updated Jan 2005
Oz Words
excerpts from interviews
Ashanti's
Oz Preview
TV Guide Online: Jan 11, 2005
by Ethan Alter
excerpted entirely without permission
"I'd have to say that Pepe the Shrimp [sic] is my favorite costar. He had a wonderful personality."
"Growing up, my favorite show was Fraggle Rock. I used to cry when the show ended. So it was a wonderful feeling to be up there with the Henson guys, because some of them that do the characters for the Muppets also performed the characters for Fraggle Rock. The puppets all had their own personalities and facial expressions. After a while, you forgot you were talking to someone's hand!"
Miss
Piggy Travels To Oz
TV Guide Online: Nov 22, 2004
by Michael Ausiello
excerpted entirely without permission
Someone alert the Lollipop Guild: Miss Piggy's coming to town -- and she's brandishing a broomstick! This May, ABC will air The Muppets' Wonderful Wizard of Oz... During a break in filming, the ageless beauty chatted with TV Guide Online about her latest acting challenge and rumors that the Vancouver set wasn't big enough for her and pop star Ashanti, who stars as Dorothy.
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TVG |
Did you have a favorite witch?
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Miss Piggy |
It is so difficult to choose a favorite when moi is so exquisitely good as all four witches. But I must admit that after years of playing the adorable ingenue in my movies, it was a lot of fun to play that bad girl, The Wicked Witch of the West. Of course, it was difficult for someone as naturally sweet and demure as moi to act mean and nasty -- but I managed.
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TVG |
Was it hard juggling all four roles?
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Miss Piggy |
It was an enormous challenge! Heck, the costume changes alone would have done in a lesser talent. But I persevered to deliver four Emmy-worthy performances and enough screen time to satisfy even my biggest fan: moi.
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TVG |
Were you concerned about Kermie spending all that time with Ashanti?
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Miss Piggy |
I always trust Kermie, especially with the kind of surveillance equipment that's available today. He is a professional and Ashanti is a professional, and together they were two professionals working together -- as professionals. And believe moi, if those surveillance tapes had shown me anything different, Ashanti would've found out what it was really like to go over the rainbow.
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TVG |
So all those rumors of tension between the two of you are...
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Miss Piggy |
Tension between moi and Ashanti? Ha-ha! Of course not! We got along famously! I like her, she likes me and I like me! What's not to like?
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Interview
with Jeffrey Tambor
IGN Filmforce: Nov 18, 2004
by Jeff Otto
excerpted entirely without permission
"I remember watching Muppets with my daughter, and then I fell in love with the Muppets, because they are really great actors. I just did The Wizard of Oz and I played the Wizard. They are some of the most moment to moment actors going. I remember doing a scene with Kermit and I just looked down and (sighed) and he (sighed). (Laughs) I mean, he was just right there with me. When you play with them, they play back. There's something about the Muppets that I really love..."
Interview
with Michael Giacchino, composer
RadioFree.com: Oct 17, 2004
by Michael J Lee
excerpted entirely without permission
"What I'm trying to do [with the Muppet Oz music] is get back to the roots of the Muppets and the craziness of what they were. The Muppets in general are just basically -- don't take this in the wrong way -- kind of losers who could never get it right. But it didn't matter because they all cared about each other, and that was at the heart of the whole thing. That's kind of changed a bit over the years. They're kind of rediscovering their identity again, and I'm hoping now that they're with Disney, that can happen."
"I had the greatest week recently up in Vancouver. I was up there and we recorded all the vocals for all the songs. And all these puppeteers who worked with Jim Henson... I knew all about them, so when I got to meet them, it was like meeting my idols. My brother and I used to do puppet shows, we were so into the Muppets. We used to do them for hospitals and stuff, it was kind of like our little side job when we were kids. So that was an awesome week to be able to meet Dave Goelz, who was the voice of Gonzo."
Thanks to Scott Hanson for finding many of these articles!