BRET'S AN OSCAR WINNER!!!

[size=150:47fq7svs]THE MUPPETS' MUSIC MAN BRET MCKENZIE ON HIS OSCAR NOD AND TAKING A SILLY JOB SERIOUSLY
Posted 02/07/12 2:55 PM by Lindsay Miller

Bret McKenzie is up for an exceedingly rare honor this year, with his ballad "
Man or Muppet"
earning one of just two nominations in the Oscars' best song category. I caught up with The Muppets' musical supervisor today at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank to chat about the awards attention and the unique experience of penning music for Kermit and company. The New Zealand native talked about fighting the temptation to use the word "
motherfrogger"
in his songwriting and the roundabout way he came on board The Muppets project in the first place. Bret — who previously was best known as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords — also shared his hopes of bringing FOC to the big screen. Check out our conversation below:

PopSugar: It's got to be an honor to be nominated for an Oscar, but also in a year when the Academy only bothered to nominate two songs.
Bret McKenzie: They barely nominated anyone! When I found out, it sounded like there'd been a mistake, and yeah, it's a huge honor. It's great and it's really exciting, and I'm not complaining that there's only two nominees the year I'm nominated. I mean, this is the best chance I'll have of winning an Oscar, ever. It couldn't have been better, unless there was just one nomination, and then it would be a very dull ceremony . . . There's a lot of legendary musicians — tunesmiths — in that list of possible nominations. So it's all very surreal to think that I got in ahead of Elton John.

PS: And Madonna. Those two had a little rivalry going on.
BM: I know. I got nervous about what Elton John's husband was going to say about me. It's crazy, and it's great for The Muppets film, because we're all really proud of the film and it wasn't ever really going to get a best actor. Hey, Jason's good, that's not what I mean, but Kermit, Miss Piggy — they can't win these awards — and comedies don't generally get recognized at these awards ceremonies, so it's kind of cool. It's almost like the film as a whole is being recognized with this category.

PS: What was the biggest unexpected challenge for you writing music for the film? I know you talked about one draft of a song where you referred to a Muppet as a piece of felt and were told you couldn't do that.
BM: Yeah. Little piece of felt, and you couldn't say things like motherfrogger, even though it's very tempting. There were lots of hard parts to it. The Muppets can't sing certain notes. They can't sing too high or the voice changes and doesn't sound like the right character. There were so many weird things. I spent hours recording penguins and rats, and what's weird is that it's such a silly job, but you have to take it very seriously. So I would be in the studio for days, maybe a whole day recording penguins, and then I'm like, "
I'm not happy with how the penguins are sounding! Where's penguin four?"
You know, getting demanding. "
We lost penguin track four! I can't hear the penguin!"


PS: I was watching the movie again last night and watching Jason Segel's performance of "
Man or Muppet."
Did you coach him on any of his rockstar moves? Because he pretty much nailed it.
BM: He nailed it. That's my favorite moment in the film. When he buckles down in the rain, that was one of my favorite shots. I was so proud of what James [Bobin, the director] and those guys achieved, because I wasn't there on set, I just saw them syncing the video, and I was like, "
Wow, guys. You nailed it."
What we did do in the studio, as Jason and I had a technique where I would sing a line, and he'd watch me through the window, and then he'd sing it back. So we did this thing where, I was really into the drama of it. So, I was like, "
Am I a Muppppettt?"
[balling his hands into fists] And he'd be like, OK, record. "
Am I a Muppppettt!"
So we kind of worked together to get that style.

PS: Did it shatter some of your childhood illusions to have the guy that does Miss Piggy's voice come work with you [in the recording studio]?
BM: Yeah. Well, it wasn't Frank Oz. The guy Eric, who does it now, yeah. That was strange. And the day that we recorded Kermit the Frog doing "
Rainbow Connection"
— I was sort of pinching myself, because that was probably one of the real moments for me where I realized that my world had really changed. That I'd come from New Zealand, I'd grown up with Kermit the Frog, and now I was in Hollywood in a studio recording Kermit the Frog. It felt like worlds had collided.

PS: Was there pressure knowing there was already this great catalog of Muppet songs? To try to add to that or top it in some way?
BM: I knew I wouldn't top "
Rainbow Connection,"
but I was very intimidated, but the way I worked on the job was it actually started with me just writing one song, so I didn't feel the pressure of writing the whole movie. I think it would have been different if I'd been hired from the outset to do all the music. So I wrote one, then another, and gradually wrote more and more, so that helped.

PS: What song did you write first?
BM: The opening song. That's the one they needed, that's the one James asked me to write first. The script was probably on a second draft, and they were in preproduction, so I came in quite late. And the way they were doing it was, they got 100s of demos submitted from all sorts of songwriters, and surprisingly — even though they got some really great people to do demos — people weren't quite hitting the right tone. The Muppet tone. I'd just come off the Conchords tour and I had some time, and James asked if I was interested in doing that opening song, because he had a kind of specific thing he needed from that song. He needed it to be really Muppet-y, that song, and he had a great idea for the whole town joining in, it starting off small and becoming a big musical number, and that came together really well.

PS: Is this experience maybe something you want to bring to a Flight of the Conchords movie?
BM: Yeah, exactly. Having done this movie now, we're in a much better place to do a Conchords film, because James is more experienced — well, we're all more experienced. Not specifically, but James Bobin — well, we're all very keen to do another studio musical, because I really enjoyed being able to do comedy musical numbers on such a grand scale, and I think next time, I really think it will just get better and better. Because it's such a fun genre, and we've done like 50 songs for TV now, and now The Muppets movie, and I feel like we've accidentally sort of become musical comedy experts.

PS: What do you imagine Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords are up to these days, in their universe?
BM: In the Lower East Side? That's a good question. I reckon they probably got a regular gig now. Like, at a Chinese restaurant.

[size=150:33lg0yzz]Bret McKenzie on 'Muppet'-less Oscars: 'It's a Shame'
BY NICKI GOSTIN, N.Y.
FEBRUARY 8, 2012 | 1:17AM

Bret McKenzie is up for a best original song Oscar later this month, not that "
Man or Muppet"
(from "
The Muppets"
) will be performed live or anything. The Flight of the Conchords singer-actor confirmed to Billboard new reports that the powers that be have decided to chop the two nominated tracks (the other being "
Real in Rio"
via "
Rio"
) from the telecast, calling it "
a shame."
That said, the New Zealander is thrilled to be going to the Feb. 26 gala and spoke to us about his "
Muppet"
experience, plus he reveals the beloved Conchords (his folk-comedy band with Jemaine Clement) will finally begin writing new material on their upcoming tour and says they have no regrets in pulling the plug on their cult favorite HBO show.

"
I think we would have killed ourselves [if we continued] making that show,"
he says. "
Killing ourselves is a little too harsh, we would have gone mental."


So, neither of the nominated Original Songs will be performed at the Oscars. Thoughts?

Furious! Furious! Write that! Bret McKenzie is furious!

Seriously aren't you a little disappointed your song won't be given center stage?

I know, I'm not complaining about having to go to the Oscars though. I am disappointed that we don't get to get some Muppets on stage and jam it out with Sergio Mendes (who penned "
Real in Rio"
) and some parrots. I think it's a shame because from my experience it's good to put a few musical numbers in a show. It's an age old tradition to give people a break from talking and the ceremony is notoriously dull, but I don't care. I'll just be there star spotting.

Did you go to the nominees luncheon?

I went yesterday and I was seated at a table with Meryl Streep.

Were you like, 'Can you pass the salt Meryl?'

Yeah but that's how I roll now. I think you'll find a lot of press about how Meryl Streep was sitting with me yesterday.

How did you get involved with 'The Muppets' movie?

James Bobin, who co-created 'The Fight of the Conchords' and directed 'The Muppets' asked me to write songs for it. I started working on it and then I became music supervisor. James Bobin really championed me, he got me the job. At first Disney wasn't so sure, I think. They're used to working with their songwriters. It's funny because there were two versions of this song and Disney felt this was the right one to go with.

How did you get in the mindset to star working on it?

I watched all the old TV shows and the early films, luckily I knew all the characters from growing up with them so I kind of knew the sound and knowing that I didn't find it too hard to write in that world. It was really fun, it was so different from writing for anything else but it was intimidating because it's such an iconic world, there's pressure to not mess it up somewhere. You had to stop thinking that Paul Williams was watching over your shoulder.

Describe the "
Muppet"
sound, if there is such a thing...

I was told Jim Henson used to say, 'If it sounds too good, it's not right,' and I think there's an imperfection to the Muppets sound. Also when in doubt, add more banjo.

Anything in the works for Flight of the Conchords?

We're about to tour Australia and New Zealand. We haven't toured there in years. Whereas we've been in America recently and I don't want to tour America until we've got some new material.

So does that mean you're working on new material?

No, because we haven't been in the same place in months. Jemaine's been working with aliens ("
Men in Black III"
) and I've been working with frogs.

So will you work on new stuff?

Yeah, being on tour means we'll be in the same place. It's been difficult to get things going because we've been living in different cities. We haven't developed a Skype band meeting system yet.

