By Michaela Gordoni
The Muppets’ Miss Piggy is finally getting her own movie…but it’s not going to be like Jim Henson’s classics.
Deadline announced the movie will be written by queer actor and playwright Cole Escola, who is known for his work on queer projects like BOYS GO TO JUPITER and his play “Oh, Mary!” which imagines Abe Lincoln’s wife, Mary, as an “alcoholic wannabe cabaret star,” per Variety. Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence will produce the piggy movie, which has a feminist plot.
“I don’t know if I can announce this, but I’m just going to,” Lawrence said on Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers’ “Las Culturistas” podcast. “Emma Stone and I are producing a Miss Piggy movie and Cole is writing it.” She added she and Stone will likely star in the movie, too.
Escola has voiced several characters in kids’ projects, like FROG AND TOAD and BABY SHARK’S BIG MOVIE, but this is his first time writing a children’s or family production.
The Muppets franchise is known for its creative appeal, endearing characters and wholesome values. Movieguide® rated 2011’s THE MUPPETS +2 for its “clean laughs” experience that “you can take the whole family to.”
The Miss Piggy movie isn’t likely to be an equally wholesome experience. The fact that Escola is writing, mixed with adult actresses who’re known for playing some very adult (and very nude) roles, isn’t a good sign. The chances that the movie could twist a long-loved character into something that stinks of garbage are, unfortunately, quite high.
If Disney and the Jim Henson Company can remember who their target audience is (or should be, anyway) — kids and families — then it could be saved.
Lawrence revealed on a recent episode of the TONIGHT SHOW that she considers Piggy a “feminist icon” and says the movie idea came out of lockdown when cancel culture was rampant.
“It would be so funny if Miss Piggy got cancelled,” she said. “Now, that is not the plot [of the film], necessarily. But it got the wheels turning.”
“[We realized], ’wait, there hasn’t actually been, like, a feminist Miss Piggy starring [role]. So I started producing it…So now, Cole is writing it, and they are perfect,” she said.
The Muppets are changing, and it’s hard to imagine how the Jim Henson Co. is on board with this kind of project. It could be that it’s actually trying to target adults who grew up watching The Muppets, rather than today’s kids. But more people would see it and enjoy it if it appealed to everyone — grandparents, kids and all.
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