Disney Plus Muppet Haunted Mansion Was A Dream For 30 Years

Muppet writer and director Kirk Thatcher has wanted to do a Muppet Halloween special for most of his career.

Thatcher, whose career began in the 1980s at Industrial Light & Magic before turning her attention to Jim Henson’s lovable gang of puppets, estimates that Haunted Mansion of the Muppets it could be the “fifth version of a Halloween-themed special” he’s written with Henson Company staff writer Jim Lewis over the years. Previous releases included parodies of classic monster movies and a Ghostbusters-It’s an adventure, but it never worked because the studio prioritized other projects. Since Disney owned the Muppets this time around, Thatcher could incorporate one of her favorite theme park attractions: the Haunted Mansion.

Haunted Mansion of the Muppets, which premieres on Disney Plus on October 8, follows Gonzo the Great and Pepé the Prawn as they spend a night in a spooky mansion filled with something familiar. grinning ghosts They take the form of Muppets and celebrities. The special closes Thatcher’s circle: He has been going to Disneyland since he was a child and attractions like Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise shaped his taste in film and television. He always felt that the Muppets lent themselves perfectly to different genres.

“Everyone has their approach to the Muppets. I love seeing them in different places, ”he says. “They are like Monty Python! They take gender photographs! ”

Like any longtime park fanatic, Thatcher knows that the Haunted Mansion is not just a walk; the attraction has its own tradition and basic characters. Combining the world of the Muppets and the Haunted Mansion ended up being an absolute joy for him. Like in the Muppet movies like Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island, the Muppets play the different characters within the Haunted Mansion, so Thatcher had to “choose” those roles. Some of the parts emerged more naturally than others.

“We immediately knew that Piggy had to be Leota”He says, naming the fortune teller ghost trapped in a crystal ball. “We call her Madame Pig-ota. The very idea that Piggy was in a special being trapped in that, as she says trapped in a fish tank, was a great comedy to draw from. “

Gonzo and Pepe lent themselves perfectly as the Muppets venturing into the mansion, and not just because they’re two of Thatcher’s favorite Muppets to write about. Gonzo is not afraid. He thinks he’s cool and Pepe is terrified, so you get that classic Hope and Crosby, Abbott and Costello – two completely different versions of what it’s like to be in a scary place. ”

As an avid Haunted Mansion fan, Thatcher wanted to include all the notable sights, from Madame Leota to the singing graveyard and the ballroom filled with dancing ghosts. There was so much to extract from, and once the pieces began to fit together, the world of the Muppets became seamlessly intertwined with the Haunted Mansion. For example, using the The grand mansion ballroom scene as a performance hall meant that Kermit naturally became an MC and Fozzie could take on the iconic role of the beloved Hatbox Ghost, repurposed for this special actor as a comedian.

“The disappearance of his head and his hat became part of his act,” Thatcher explains.

Amid all the iconic characters, settings, and elements of Haunted Mansion, there was one great thing, however, that Thatcher specifically didn’t want.

“[We did not want it to be] the Muppets go to Disneyland. They go to a haunted mansion, no the Haunted Mansion, ”he explains. Each of the different haunted mansions in the Disney parks has a different exterior appearance to fit perfectly with whatever area of ​​the park the attraction is located in. For example, the pre-war southern-style mansion at Disneyland Anaheim sits in the park’s New Orleans Plaza, while the Gothic revival Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom resides in Liberty Square (and the Tokyo mansion is basically a replica ). Meanwhile, the Paris version is in Frontierland, which is called Ghost mansion and designed with a darker and more terrifying history, it evokes Second Empire-style architecture.

“My backstory, which is not actually mentioned, but is that it is the same architect. Whoever this wealthy person was in the 19th century, he hired the same architect because he had made these mansions for other people. ”In that spirit, Thatcher and her team went back to the original ideas for the attraction, when it was just a bunch of concept art. .

“Where we started was [Disney artist] Original sketches by Harper Goff. That was part of the great thing about having Imagineering on board – we got to see all these old things [from] when it was originally designed, ”Thatcher says. “[Goff’s] The mansion was run down and battered, but it was Victorian-style architecture. We liked that. But again, we agreed with Walt, that he didn’t want any of the mansions to look run down and look like a typical haunted house. We stuck with that and made it look really neat. “

Working closely with production designer Darcy Prevost and a “very specific” document with the Imagineers’ Mansion lore, Thatcher designed a totally unique Haunted Mansion location that still paid homage to theme park basics. The Haunted Mansion in the special is unlike any of the existing Haunted Mansion attractions in the world, and it is also completely digital. (“They’re not made for filming,” Thatcher adds of the park’s actual attractions.) Using completely virtual backgrounds, in addition to turning some characters into ghosts, meant that the production had to film the scenes in layers.

“We couldn’t shoot ghosts and people at the same time. So some of the musical numbers are like three or four layers, with separately filmed ghosts in the background, ”he says, comparing the process to George Lucas filming the Star Wars prequels. “Our actors had to do musical numbers with no one there. They were signing and had an eye line for someone who wasn’t there. Like, Kermit will be here. But it won’t be here now. But you have to be singing and looking at him. ”

While bringing the actors and puppeteers together as ghosts and mortals had some difficulties, combining the Muppets with the Haunted Mansion was incredibly easy, because the concepts just worked so well together.

“Part of the joy of Haunted Mansion itself is that funny sense of it – it’s creepy but not scary,” says Thatcher. “We said the Mansion was ‘Grim Grinning Ghosts’ and the Muppets were ‘Goofy Grinning Puppets.’ That feeling of joy fills the Mansion and the Muppets as well. ”

Haunted Mansion of the Muppets hits Disney Plus on October 8. Look at it … if you dare.

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