Well, when you are writing, how do you know if a song is funny?

Um I think you know from the very beginning. I guess I know because I'm usually laughing as I try to sing it. I work with Mickey Petralia and he's in the control room laughing as well, I think that's how I know. Actually early on when you first write a song it's funny and then it stops being funny and then it's not until you start playing it to people that it's funny again.

Were you surprised at how bummed fans were when you guys ended the HBO show?

To be honest, I didn't really care. I love all the support we have but it was absolutely the right decision not to make any more shows. I think we would have killed ourselves [if we continued] making that show. Killing ourselves is a little too harsh, we would have gone mental.

[size=150:21zoyvhg]Oscars 2012: Bret McKenzie on His 'Muppets' Oscar Nomination
'Flight of the Conchords' musician will star in 'The Hobbit' later this year

By Matthew Perpetua
February 8, 2012 12:20 PM ET

Bret McKenzie, one half of the New Zealand comedy rock duo Flight of the Conchords, is the author of "
Man or Muppet,"
one of the two songs up for Best Original Song at the 84th Annual Academy Awards. McKenzie has previously been honored at both the Emmys and Grammys for his work on the HBO series Flight of the Conchords, but this is his first major nomination for songwriting on his own. Rolling Stone caught up with McKenzie to chat about how he got involved with The Muppets reboot, his chances of eventually scoring an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), and the possibility of adding a song-and-dance number to Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, which he'll be starring in later this year.


This is your first Oscar nomination. Did you think this would be a possibility when you were working on this project?
Absolutely not. I definitely wasn't sitting at the piano thinking I was writing an Oscar song.

How did you get involved with this Muppets movie?
Well, James Bobin, who directed the film, worked with me on Conchords, the TV show. He was the director and co-creator. And when he got the job with Disney, he asked me if I'd write an opening song for them. Gradually, I wrote that one, and then wrote a few more, and then became music supervisor.

Was it intimidating to write for The Muppets? There are some very famous and well-loved Muppets songs.
Yeah, absolutely. It was a very intimidating task, and some big shoes to fill. A friend of mine said to me, "
You're not going to write another 'Rainbow Connection',"
and I said, "
Yeah, you're right."
But at some point you have to just put your head down and see what you come up with. I'm a huge fan of the Muppets, and I love Paul Williams' music and his work in musical films like Bugsy Malone. So I listened to his stuff, you know, the early Muppets stuff, and really kind of immersed myself in that sound, and then just started writing with it around me.

When you started work on the songs, was the concept for the lyrics already in place?
When I arrived, the script was done and there were song ideas. I was just given a title, and then I'd go and write a song for that moment in the film. There was a piece in there saying "
song about man or Muppet."
There was always that thread in the story of Walter the Muppet questioning his identity. And so that song was that key moment in the film where both Gary and Walter are dealing with the identity crisis that we've all had at some point in our lives.

There are only two songs nominated for Original Song at the Oscars this year, and the other movie nominated is Rio, which featured your Conchords partner, Jemaine Clement. He actually wrote a song for that movie, but it wasn't nominated. Are you disappointed at all that it didn't end up being a contest of your song versus his song?
It would've made the Oscar ceremony very interesting. [Laughs]

It would have made for a very good headline. It would've been "
Fight of the Conchords."

Yeah, you're right.

Do you get competitive with each other about this stuff?
Yeah. Jemaine's a big fan of Sergio [Mendes], 'cause he worked with him. Yeah, but yeah, it's very friendly.

The Academy decided to cut performances of the Original Song nominees for this year. Is that disappointing for you?
It is disappointing. It would've been great to get a man and a Muppet up there.

Do you think you could've been that man?
It probably would've been Jason [Segel], but I could've been an extra man up their somewhere, maybe playing piano.

Have you had a lot of offers to do more music for movies and plays since this Muppets thing took off?
Well, not really, because there aren't many musicals being made. I'm sure there will be some more musical songwriting gigs. I'm thinking of moving to Broadway. I want to see if I can get a Tony nomination.

Oh, you can go for that EGOT thing.
What's that?

That's from the show 30 Rock. Tracy Morgan's character is trying to get an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. You are a person who could conceivably do that.
Yeah, I've got a Grammy. I've had an Emmy nomination. And an Oscar nomination. So I need a Tony nomination.

Yeah. I think to get an EGOT, you actually need to win all of them.
That's more of a long-term plan. [Laughs]

Do you have any plans to return to Flight of the Conchords?
Jemaine and I are going to go on tour this year in the Antipodes. And we're developing a few scripts. I'm also in a film that's coming out this year. It's called Austenland, which I acted in, which is a period rom-com.

What is the period?
Uh, Jane Austen period, with Keri Russell. I'm a stable hand. I look a bit like a pirate. But there's no singing. I play a little bit of saxophone, but that's all.

Do you want to do more roles that don't involve music at all?
Yeah, I've done a couple this year. It was a fun change, but I have got to admit, I can't wait to do another big musical, after having done The Muppets. I'm really excited to do another big musical film. It's a blast when you get to do these giant musical numbers. And I'd love to do some more Busby Berkeley-inspired material.

You're also going to be in the new Hobbit movies, right?
I'm in The Hobbit, but again, very little musical numbers in that.

Do you think you can just, like, talk them into it, now that you have this Oscar clout?
I'm going to have to call Peter Jackson when I get home. I'm thinking just a fun musical number at the end of the movie, you know, after the credits. Give the cast a song and dance number. What I want to do is try to convince Hollywood that the musical is the new genre so everyone will want to be doing it.

I'm also in a film that's coming out this year. It's called Austenland, which I acted in, which is a period rom-com.

What is the period?
Uh, Jane Austen period

What I want to do is try to convince Hollywood that the musical is the new genre so everyone will want to be doing it.

[size=150:ou4cpvsf]Making movie music for the Muppets

Bret McKenzie, star of cult TV comedy Flight of the Conchords, has landed an Oscar nomination for his songs in The Muppets' new film. He talks to the BBC about composing for a chorus of Kermits.

How do you write a song for a Muppet?

That's the question Bret McKenzie found himself asking last year, after he was hired to write the songs for Disney's new Muppets movie.

As it turns out, there are a couple of rules.

"
Jim Henson said if the music's too good, it's not right,"
he explains, "
so I took that to heart and kept the songs slightly shambolic.

"
Then Miss Piggy can't sing very high or very low, otherwise she loses the sound of Miss Piggy.

"
And there couldn't be any dirty gags,"
he adds.

"
I was shut down on a 'motherfrogger' joke early on."


In fact, McKenzie says his lyrics were constantly debated, rejected and changed in the studio, with the muppeteers refusing to let Kermit and Miss Piggy sing anything that didn't feel right.

"
I had one gag where a Muppet was reminiscing, 'I remember when I was a piece of felt' and that got taken out, because the Muppets are real.

"
It was a bit of a stress,"
he recalls. "
They were pretty much 'method Muppets' in the studio"


All the hard work has paid off, however. Man Or Muppet, the film's pivotal song, is up for an Oscar, one of only two nominees in its category.

"
I feel very pleased for him because he's a very modest man,"
says the film's director James Bobin. "
For him to have the potential of having an Oscar in his house is just unbelievable."


It was Bobin who initially persuaded McKenzie to submit a demo for the movie.

The pair had worked together on the cult HBO series Flight Of The Conchords, about two struggling musicians trying to make a living in New York.

Starring McKenzie and fellow New Zealander Jemaine Clement, the show earned 10 Emmy nominations for its mixture of awkward comedy and musical parodies - which lampooned the likes of Prince (The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room), the Black Eyed Peas (Sugar Lumps) and David Bowie (Bowie's In Space).

Apart from the musical interludes, The Conchords shared one important characteristic with the Muppets - they were never quite as good as they thought.

In one episode, the Kiwi band were reduced to playing a gig in an elevator, their dreams of success every bit as hopeless as those of their fuzzy counterparts.

But, despite the parallels, McKenzie was never guaranteed the job of Muppets maestro.

"
Disney weren't sure what sort of movie they were going to make at first,"
he says. "
It could have been Hannah Montana Meets The Muppets."


Instead, the new film maintains the anarchic energy of the troupe's 1970s TV show. Co-written by Forgetting Sarah Marshall's Jason Segel (who also stars), it finds the old gang disbanded and down on their luck.

But when superfans Gary (Segel) and his Muppet brother Walter discover the Muppets' studio is about to be torn down by a greedy developer, they track down Kermit and persuade him to put on one last show.

Smart, funny and affectionate, the film was a box office hit when it was released in the US last year, making $87m (£55m).
Skype session

McKenzie is not the only composer on the soundtrack, which also features a new version of Paul Williams' classic Rainbow Connection from 1979's The Muppet Movie, but it is his work that has been singled out for praise.

Opening track Life's A Happy Song is an uptempo song-and-dance number, which ends with a cast of hundreds, including Mickey Rooney, singing lines like "
life's a fillet of fish"
.

Bouyantly daft, it won the 2012 Critics' Choice Award for best song from a motion picture.

