As Jim Henson’s famous creations return to the big screen after more than a decade away, The Muppets tell Shereen Low why everyone was overjoyed to hear from them again

AS MOVIE offers go, it must be hard to turn down one from Mr Kermit T Frog. This is how Amy Adams, the three-time Oscar nominee, found herself starring alongside the Muppets in their latest film outing.

“Kermit was a big part of my decision,” Adams admits. “I don’t think a lot of people get a personalised video message from Kermit the Frog, and now I have that forever!

“I wanted to be part of the movie, and I knew it would touch other people because if I had that reaction with Kermit just saying my name, the Muppets hadn’t gone anywhere.”

Kermit, dressed today in his distinctive green felt, adds: “I admire her. I think she’s a fantastic actress in just about everything I’ve seen her do”

Last seen on the big screen in 1999’s Muppets From Space, Kermit, Miss Piggy and co, who in their TV show heyday of the late Seventies got viewers shouting Mahna Mahna, may have waned in popularity compared to the hi-tech likes of the Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But the new movie looks set to propel them into the spotlight again.

Long-time Muppet fan Jason Segel, star of comedies such as Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and TV series How I Met Your Mother, was responsible for getting the film into production.

“The Muppets were my first comic influence and I was in love with puppetry. We ended Forgetting Sarah Marshall with a lavish puppet musical and The Jim Henson Company designed the puppets,” he says.

“Something started growing in my belly and we pitched it to Disney. It was a bit of a campaign by necessity. It’s not easy to get a movie made, let alone a movie of this scope.”

As well as co-writing the script with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller, Segel – who makes and performs his own puppets – stars in the film as Gary, the brother of Walter, a new Muppet.

Gary, his girlfriend Mary (played by Adams) and Walter decide to leave their idyllic hometown of Smalltown, to meet Kermit and the original stars of the TV show in Los Angeles.

“Walter has that wide-eyed naivete the Muppets possess, and that’s why he wants to be part of the Muppets,” Segel explains.

Adams, who will next be seen as Lois Lane in Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel, admitted it wasn’t difficult acting alongside Jim Henson’s puppets.

“It’s like every kid’s dream – when you’re playing with your stuffed animals, you wish they’d come to life and talk to you. That’s what’s so loveable about them – you just accept they are real.”

The mother-of-one described the musical routines as “a lot of fun”.

“I’m glad that I have jobs when I can sing and dance because I feel like I annoy my friends and family when I do it all the time at home anyway, so it’s nice to have an excuse,” she adds.

As well as Kermit, Miss Piggy, Segel and Adams, the latest big-screen adventure, directed by Flight Of The Conchords director James Bobin, features old favourites from the singing and dancing variety show including Animal, Fozzie Bear and Gonzo, alongside Chris Cooper as villainous oil baron Tex Richman.

“I wanted to sing and dance in a film! And of course, to act with the Muppets,” says Cooper.

The Muppets, who have pursued solo careers, have to reunite and put on a fund-raising show to buy back the Muppets Studios from Tex, who plans to destroy them.