Jim Henson Idea Man, a new Disney+ original documentary from director Ron Howard, will be coming to the streaming service next month.
- Vanity Fair refers to the new documentary as a “comprehensive look at the Muppet creator’s life and work, featuring interviews with his family members and collaborators.”
- The documentary will also feature of number of Henson’s iconic puppets, from the citizens of Sesame Street to the creatures of The Dark Crystal.
- Howard admits he did not know much about Henson’s life when he took on the project, but quickly took note of what he calls Henson’s “restless creativity.”
- “It was sort of anarchy on the outside, but underneath it, there was always a smart idea—a witty point to make, an observation about the world. To see that evolve through the medium of puppetry and television, and then on into movies, was so interesting to me. I felt like you could actually observe a lot about entertainment, what entertains us and why, through his journey.”
- The documentary, which obviously explores Henson’s creation of the Muppets, is more primarily focused on Henson himself.
- As Henson’s daughter Lisa, now CEO of the Jim Henson Company, said, the doc’s purpose it to let the audience “get to know Jim Henson as a person.”
- Idea Man will also feature interviews with Henson’s longtime collaborator Frank Oz. Howard explained the perspective those interviews brought to the table:
- “Frank could help us understand the risks he took, what it felt like to win, and what it felt like to lose. It just was a great overarching perspective beyond what the family could offer, from a peer, from a contemporary who ultimately was kind of like a brother.”
- Jim Henson Idea Man comes from Howard’s production company Imagine Entertainment.
- The new documentary will premiere Friday, May 31 on Disney+.
What they’re saying:
- Lisa Henson, CEO of the Jim Henson Company: “If there was going to be a definitive documentary about Jim Henson, we had hoped it would be in the hands of an accomplished filmmaker. Ron Howard is both a creative and personality match for my father, unlike anyone else we could have contemplated.”