In stark contrast, Let's Talk About Me is a rap performed by Bourne Identity star Chris Cooper in his guise as evil business tycoon Tex Richman.

Having written the song, McKenzie found himself in the surreal position of "
teaching an Academy Award-winning dramatic actor how to rap on Skype"
.

"
He's a very serious man, and it was an awesomely awkward rap session,"
he laughs.

"
But later, on the set, he was apparently reading a book on how to rap. I don't know who wrote that. Did Snoop write that? Or maybe Jay-Z's written a book: 'The Dummy's Guide To Rapping?' It's hilarious."


Like many of the film's musical numbers, McKenzie says, Let's Talk About Me was cut short "
to keep the film moving"
.

It meant the loss of one of his favourite lines: "
I've got so much gold I gold-plate my gold"
but he maintains he is happy with how the music integrates with the action.

"
If you get that moment right where you go from the scene into the song, then the song works better. That transition is so crucial,"
he says.

"
With James Bobin, we've done about 40, maybe 50, music videos now. He's gotten pretty good at making that work - often with a lighting change or just looking into the camera."


Recognition from the Academy is the icing on the cake - "
I'm really proud of it"
- and it doesn't hurt that there's only one other song on the shortlist.

"
The chances of winning could not be any better,"
he notes, "
unless they only had one nominee. But I guess that would make the awards ceremony very predictable."


Post-awards, McKenzie will be seen in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit and British film Austenland, which he describes as a "
faux-period romcom"
.

After that, there are hopes for a Flight Of The Conchords movie.

"
It's all very conceptual at the moment,"
he says. "
We haven't made any definite plans, but it's something we all want to do, so it's just a matter of time.

"
Until recently, Jemaine's been filming Men In Black 3, so it's been a kind of funny year.

"
He's been working with aliens, and I've been working with frogs and pigs."


***

Will there ever be another TV series?

Kermit: "
I don't know. It's not entirely up to us. We are now a wholly-owned subsidiary of a very large corporation."


Who is the new character, Walter? (pictured)

James Bobin: "
Walter is someone who's a fan of the Muppets, so if you didn't know who the Muppets were, you could have Walter introduce them to you. If you are a huge fan of the Muppets, you feel the way he does about them. He's a very sweet guy."


Man Or Muppet is up for an Oscar. Are you disappointed not to be nominated in any other categories?

Miss Piggy: "
For some reason, the Academy does not recognise other species than the human species. I just don't feel right being part of an institution that continues to ignore the contributions of pig actors."

Amily wrote:Also,

[size=150:1dco4pk1][url=Video: Oscars 2012 - Interview with Bret McKenzie][/url]

[size=150:usuvv4ti]Bret McKenzie on The Muppets, The Oscars and The Hobbit

[size=150:usuvv4ti]The Oscar-nominated half of Flight of the Conchords talks writing the Muppets score, teaching Chris Cooper to rap and what he'll be doing in The Hobbit.
By William Bibbiani
February 08, 2012


If Bret McKenzie loses the Academy Award on February 26, it's all my fault. I jinxed it. I realized after I left the Walt Disney Studio lot yesterday afternoon that I'd asked him where he was going to keep his Oscar, and pointed out a little too often that he's heavily favored to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "
Man or Muppet"
from last year's comedy sensation The Muppets. He seemed genuinely excited to be nominated, and was happy to talk about the origins of the film's soundtrack, the influence of original Muppets songwriter Paul Williams, alternate versions of the song "
Man or Muppet,"
and how they would have performed the song if the Academy hadn't made the bewildering decision not to perform the two - just two, mind you - nominated songs at the ceremony this year. Find out what might have been, and how Bret McKenzie taught Chris Cooper to rap, in our interview below. (Don't worry, we asked for a Hobbit update as well.)


CraveOnline: You’d worked with director James Bobin before. Were you the first person he talked to, to do the music for The Muppets?

Bret McKenzie: No, no, no… Well, James Bobin, who directed The Muppets and co-created The Flight of the Conchords… They got dozens, possibly hundreds of demos. They just opened it right up. They got lots of indie songwriters, lots of Disney musical songwriters, people who worked on Disney’s other films. James was working through the songs and hadn’t found the opening song he needed. Because he had a really specific idea to have it start smaller, and then get really gigantic. So yeah, he called me and asked if I’d write an opening song. So I came in quite far into the mix. They’d already finished the script and stuff.

Were the ideas for the songs in the script? Had they worked out lyrics?

They didn’t do lyrics, but they had ideas. Sometimes visual ideas. “Everything’s Great” was the title of the opening song. And he wanted a song that was really positive, that Jason [Segel’s] character and the little Muppet guy, Walter… That [showed] their lives were going really well.

How did “Man or Muppet” start?

So “Man or a Muppet,” at that point, was a card saying, “Man or Muppet.”

[Laughs.]

So they then said, “Write a song about being a man or a Muppet.” And they had the idea that there would be the reflections. Jason’s Muppet would be reflected in the window, so that was part of the idea. And also it was at that point in the movie when the characters were questioning their identity.

What was your relationship to The Muppets before that?

I grew up with The Muppets, yeah. I grew up loving The Muppets, so I knew the characters and I knew the world really well coming into the film.

Were you a Paul Williams fan?

Yeah, massive Paul Williams fan. That’s something I did, once I got the job, I started really listening to all those early recordings from the early films, that Paul Williams did. The early films.

Phantom of the Paradise…

That’s something I have to watch.

You should watch that. That movie’s amazing.

But yeah, I wanted to get the Paul Williams/Kenny Ascher sound for this film.

Did you try to contact him at all? Or did that not occur to you?

That didn’t really occur to me, but yes, it would have been awesome to get Paul Williams to write a song for it.

I know sometimes people just call to get their blessing. It’s sort of like asking someone’s father for their hand in marriage.

Yeah, yeah, yeah…

You’re going to do it anyway. You’re just trying to be polite.

I think he liked the film.

Unfortunately, we just heard yesterday that they’re not going to be performing either of the Oscar-nominated songs at the ceremony.

Yeah, I found that out last night as well. And that’s a shame, because it would have been fun to get a man and a Muppet up there.

Were you hoping to do that yourself?

I don’t know whether I’d do it. It would probably be… Well, now that we’re not doing it, it doesn’t really matter… But I think ideally it would have been Jason and Walter, maybe get Jim Parsons and maybe some extra Muppets to do [backing vocals]. I don’t know, maybe I’d play piano or something.

You know you’re going to win, right?

Fingers crossed.

You’ve got 50/50 odds. No one has better.

The odds are as good as they could ever be! I’m never going to get a better chance of winning an Oscar.

Have you seen Rio?

Yeah, it’s great! The song’s really cool, the Rio song. I’m happy to be [just] an Academy nominee. It’s still a great title.

Where are you going to put your Oscar, if you get it?

On my piano.

You’re going to look at it while you’re writing…

[Mimes playing piano while looking up at his Oscar] – Duhn…! Argh, this song’s not good enough for an Academy Award nominee! [Thinks] – If I won, yeah. I was thinking of, from now on there’s going to be a lot of pressure when I write songs. It’s gotta be better than this!

You already won a Grammy. Is the Oscar bigger than the Grammy, do you think?

Oh yeah, definitely. There’s something about the Oscars, that the whole world watches that ceremony. Do you know what I mean? The other ones are kind of smaller.

Out of all the songs that you wrote for The Muppets that you wrote, is there anything that didn’t make the cut? Or an alternate take, like a reggae version of Man or Muppet out there somewhere?

[Thinks] – There are a lot of different versions. I did one that was more like Harry Nilsson’s “One.” I’m a big Harry Nilsson fan, so anything that might sound like Harry Nilsson, I’m like, “Try it this way! What else did Harry Nilsson do?” Because “Man or Muppet” is more like “Without You.” [Sings] – “I can’t live…!”

There are dozens of Chris Cooper alternate rap versions.

I noticed there’s a long version of Chris Cooper’s song on the CD, with his character’s backstory.

Oh yeah, the opera break! Yeah, there was an opera break.

It’s actually weird that that was cut, because it’s the only time we get his backstory, in terms of why he’s evil instead of just being “evil.”

Oh, I know. Yeah, you’re right. That was not my job. Chris Cooper, it cuts back to him as a child, and all the Muppets are laughing at him, his friends are laughing at him, and he doesn’t get the joke, and that’s why he hates The Muppets. They cut that pretty early on. Generally the songs get shorter and shorter as the editing process goes on. They want to keep the rhythm of the movie going.

How early was it that you found out Chris Cooper could really rap?

I had a great Skype session with him.

Did you have him do that song, or did you have do some Jay-Z?

I had written that rap, so I was rapping it to him and he’d rap it back? We said it was a practice, but actually it was me trying to find out if he had rhythm. Because sometimes you just don’t know.

Tell me you recorded that.

We didn’t record it!

Damn it! Best DVD extra…!

