Skip to footer

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 'Fraggle Rock': Why he's the right person for the job

Gordon-Levitt will reportedly produce and star in a movie adaptation of the 1980s TV show created by Jim Henson.

|
Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP
Joseph Gordon-Levitt poses at the premiere of Don Jon,' which he directed, wrote, and starred in, during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Those who have seen movies like “500 Days of Summer” know that Joseph Gordon-Levitt can dance. Now he may be dancing with some creatures who live in a cave.

According to Variety, Gordon-Levitt will star in and produce a film adaptation of the Jim Henson TV series “Fraggle Rock.” “Fraggle” aired from 1983 to 1987 and centered on a group of creatures named Fraggles who live in caves. Other creatures called Doozers also live in the caves and creatures known as Gorgs live nearby. Fraggles mostly spend their time in leisure, while Doozers work hard. People are known as “silly creatures” in the “Fraggle” world.

“Fraggle” was created by Jim Henson of the Muppets. He also served as one of the writers and directors.

“The first screen personas I ever loved were Henson creations, first on ‘Sesame Street,’ and then on ‘Fraggle Rock,'” Gordon-Levitt said, according to Variety. “Jim Henson’s characters make you laugh and sing, but they’re also layered, surprising, and wise. From Oscar the Grouch, to Yoda, to the Fraggles. I’ve never stopped loving his work, even as a young frisky man, and on into adulthood. Collaborating with [Jim Henson’s daughter] Lisa Henson makes me confident we can do something that Jim would have loved. I’m grateful and excited to be working with New Regency on this project.” 

Henson’s characters have done well recently at movie theaters. Actor Jason Segel wrote and starred in a new “Muppet” movie titled “The Muppets” that was released in 2011 – that movie did well at the box office and was fairly well-received critically, currently holding a score of 75 out of 100 at the review aggregator website Metacritic. A 2014 follow-up without Segel, “Muppets Most Wanted,” did less well and currently has a score of 61. 

If the movie version of “Fraggle” has dancing and singing, Gordon-Levitt will be a great fit for the job. Those who tuned into the 2013 Oscars will remember the actor dancing and singing to the Frank Sinatra song “High Hopes” along with Broadway veteran and “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe and that year’s host, Seth MacFarlane of “Family Guy.” When Gordon-Levitt hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2012, he took on the song “Make ‘Em Laugh” from the 1952 musical “Singin’ in the Rain.” In addition, Gordon-Levitt memorably led a crowd in a dance routine in the romantic film “Summer” and 20th Century Fox reportedly wanted Gordon-Levitt and actor Channing Tatum to star in a “Guys and Dolls” remake in 2013, though Tatum said at the time, “There's no script, there's no director,” according to Yahoo, and there hasn’t been news about the possible film for a while.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 'Fraggle Rock': Why he's the right person for the job
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Culture-Cafe/2015/0320/Joseph-Gordon-Levitt-in-Fraggle-Rock-Why-he-s-the-right-person-for-the-job
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe