Brian Henson: Disney wanted Muppet Christmas Carol to be funnier

Last Updated on December 6, 2022

Brian Henson, son of the legendary Jim and director of perennial favorite The Muppet Christmas Carol, had a lot to live up to with his holiday spin on the Charles Dickens classic. And he did all he could to avoid directing it.

Brian Henson said that he was more comfortable directing it when it was set to be a TV special for ABC. “When Disney said they really wanted me to make it for the big screen and not for ABC, I got very nervous and — I’ll be completely honest — I tried to get other people to direct it. I was uncomfortable and terrified, frankly.” Fortunately, he stepped up, and The Muppet Christmas Carol pays wonderful tribute to his late father as the first Muppet movie since his 1990 death.

Henson gives much credit to the iconic Frank Oz, saying, “Frank Oz put the most pressure on me. He said, ‘Brian, you can do this. I’ll come. I’ll be with you. I’ll be there the whole time that you’re shooting,’ which was fantastic.” Oz played Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and more.

Still, The Muppet Christmas Carol takes a different approach to previous Muppet movies, as it’s not crammed with jokes, something that then-Disney honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg didn’t care for. As Brian Henson put it, “Katzenberg was enormously respectful to work with at Disney, but the notes would always come back, ‘Could be a lot funnier,’ whenever they read the script. Then when we tested the movie, that was basically Jeffrey’s first note was, ‘Could be a lot funnier. I didn’t hear a lot of laugh-out-loud moments in the movie,’ and I said, ‘Well, it’s not really that kind of comedy.”

While there are certainly funny moments in A Muppet Christmas Carol, it does have more touching elements. The movie will be getting an extended edition on Disney+ with the cut song “When Love Is Gone” on December 11th, 30 years to the day it hit theaters.

Where does The Muppet Christmas Carol rank on your top holiday movies? Let us know below!