I know, it’s crazy! It would have been so good. I don’t know what we were thinking, but at the time everyone was really stressed because we couldn’t get the connection to work. It was supposed to be like… We were in a fancy Hollywood studio, he was in Boston. It was meant to be a perfect recording. But in the end it was just me and him on Skype. There was a delay. You know how on Skype there’s a slight delay? Which, when you’re rapping, is very weird. But he’s got some mad flow.

I’ve got to go, but in The Hobbit does Figwit get to sing, or kill anybody?

No, there’s no sword. I’m not an elven warrior. I’m still a dude hanging around.

I’m picturing you with a lyre and a giant feather in your cap…

I think it was tempting to try and do something like that, but they didn’t want to be too silly. But the film, for what it’s worth, it’s going to be great. It’s really pretty amazing.

[size=150:39770xss]The Muppets Exclusive: Bret McKenzie on Oscar Nod, Music and Movies

February 8th, 2012 3:54 PM by Joel D Amos

Bret McKenzie was in his native New Zealand when he got the call that he was an Oscar nominee, he tells Movie Fanatic in our exclusive interview. McKenzie was honored for his work penning the song Man or Muppet from Jason Segel’s The Muppets. His initial reaction might surprise you.


“The first thing that freaks me out is I thought, ‘Oh my God, what if I have to get up on that stage? This is going to be stressful,'"
he said and laughed. “But it’s really exciting. The whole team is really proud of the film. Comedies don’t get nominated for awards really so it’s great that The Muppets managed to sneak through the system and be recognized. And no, I couldn’t get back to sleep!”

McKenzie is widely known as part of the magical team that produces The Flight of the Conchords. He keenly understands the world of music and its relationship to the visual, whether TV or film. So when he heard about his Oscar nomination, the songwriter in him immediately thought about the heady company that he now keeps. “It’s mind-blowing. I’m concerned about the next song I have to write,” McKenzie said with a smile. “I’m going to sit there looking at it and be like, ‘I’m an Academy Award nominee. I better write a good song [laughs].”

It is the day after the annual Academy Award nominee luncheon and we’re sitting at the Disney offices with McKenzie, and the entire experience is clearly still sinking in with the first time Oscar nominee. “You really get a sense what a great history the Academy has. It is amazing to be on that list. Yesterday, I was sitting at a table with Meryl Streep! I couldn’t even talk to her. It’s very mind-blowing. Being from New Zealand, growing up, Hollywood was even further away than for Americans. It’s not real. So now, I’ve started working here and it feels like I’ve been welcomed to the movie world.”

When McKenzie sat down to craft the song Man or Muppet, Segel and co-writer Nick Stoller’s ([url=check out our exclusive interview with him][/url]) script was complete and they just needed to fill in the songs. “They already had a lot of song demos. It’s similar to the way we did Conchords with James (Bobin, The Muppets director and fellow Conchord). There’s a storyboard with cards, and then blue cards for the songs,” McKenzie remembered.

Place holders were there for two songs already, Everything’s Great (the film’s opening number) and Man or Muppet, with a brief description of what filmmakers wanted. “Man or Muppet needed to be a song with Gary (Segel) and Walter singing about whether they’re a man or a Muppet. James had an idea for the reflections to appear. There were demos that were good but they weren’t quite hitting the mixture of sincerity and comedy that we needed. That’s the sort of style that James and I kind of like. So then I started working away and I knew there needed to be this sort of echo-y moment where the characters sing back.”

In the film, Segel and his Muppet friend Walter are joined by their Muppet-human counterparts -- Segel as a Muppet and Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons as Walter in human form. “James did an amazing video for it. The picture and the music really work together in that song. And that’s why it’s so successful.”

When the new Oscar nominee first saw the scene we describe above, what struck him the most was the star power of the main man in The Muppets. “What a great performance Jason Segel did. It’s interesting that was the first thing I felt. It was one of those songs where it flowed very smoothly. The whole process from the beginning to the final edit, there were very little changes. Each thing just fell into place,” he said. “Often in filmmaking, from my experience, there are a lot of cuts, chops and trying to fix things.”

Man or Muppet was meant to be the moment on which the entire film pivoted. McKenzie had crafted a song that needed no alternations;
it went right into the film. “The first day we recorded it with Jason, he did an amazing job. He pretty much did the vocal take that we used in the film! That song had that sort of lucky, slightly magical feeling from the beginning,” McKenzie said.

Most men can relate to that moment where we are forced to grow up, or at least accept that younger follies no longer apply. “The thing that struck me was Jason -- he just went really deep on screen. That’s what’s hilarious about it. I love watching the audience’s reaction -- because in the film, he’s almost childlike and playful. But, when he gets to this song, suddenly there’s a lot more going on. It’s a real turning moment.”

Lastly, we're alone with McKenzie and we have to ask: Any news on a Flight of the Conchords movie? "
You bet. We're working on a slew of ideas right now,"
McKenzie admitted. Color us thrilled!

[size=150:26ko2hsb]From 'Conchords' to 'The Muppets' to the Oscars

February 10th, 2012


"
Flight of the"
... Oscar?

Bret McKenzie, better known as half of the Flight of the Conchords musical duo, got the enormous task of writing songs for "
The Muppets,"
and his "
Man or Muppet"
track could snag the Grammy winner his first Oscar. He's nominated in a two-song race with a song from "
Rio"
in the best original song category.

"
It's a very surreal and exciting time. This comes as a great surprise,"
McKenzie told CNN. "
I’d love to meet Martin Scorsese [at the Oscars]. Maybe he’d want to do a musical."
(Referring to his fellow Oscar nominee, director of the 3-D "
Hugo,"
McKenzie suggested, "
Musicals as 4-D. Musicals as the fourth dimension!"
)

Unfortunately, McKenzie won't get to show Scorsese what he's got at the Oscars. Deadline recently reported that neither "
Man or Muppet"
or "
Real in Rio"
would be performed at the ceremony, and McKenzie is just as disappointed as "
Muppets"
fans.

"
From my experience, it’s good to have a couple of songs in a show,"
he said. Even so, McKenzie is just excited to be attending the Oscars at all.

(In the meantime, "
Muppets"
star Jason Segel, his co-screenwriter Nick Stoller, and their pal, writer-director Judd Apatow, are supporting petitions and "
Twititions"
to get members of the Academy to change their minds.)

Thinking back to how a musician and HBO star from New Zealand got to write songs for "
The Muppets,"
McKenzie said, "
I was intimidated by the legacy that we were dealing with."
Kermit the Frog, he said, left him "
starstruck."


"
I knew I wouldn’t write another ‘Rainbow Connection.’ I just had a go, did my best."


The creative process involved listening "
to as many early ‘70s songs [as] I could,"
he said. "
There is one called ‘Sweet City Woman’ by the Stampeders, which was a real inspiration."


For "
Man or Muppet,"
McKenzie hit upon the idea of making it a power ballad: "
It deals with an identity crisis that I think we’ve all had in some stage in our lives."


As for any comparisons between the Muppets and Flight of the Conchords, McKenzie described himself as similar to Kermit, and his partner Jemaine Clement (who, coincidentally enough, played a villain in "
Rio"
) as closest to Miss Piggy.

McKenzie said the pair are still interested in doing a feature film, but in the meantime, they plan to tour Australia and New Zealand while McKenzie ponders doing another Hollywood musical.

"
I enjoyed the experience of doing these big musical numbers,"
he said. "
We spent days in the studio recording penguins and rats and all these different monsters [for the final scene in 'The Muppets']. It was just really fun to see them all on screen together singing."


Post by: CNN.com writer/producer Henry Hanks

Friday, February 10, 2012
[size=150:xr3ss7ht]Bret McKenzie talks Muppets, Hobbits and Flight Of The Conchords

I was lucky enough to interview Bret McKenzie from Flight Of The Conchords earlier this week. He was just on his way to tape the Conan O'Brien show, where he was promoting the new Muppets film, on which he was musical director. One of his songs, the Harry Nilsson-inspired Man Or Muppet, is even up for an Oscar later this month (and it had better win, or else...)

The [url=main interview went up on the BBC News pages][/url] today, but here's the extended cut.

Hello Bret. How are you?

Hello mate. I’m great. How’s it going?

Great thanks... But I’m not the one up for an Oscar! How does that feel?

I’m really proud of it.

And there’s only one other nominee...

I know! The chances of winning could not be any better, unless they had one nominee. But I guess that would make the awards ceremony very predictable.

The weird thing is that the other song is from Rio, which Jemaine [Clement, co-star of Flight Of The Conchords] stars in.

It’s quite funny isn’t it? Luckily, he’s not nominated for the song he did in that movie. It would have been pretty hilarious if it was just the two of us, sitting at the Oscars, competing against each other. There’d have been fisticuffs.

So, what are the particular qualities that makes a song Muppety?

They’ve gotta be slightly... They’ve got to have a looseness. Jim Henson said “if the music’s too good, it’s not right” and so I took that to heart, and kept the songs slightly shambolic.

How do you achieve that with an orchestra, who are used to getting everything note perfect?

