – impossible to reduce simply to cuteness or calculation – that reduces anyone and everyone to gleeful, wide-eyed children.  A new clip from The Muppets doesn't contain any of the familiar Muppet crew, it instead introduces the film's human lead, Gary, played by Jason Segel, and his best friend Walter, who is puppeteered and voiced by Muppets and Sesame Street veteran Peter Linz.  Appropriately enough, both characters are basically wide-eyed children, sporting cartoonish pajamas and generally behaving as though they've never had a malicious, unwholesome thought in their lives.

The clip is most set-up, as Gary surprises Walter with an invite to join him and his equally-wholesome squeeze Mary, played by Amy Adams, on their trip to Los Angeles.  From there, it's all exposition, establishing Walter as a massive Muppets fan and ominously foreshadowing the current, disused state of the Muppet Studios.

The Muppets is just a month away from unleashing the full fuzzy glory of Jim Henson's perfect creations on theaters from sea to shining sea, so it's time for the very last parody trailer from Disney and those impossibly lovable felt puppets.  Back in May, the trailers began with Green With Envy, a fictitious romantic comedy, then proceeded through parodies of the trailers for The Hangover 2, Green Lantern, and finally, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  For their final self-aware trailer, The Muppets go crazy-meta parodying their own trailer, then stuffing in references to the promotion of Paranormal Activity 3, Happy Feet 2, Puss in Boots, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1.  Like all the just-for-kicks The Muppets trailers before it, this last one is a whole mess of fun.