Ah, well the orchestra are perfect. They don’t really make mistakes, those guys. Luckily, the Muppets themselves have very imperfect voices – so the vocals always have a quality of infallibility.
Piggy can’t sing very high or very low, otherwise she loses the sound of Miss Piggy. It’s kind of like Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips. You know how when he hits the high notes he doesn’t quite make them? That’s what makes it sound so emotional and so great.

Jason Segel doesn’t have those problems – he puts in an incredible performance in Man or Muppet.

He did a pretty good job of the high note, didn't he? I was really thrilled when he came into the studio and knocked that one out. He’s a really good singer. I had no idea – I mean, he sings in Forgetting Sarah Marshall but I didn’t know what to expect. He’s a triple threat – he can sing, he can act and he can sort of dance.

Would you say you’re a quadruple threat, because you can do all those things AND write the songs?

Yup, that’s where I’ve got him. I’ve got him cornered.

The Footloose dance in the first series of Flight Of The Conchords is one of my favourite scenes.

I’m pretty big on dancing. My mum was a ballet teacher. I think she wanted a daughter but she had three sons, so she made us all do ballet.

It's a great skill to have. It gives you good balance.

[Laughs] I’ve got really good balance. I don’t know if you’d noticed that - but often in a room when some people are falling over, I’m still standing.

You joke, but you’re living on the San Andreas fault now. It could come in handy.

Ha! I guess you’re right.

Anyway, back to The Muppets. When you watched the original show as a child, was there a member of Dr Teeth’s band you wanted to be?

I started off as a drummer so I was always a big fan of Animal. He’s just so wild.

So were you disappointed when Dave Grohl got the cameo?

I didn’t get the chance! I should have done a cameo, but it didn’t really work out. I was around for pre-production and post-production. I wasn’t really there for most of the filming.

What state was the film in when you joined? Were the songs written to a pre-existing script?

That’s right.

Does that make it more difficult for you as a composer?

Sometimes the biggest challenge was convincing Disney because they weren’t that familiar with Conchords. They weren’t sure what sort of movie they were going to make at first, whether it was going to be more of a ‘Hannah Montana meets the Muppets’. But James Bobin and Jason and I were all very committed to making it a very traditional Muppet movie.

I told someone you’d written the lyrics and she said, “is it full of dirty jokes?”

That was one of the restrictions – there could be no dirty gags. I was shut down on a “motherfrogger” joke that I had in there early on. And also I had one gag where a Muppet was reminiscing, “I remember when I was a piece of felt” and that got taken out, because the Muppets are real.

So they never break the illusion?

Yeah, they maintain the integrity of the world. They were pretty much “method Muppets” in the studio. They would refuse to sing lines I had written because it didn’t match the integrity of the character.

How did that feel as the writer?

It was a bit of a stress. There were maybe half-a-dozen versions of each song. Lots of to-ing and fro-ing and lots of edits. And then edits in the picture would need the songs to be re-worked. Often the songs were cut shorter to keep the film moving. That was frustrating for us – you spend so much time in the studio and then the song ends up only 60 seconds long. But James knows what he’s doing and the film has a really good pace.
Like the Chris Cooper rap. That ended up being a very short mini song, but in a way that was much funnier than a long version.

Is it true you taught him to rap over Skype?

You read that? That was a total highlight – teaching an Academy Award-winning dramatic actor how to rap on Skype. He’s a very serious man, and it was an awesomely awkward rap session. The Rhymenocerous was teaching Chris Cooper how to rap. But he really got into it. Later, on the set, he was apparently reading a book on how to rap. I don't know who wrote that. Did Snoop write that? Or maybe Jay-Z's written a book: 'The Dummy's Guide To Rapping?' It's hilarious

So what was your first lesson in rapping?

I was exploring attitude, because he’s a bad guy in the movie. So I wanted to see how nasty he could sound, how scary he could be.

I have to ask: Are you a man or are you a muppet?

I’m a muppet. It’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves.

Where did the idea for that song come from?

The line “man or Muppet” was in the script because they knew they wanted a song along those lines. So that was the title, and I was free to do anything I wanted with that. It’s that thing of writing songs for musicals, which I guess I’m working on more, is that it has to relate to the story. That’s a song where the story and the music lock in.

That always felt like the big difference between the two series of Conchords. In the first one, the script revolved around songs you’d already written – but in the second one, the songs were more in service to the plot.

Yes. Which one did you prefer?

I liked them both in different ways. I have both albums and I probably listen to the first one more... But I enjoyed watching the second series more as a comedy. It felt more complete.

Yeah, yeah. In the first series, the songs were written for comedy clubs so they were much funnier, they’re full of jokes. Whereas the second series, the jokes were often more visual or story-based, so they’re not such a good comedy club listen. We found that, touring the second season songs, they’re not so full of laughs. The first season, we played those for years, they’re built to keep a room laughing.

And presumably the songs for the second series were written under much bigger time constraints.

Yeah, we were writing the weekend before we filmed.

How do you feel about the difference between them now?

I like them all and they’re definitely different. The second ones are less satisfying to play live and I think that’s because they didn’t get road tested. If we’d had a bit more time, we probably could have filled them out.

So, has the success of The Muppets got the ball rolling for a Flight Of The Conchords movie?

What’s good is now we’ve all had more experience in doing films, so we’re in a better place to do a Conchords film.

And have you made any inroads?

It’s all very conceptual, so no we haven’t made any definite plans. But it’s something we all want to do, so it’s just a matter of time. Jemaine’s been working on Men In Black, so it’s been a kind of funny year. We’ve been living in different cities. He’s been working with aliens, and I’ve been working with frogs and pigs.

Is it strange to spend time apart? You pretty much worked on the TV series seven days a week for a couple of years.

Yes, we were basically living together. So we’re taking a well-earned break. When we started it was good because we would spend half a year doing Conchords then do other projects. We found it was quite productive and creatively inspirational, because you’d spend time apart and then you’d come together and you’d have different experiences. What happened on Conchords is we were spending so much time together that we knew all of each other’s stories, and we were meeting all the same people so we were running out of material. Very much like an old married couple, bored of each other’s stories.

[size=150:3ogb5ojw]Oscar Watch: Bret McKenzie Talks Songwriting for 'The Muppets'
by Jacob Combs | February 10, 2012

Bret McKenzie might be best known for being one half of the Flight of the Conchords, a musical comedy group that became the subject of an eponymous HBO show, or perhaps for his turn as the elf Figwit in "
Lord of the Rings."
(Seriously, just Google it.)

Now, though, he's got one of only two nominations for this year's Best Original Song Oscar, giving him a 50-50 chance of winning. (The other nominees are Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett for "
Rio."
) Sadly, word on the street is that this year, there will be no performances at the Academy Awards for the Oscar-nominated songs. Too bad, because we wanted to see Jason Segel belt at the Kodak Theatre. And why should the BAFTAs be the only ones with Miss Piggy on the red carpet?

On the phone from Los Angeles, McKenzie talked about the nomination, what he watched on New Zealand TV as a kid, and what it was like working with the Muppets.

Jacob Combs: Monday, you went to the Academy Nominees lunch. What does it feel like to be nominated for an Oscar and go to that event?

Bret McKenzie: It's a very surreal experience. I found myself at a table sitting with Meryl Streep. There are a lot of movie stars at that event!

JC: Did she say anything brilliant to you? Or did you say anything brilliant to her?

BM: Nah, I was star-struck and incredibly shy. I sat there amazed and just ate my salad. But it was really fun. They take a photo with all the nominees, and I thought, it's not often I'm going to be in a photo with Spielberg and Scorsese.

JC: You're going to put that up on your wall, right?

BM: It's going to be my new screensaver. Or I might get it made into a mousepad.

JC: So you're a great fit for a job like this given your experience with "
Flight of the Conchords,"
but you might not necessarily be the most obvious choice to write songs for the Muppet movie. How did you come to be a part of the project?

BM: I absolutely wasn't the first choice. I think other people must have dropped out. I got involved because James Bobin, who directed "
Conchords,"
was at the helm. And he asked me if I could help out. It worked out really well. We've worked together so much that it was very easy for us to transition from "
Conchords"
to "
Muppets."
There's a similar sensibility of musical comedy routines, and we have a real shorthand for working together. Honestly, it was like we were still working on the "
Conchords,"
but without Jemaine [Clement].

JC: So I read somewhere that you grew up watching the Muppets?

BM: Yeah. In New Zealand, there were only two channels when I grew up. So everyone watched the Muppets, pretty much.

JC: What was the other channel?

BM: The other channel played the dog show, which was a sheep dog competition.

JC: What was it like as someone from New Zealand to come into a project that is quintessentially American? I think the film pays this lovely, self-aware homage to stereotypical, small-town American life, and your first song really plays into that, but that wasn't in any way your experience growing up.

BM: The combination of Nick Stoller, Jason Segel, James Bobin and I means that Jason and Nick could take care of the American world and James and I could bring in the Commonwealth. I think you can definitely feel Nick and Jason's American voice coming through very strongly in the movie. When I watched an audience in New Zealand watching the movie, I realized how different the sensibilities are. New Zealanders are probably more cynical to what I would describe as the 'Hollywood-ness' of it. Americans love the sweet resolutions, whereas New Zealanders don't buy into that very much.

JC: So do you find yourself somewhere in the middle?

BM: Yeah. I realize because I've been away for so many years coming and going that I think I now fit somewhere in between. I'm very comfortable with the Hollywood tone, but I still have a healthy dose of cynicism in me.

JC: Which makes a project like this ideal for you because it combines camp and sarcasm?

BM: Yeah. It's a strange combination, and writing the music, I took it so seriously that then the irony comes out the other end. At least I think so. The opening song is such an incredibly sweet happy tune, but by the time that the musical number is done and Jason Segel is skipping around in his pale blue suit, it not only functions as a genuine musical number, it also plays as an ironic musical number. And that sort of combination is where James Bobin is so great at balancing those two worlds, the two tones.

JC: So what was the process like in terms of fitting the songs in with the script?

BM: When I came on board the script was in a sort of second draft, so they already had the song moments. So they had song ideas. Like they knew they wanted a song about being a man or a muppet. And then James had the idea of the man seeing a muppet reflection of himself. So I took those ideas and crafted them into songs. I was writing songs on spec, really. The challenge is to make the songs connect with the characters and the story and also work as songs in themselves.

JC: You were nominated for "
Man or Muppet,"
but is it your favorite song from the movie? Or is there another one that holds a special place in your heart?

BM: We won the Critics Choice Award for "
Life's a Happy Song,"
but I think "
Man or Muppet"
is my favorite musical moment in the film, so I'm really proud that that's the one they chose.

JC: I also watched the New York Times video where you and Kermit performed "
Life's a Happy Song."


BM: Oh yeah. That was really fun.

JC: I loved it when you were rhyming together and he was trying to stump you. And when he says, "
Life's a taco,"
you just kind of stopped playing and laughed!

BM: (laughs) Yeah.

JC: Watching that, it reminded me that the puppeteers are so much more than just people pulling strings. They're actors and they're singers and really almost improv comedians. Did you have a lot of interaction with them?

BM: I worked with them in the studio a lot, recording their voices. They didn't have their puppets with them, though. That would have been one of the great things about working with Jim Henson. The people writing it were the puppeteers. And that's different now—you have different groups working on it. It would have been amazing with Jim Henson and Frank Oz writing the jokes and creating the moments for themselves. Now the process has a lot of second-guessing in it.

JC: How so?

BM: Well, it's just not such a cohesive creative team now. I'm really proud of the film, but it must have been incredible when Jim Henson was at the helm. Now I think you're working with puppeteers who don't so much own the character but are the guardians of it. So they make decisions based on the character's history, but not necessarily new choices of their own.

JC: Tell me about your experience in the studio when them.

BM: Well, for example, Sam the Eagle would refuse to sing one of my lyrics because it didn't fit with the integrity of his character.

JC: So you'd change it on the spot?

BM: Yeah, I'd rewrite it in the studio. To be honest, I think he made it right. Disney isn't looking out for the Muppets' integrity, it's the Muppeteers themselves who really look after it.

JC: Right. So you didn't interact with them and the puppets.

BM: Yeah, it was just the voices. But it is really a strange experience when you're recording Fozzie Bear and in between takes, Fozzie stays in character and talks back to you. So I found myself talking to Fozzie and Kermit in the studio.

JC: And were you on set at all when they were filming the big production numbers?

BM: No. I was at the studio or out of the country.

JC: Then what was it like to see them up on the screen for the first time?

BM: Well, it was just like they looked when I grew up. It was great because they looked exactly how they're supposed to look.

JC: So what's next on the road for you?

BM: I've got a few things. The one that's coming out in America next is a film called "
Austinland."
It's not a musical—I'm acting in a film with Keri Russell. It's my first part in a rom-com.

JC: Is there any music in it?

BM: Well, my character plays a little bit of saxophone.

JC: Anything else?

BM: I want to do another studio musical. I've got some ideas, but they're very early. I'm thinking something with singing dragons. I really enjoyed working with a studio and doing big scale musical numbers. Doing good quality musical numbers is a world that hasn't been tapped enough, I think.

JC: So your dragon musical would have big production numbers.

BM: Yeah. I want to do big comedy musical numbers, like a Busby Berkeley routine.

JC: So do you have an iconic movie musical number that you grew up loving which was part of your inspiration for the Muppets?

BM: Well…"
Mahna Mahna."


JC: So it was the Muppets!

BM: Right! The other film I really liked "
Bugsy Malone,"
which is also a musical by Paul Williams. He was a big influence for me as a child.

JC: So you landed in the right place, it seems like.

BM: Yep.

[size=150:334vhxr3]'Muppets': Bret McKenzie on Oscar nom, 'The Hobbit' set shenanigans

By Jenna Busch

February 10, 2012

Bret McKenzie is one half of the comedy duo "
Flight of the Conchords"
and the Music Supervisor for the hit film "
The Muppets."
He also has a role in the upcoming geek dream "
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey."
We got a chance to sit down with McKenzie and chat about Jason Segel (who he says warmed up by singing Meatloaf tunes), his Oscar-nominated song "
Man or Muppet"
not being performed at the Academy Awards and making up a "
Hobbit"
musical with Ian McKellen and Hugo Weaving.

We asked McKenzie how he felt about "
Man or Muppet"
not being performed. "
I'm kind of disappointed,"
he says. "
The whole thing is so new to me that I'm kinda like "
okay."
They're in charge. I'm excited to just be there. But it would have been really fun to get a man and a muppet up on stage. I mean they could even just do it and not put it on the TV show. I don't know what they've got planned because from my experience it's good to have a couple musical numbers in a show. He (Sergio Mendes, the only other Best Song nominee) could have got some parrots up there. I don't know what they're thinking."


"
I grew up on 'The Muppets.' I loved it,"
he tells us. "
In New Zealand there were only 2 TV channels, so of course you watched 'The Muppets.' You sort of watched what was on. It was either watching 'The Muppets' or the news. I grew up on 'The Muppets.' I never dreamed I'd be working on 'The Muppets.' It's a very strange turn of events."


We had to ask about his favorite episodes of "
The Muppet Show."
McKenzie said, "
I really like the early TV shows. I like, Alice Cooper is pretty good. Also, Elton John's 'Crocodile Rock.' They all hold up pretty well. Actually, I love the first episode with a guest. Because as the seasons went on, the first episode the celebrity guest was a dancer from Broadway. And so she's dancing around with these glow in the dark giraffes. And as the show went on the guests got more famous as the show got more famous. But I kinda liked the first season because the guests are really unknown."


You may not know this, but McKenzie was in both the first and third "
Lord of the Rings"
films. They were small roles, but he's moved up in the world. In "
The Hobbit,"
he'll be playing the role of Lindir, who is an elf in Rivendell. We asked him the funniest thing that happened to him on set.

"
This time because I had a proper part I got to hang out with the other actors,"
he says. "
So I was going to go to town with Ian Mckellen and Hugo Weaving. We were joking about ideas for "
The Hobbit"
the musical. So we passed a bit of time singing potential hobbit musical songs while we were waiting for Peter Jackson to call action. Hours would go by where they
were setting up 3D cameras and stuff... and we were just in hysterics... and by the time Peter Jackson would call action we were all just giggling. We did the scene and Peter Jackson would yell, 'Cut. Elrond is giggling in the scene.' That was a really fun day."


We had to know one of the song titles. "
Gandalf's one we were working was "
It's A Lovely Day In Rivendale."
We didn't get that far. It was very early days. There's nothing funnier than seeing Gandalf singing a song."

[size=150:3g2pa03e]Oscars 2012: Making a Case for 'The Muppets' Songwriter Bret McKenzie

By Thomas Leupp , Hollywood.com Staff | Friday, February 10, 2012

With only two competitors in the Oscar race for Best Song, a much-deserved win for Bret McKenzie’s “Man or Muppet,” a soaring anthem that speaks to the existential dilemma all of us have grappled with at one time or another, would seem all but assured. But one need look no further than Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’s Best Picture nomination to know that the whims of the Academy are often dubious and unpredictable. And so an airtight case must be made for “Man or Muppet,” lest Oscar voters take leave of their senses and pull another Marisa Tomei.

I could go on and on about the merits of "
Man or Muppet"
(click here to watch it) – or any of the other wonderful songs McKenzie penned for The Muppets soundtrack, for that matter – but I feel the case is best made by the man himself, with whom I chatted earlier this week. Read on, and tell me that Bret McKenzie doesn’t deserve an Oscar for merely existing:

Is this your first time composing music for a feature film?

Yeah, it kind of is.

And you’re already Oscar-nominated.

It’s a good start! [Laughs] It’s awesome. I had no expectations to win any awards. Didn’t even think about it. We were just busy trying to make songs that work for The Muppets. So it was a great twist of fate.

There wasn’t a point when you were writing where you thought, this is the Oscar song?

[Laughs] No, but you know what? Jason [Segel, Muppets star and co-writer], he’s a very positive guy, and he was like, “We’re gonna be singing this at the Oscars!” He actually did say that one night. We all thought he was crazy.

Which makes it all the more disappointing that there won't be performances of nominated songs at this year’s ceremony.

I know. It’s a shame for us, because it would have been great to get a man and a Muppet up there on stage.

You’re no stranger to awards, having won a few for Flight of the Conchords.

Yeah. I’ve been to the Emmys. And Jemaine [Clement, McKenzie’s Conchords mate] and I won Wellies, which is a Wellington comedy award, in New Zealand. We won a little gumboot.

Wow. So compared to a Welly, an Oscar probably isn’t that big of a deal.

It’s pretty small, yeah. [Laughs]

Do you think you’ll even show up for the ceremony?

I don’t know. I might go see a movie that night. I guess I could watch [the telecast], but then again I’m really into Boardwalk Empire these days. [Laughs] This whole Oscar thing is so fancy. Yesterday I went to the Nominees Luncheon – they have a luncheon for all the nominees – and it’s by far the fanciest luncheon I’ve ever been to. You get to sit with all the other nominees, and I was sitting at the same table as Meryl Streep, which is a pretty fancy situation.

About as fancy as it gets.

Pretty much, yeah! We did this big photo, and Spielberg and Scorcese were right behind me. It was pretty amazing.

Did you get to interact with either of them?

No, I’m pretty shy around the Hollywood A-list. I talked to more of the comedy people, like Jonah Hill. That was exciting.

It has to be a little odd that there are only two nominees in your category.

Yeah. I was thinking about it, and with only two nominees, these are the best odds I’ll ever have of winning an Oscar. The only way it would be better is if there was one nominee. When I found out there were only two, I thought there’d been a mistake, that maybe they’d forgotten to put someone on the list. I think that the category is quite specific. It’s about songs that are used in films. It seems like musicals have a real advantage, because the songs are integral to the picture.

Do you plan to do more music work for film, or was The Muppets more of a one-off because you were working with (Muppets director and Flight of the Conchords co-creator) James Bobin?

Yeah, I definitely want to do more musicals. I love it when characters break out of a scene and start singing. [Laughs] I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving that moment. It’s such a funny thing, I guess because there’s so few of them made now. I know they’re doing Les Miserables. It’s one thing to do it seriously, which I don’t mind, but because it’s such a serious genre, to do it as a comedy is just ripe for gags.

That’s part of what made Conchords so great: Your character were so serious in their silliness.

Yes, that’s what I find funny, that mixture of sincerity and comedy. It’s like the more sincere it is, usually the funnier it is. I think that’s why “Man or Muppet” works so well. Jason does this incredibly honest, open-hearted performance, where he’s really pouring his heart out on the screen up there. I love that. It’s a great way in a film to hear what a character is thinking. You can so easily do it in a book. In films you have to see the action of the character, but song lets you open the character up to the audience.

Have you finished shooting your part in The Hobbit?

Yeah. I was an elf – Lindir. That was a great experience. They filmed that in Wellington, where I’m from, so it was very convenient.

It’s a short commute.

Very short – much shorter than the commute from New Zealand to L.A. But it was great, because I was an extra in the first film, then I had one line in the third film, and this time I’ve got maybe a few lines. I got to be on-set, and I was allowed to look the actors in the eye this time.

You lightly spoofed Lord of the Rings in Flight of the Conchords. Had Peter Jackson seen it?

Oh yeah. Jemaine and I actually sang that song at the wrap party for Lord of the Rings. That was a pretty crazy thing. Within that song we do these impressions of Gandalf and other characters, and Ian McKellan and them were there while we were doing the impressions.

What did they think of your impressions?

I don’t know – I think they were all quite drunk.

You’ve got Austenland, from Stephenie Meyer and Jerusha Hess, coming up. Can you tell me a little about it?

It’s about a woman who goes to a Jane Austen “experience” weekend, where she’s promised a Mr. Darcy romantic encounter. It’s like Fantasy Island, but for Jane Austen fans. I play a stablehand.

I’m guessing you got to make eye contact this time?

A lot of eye contact! A lot of lip contact as well. It’s like a rom-com, and I’m a love interest. [Laughs] It’s a different role for me. Keri Russell is really good. Man, those Mickey Mouse Club kids really know how to act.

blondesnotbombs wrote:Bret did an interview with NPR this morning. A preview will be posted [url=here][/url] later this evening. The whole thing will be available next week.

[size=150:3968kmh8]Bret McKenzie: A Manly Muppet And A Muppet Of A Man

Audio for this story from Fresh Air from WHYY will be available at approx. 5:00 p.m. ET

February 13, 2012

Songwriter Bret McKenzie makes up one half of the New Zealand comedy rock duo Flight of the Conchords. He also wrote five of the songs in the new Muppet movie, including "
Man or Muppet,"
one of two songs nominated for Best Original Song at this year's Academy Awards.


On Monday's Fresh Air, we preview a small portion of an upcoming interview with McKenzie. (A longer interview, which will go into more detail about his time with Flight of the Conchords and his childhood in New Zealand, will air on Feb. 20.)

McKenzie tells host Terry Gross that the script for The Muppets was already written when director James Bobin and screenwriters Jason Segel and Nick Stoller approached him about writing the film's musical numbers.

"
For 'Man or Muppet,' they wanted a song about being a man or a Muppet,"
he says. "
And James had this visual idea that the man would see a reflection of himself as a Muppet, and the Muppet would see a reflection of himself as a man. So within the song, it needed to incorporate some sort of echo-y idea, so you go between the two characters within the melody."


Before McKenzie wrote the ballad, Segel and Stoller helped filled him in on the cardinal rules of the Muppet world. For example, Muppets think of themselves as humans in their worlds — not puppets. That ruled out using the word 'puppet' in any kind of rhyme scheme.

"
Early on, I was going to get 'puppet' in there, but you can't do that,"
he says. "
Muppets are real. So then I was riffing as to how I could get that melody and those lyrics to flip back and forth, so that's why I ended up rhyming Muppet with Muppet and man with man."


McKenzie says he was going for heart-wrenchingly sincere — the kind of song you might hear Eric Carmen or Harry Nilsson belt out. (Nilsson sang the epic power ballad "
Without You."
Carmen sang "
All By Myself."
)

"
I really wanted to do a power-ballad tune, and really wanted to get it as dramatic as I possibly could get it to be,"
he says. "
Both ['Without You' and 'All By Myself'] have a very similar feel, and I wanted to get this 'Man or Muppet' song to be one of those. ...That is what I found really funny."


The song ends up being a crucial moment in the film — both for the human, played by Jason Segel, and his Muppet friend Walter.

"
I think everyone has had that crisis at some point, trying to figure out whether they are a man or a Muppet,"
McKenzie says. "
I like the idea of people having that crisis driving around, trying to figure it out."


Interview Highlights

On Teaching Jason Segel How To Sing The Songs

"
I would sing a line and he'd watch me through the studio window. And I'd sing it quite dramatically. And he would copy, and that's how we got the performance going."


On Learning What Muppets Can And Can't Do

"
One of the mistakes I made was thinking chickens and penguins could sing, just like all the other animals in the Muppets. But it turns out those animals are not allowed to sing words. They can just cluck and quack. ... I had another Muppet reminiscing, 'I remember when I was just a little piece of felt.' And that got shut down pretty soon, as well. Because the Muppets are real and they never were bits of material in their world. And then the other one — I was really tempted to have the line 'mother-frogger' in there, and that got shut down for being too grown-up."


On The Muppeteers

"
They take it very seriously, and sometimes in the studio, they kind of 'Method' Muppets, where in between takes, they stay in character. So I'm in the studio, we do a take and then we're like, 'Can you do it again? Just a little more energy?' and then they talk back to you as Fozzie the Bear. So it's like I'm having a conversation with the Muppet in there. Pretty strange, very surreal job."


On Cutting The Live Performances Of The Oscars' Two Nominated Songs

"
I was disappointed when I found that out. I'm not complaining to have to go to the Oscars. I'm pretty excited about it all. But it would have been fun to get a man and a Muppet up there and really hit this one home. ... From my experience, it's always good to put a couple of songs in a show. Even if they weren't going to broadcast it, they could have them and then cut them. [Terry Gross interjects: 'It's a live show.'] Oh, it's a live show. That's the problem. Maybe they're worried that we're just going to keep singing."


On How He Would Have Staged His Oscar Performance

"
I would have played piano and then [gotten] Jason Segel and Walter the Muppet up on stage. And then bring in a chorus of background singers with all the Muppets across the back of the stage. Maybe get Clooney and Pitt out there, as well, singing along."

[size=150:3f1vak1w]Oscar Nominee Bret McKenzie: “We Were Really The Guardians Of This Magical (Muppet) World”
About an hour ago by Jame Gumb

I had one important question for Flight of the Conchords star and The Muppets song writer Bret McKenzie. Who was a better Oscar nominee: Phil Collins or Three 6 Mafia?

“Phil Collins,” he answered without hesitation. “Better drum sound.”

While clearly a talented comedian, it was McKenzie’s love of all things music that made him the perfect choice for The Muppets, a fact that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences seems to recognize. His Oscar nomination for Best Original Song stems not from his ability to write entertaining lyrics, but rather his ability to do so in a way that also pays tribute to the source material.

“I just really wanted to make something that felt like it belonged to that world.”

McKenzie stresses that as with Flight of the Conchords, writing for The Muppets wasn’t about simply parodying the work of Jim Henson, but rather paying homage.

“A lot of the Choncords’ music comes from a similar place. There’s a lot of respect in it, and a lot of love goes in it. And I think that really comes through in the final product.”

But in order to give a proper tribute, McKenzie had to learn the rules of the the Muppet franchise, a task that proved daunting despite his years of being a fan.

“I had to learn the rules about the Muppets’ world,” McKenzie said, still impressed by the level of detail involved. “Sam the Eagle refused to sing one of the lines in the song because it didn’t fit his character. So I rewrote the lyric in the studio for the character.”

But having to rewrite lyrics for a felt-based prima donna didn’t seem to diminish his enthusiasm. If anything, McKenzie came away with a renewed appreciation of the characters.

“Going into it, I loved Animal. Going out of it, I just loved Statler and Waldorf, the two old guys. Because now that I’ve made a TV show, seeing how they … criticize their own show within the show, it’s just such a great idea. It means that if an idea or a sketch isn’t working, they can point it out to the audience. It’s so self aware.”

This awareness of the audience proved both inspiring and intimidating to McKenzie. While he felt honored to be part of the project, he knew that expectations were ridiculously high, a fact that he and the film’s creators took very seriously.

“Sometimes it felt like I cared more about it than the studio,” he said. “They’ll do whatever, it’s more of a business model. So we were really the guardians of this magical world. And there was a lot of pressure. So there was that responsibility.”

But at the end of the day, the overwhelmingly positive reception by fans and critics alike seems to have validated McKenzie’s commitment.

“My favorite comment was people saying ‘It felt like a Muppet Movie,’ cause that was my aim, and I think we all achieved that. And that’s why I’m really proud of it.”

emira wrote:

blondesnotbombs wrote:Bret did an interview with NPR this morning. A preview will be posted [url=here][/url] later this evening. The whole thing will be available next week.

[size=150:pcdhx5bn]Bret McKenzie: A Manly Muppet And A Muppet Of A Man

Audio for this story from Fresh Air from WHYY will be available at approx. 5:00 p.m. ET

emira wrote:

emira wrote:

blondesnotbombs wrote:Bret did an interview with NPR this morning. A preview will be posted [url=here][/url] later this evening. The whole thing will be available next week.

[size=150:9ljhmgue]Bret McKenzie: A Manly Muppet And A Muppet Of A Man

Audio for this story from Fresh Air from WHYY will be available at approx. 5:00 p.m. ET

The audio is up! :#excited#: :#love3#: :#love3#: :#love3#:

http://www.ascap.com Given how music-intensive Flight of the Conchords was, it should come as no surprise that the group's co-founder Bret McKenzie (an APRA member who licenses his music through ASCAP in the US) would excel in the film music world. But we're still awed at the awesomeness of McKenzie's music for Disney's critically hailed film The Muppets, and apparently so is the film industry - the showstopping centerpiece song, "
Man or Muppet?"
was nominated for both a Critics Choice award and an Oscar. We spoke with McKenzie about his experience working on the Muppets, his affection for the work of ASCAP president Paul Williams, and how his toughest critic - his daughter - reacted to his work.

[size=150:20nptvwf]Bret McKenzie Talks ‘Muppets’, Oscars &
‘Hobbit’ Jam Sessions
Feb 15, 2012 by Roth Cornet

[size=150:20nptvwf]‘The Muppets’ Oscar-nominated composer, Bret McKenzie, chats with us about jamming on the set of ‘The Hobbit’ and his plans for a very special side-project with the worlds best Muppet, Animal.

There is something inherently incongruous about the idea of an enraged Bret Mckenzie. The Oscar-nominated composer of The Muppets‘ musical numbers seems simply too energetic and affable to maintain any lasting ire. So we were fairly certain that he wasn’t truly “furious!” with the news that the Best Original Song nominees would not be performing at this year’s Academy Awards;
rather he, like most of us, was a bit disappointed. We would have loved to see The Muppets – or at the very least Walter and Jason Segel – take the stage.

“In my experience it’s good to have a couple of songs in a show,” McKenzie says. “People love a good song and dance number. I’m not complaining about having to go to the Oscars, though.”

“As a foreigner it’s like America is welcoming me into the movie industry,” McKenzie reflects on the bizarre, singular and somewhat overwhelming experience of being and Oscar nominee. “It’s not like anything else, really. Or maybe it’s like a mixture of a school ball and a school prize giving. Everyone is dressed up in their tuxedo and their prom dress and then they have to give speeches…” Pausing to reflect on that scenario McKenzie concludes: “Uh, God it sounds like a nightmare!”

But so much fun for us to watch at home!

As a result of some arcane and nonsensical voting regulations, the actor/songwriter’s “Man or Muppet” was one of only two Best Original song nominees this year (the other is from Rio). Many fans of The Muppets were frustrated by the Academy’s failure to nominate at least two of the songs from the film (as three would have been against the rules).

“I could have been nominated against myself,” McKenzie quips. “That would have made the night much more relaxing, but as it is, my chances are as good as they’re ever going to get: 50/50.” There is still a chance that we may see the fuzzy bunch perform come next Sunday, however. Oscar-cast producers Brian Grazer and Don Mischer are being notably secretive about their plans for the show.

If the Oscars does fail to include Kermie, Piggy and the gang in the production, McKenzie has vowed to bring a pocket-sized Muppet along for the ride, if not to shut down Hollywood Blvd. again for an impromptu rendition of “Life’s A Happy Song.” (We’d actually like to see that on a Hollywood Blvd. that isn’t shut down.)

McKenzie faced a particular challenge writing for The Muppets, in that the characters have such distinctive and unique voices. “First I write the songs so I can sing them using my voice,” he explains. “And then to suit the character. So Jason Segel can’t sing as high as I can but Amy Adams (not surprisingly) can sing much higher. But Piggy and Kermit’s ranges are very specific so we needed to adjust to that. We also changed the direction of the melody to stay with the narration.”

The composer says he is thrilled that it was “Man or Muppet” that ultimately received the nod. “This is my favorite song in the movie and I’m really proud of that moment in the film.” The moment in question is one of felty-reckoning for Jason Segel and his Muppet brother Walter. Each must confront and overcome their individual identity crises and take the final steps into fully-functioning adulthood, in true Muppet style.

“Man or Muppet” is my favorite song in the film as well, because, as I have previously indicated, I find it to be a hilarious but also oddly soulful shout-out to a generation (or three) that appears to be stuck in a state of arrested development. “It’s true that there are a a lot of man-children in Hollywood films,” McKenzie agrees. “A lot in Judd Apatow films. It’s also true of our generation that we haven’t been given very good grown-up role models and growing-up isn’t something we’re good at, we’re just all kids.”

In McKenzie’s case, that childish sense of enthusiasm has paid off. Prior to his Oscar nomination, he was best known as one half of of HBO’s folk-comedy duo Flight of the Conchords (the other half is of course Jemaine Clement) or to another demographic as The Lord of the Ring’s Figwit.

McKenzie, as many know, was an elf extra in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. As was “every available man in New Zealand at the time” the actor recalls. But not every extra was spotted by a devoted fan and dubbed Figwit (Frodo is great, who is that?). Perhaps one of the most significant indications of his increased fame is the bump-up to a named character that Jackson gave McKenzie in the upcoming The Hobbit.

“I think the nomination just trumps being a speaking elf,” McKenzie quips. “But it’s close, a close call.”

Worlds collided on the set of The Hobbit when McKenzie broke out his guitar and began a freestyle jam, Shire style. “It was Gandalf’s song,” McKenzie recalls laughing. “He was singing ‘it’s a beautiful day in Rivendell, do da do do do.’” Now if that is not a perfect fit for Oscar night 2014, I’m not sure what is. “It would be fun, and Ian Mckellen is a really funny guy so I think he’d be well up for it,” McKenzie says. Keep those fingers crossed, Conchords and Figwit fans.

The comedian describes his musical style as what happens when Harry Nilsson and R. Kelly meet, saying, “that’s my world.” And a wonderful and in-demand world it is. McKenzie is going on tour this year with Jemaine Clement, and is considering doing a Flight of the Conchords movie, which he says “there is always a lot of pressure to do.” There is some talk of doing a project on Broadway and a possibility of a Muppets TV show (which McKenzie may or may not be involved with) but there is no clear indication of a The Muppets sequel at this time.

“It’s a tricky thing to work on,” McKenzie muses. “It took a lot of love to make the film. Without Jim Henson and the original team there it’s a lot harder to get the Muppets right.”

“I would like to do a drum instruction video with Animal,” he adds. “That seems very achievable.”

Best-idea-ever.

Watch for McKenzie and his pocket Kermit when the Oscars air on ABC on February 26 at 8/7c.